Jews, Bible and prayer: essays on Jewish Biblical exegesis and liturgical notions

In his articles Stefan Reif’s articles have dealt with Jewish biblical exegesis and the close analysis of the evolution of Jewish prayer texts. Some fourteen of these that appeared in various collective volumes are here made more easily available, together with a major new study of Numbers 13, an introduction and extensive indexes. Reif attempts to establish whether there is any linguistic, literary and exegetical value in the traditional Jewish interpretation of the Hebrew Bible for the modern scientific approach to such texts and whether such an approach itself is always free of theological bias. He demonstrates how Jewish liturgical texts may illuminate religious teachings about wisdom, history, peace, forgiveness, and divine metaphors. Also clarified in these essays are notions of David, Greek and Hebrew, divine metaphors, and the liturgical use of the Hebrew Bible.

Frontmatter --; Contents --; Introduction --; 1 The Damascus Document from the Cairo Genizah: Its Discovery, Early Study and Historical Significance --; 2 Aspects of the Jewish Contribution to Biblical Interpretation --; 3 Early Rabbinic Exegesis of Genesis 38 --; 4 The Classical Jewish Commentators on Exodus 2 --; 5 Medieval Jewish Commentators on Numbers 13 --; 6 Psalm 93: An Historical and Comparative Survey of its Jewish Interpretations --; 7 Some Comments on the Connotations of the Stem גער in Early Rabbinic Texts --; 8 On some Connotations of the Word Ma‘aseh --; 9 How did Early Judaism Understand the Concept of ‘Avodah? --; 10 Wisdom Traditions in Some Early Rabbinic Prayers? --; 11 The Figure of David in Early Jewish Prayer --; 12 The Function of History in Early Rabbinic Liturgy --; 13 Peace in Early Jewish Prayer --; 14 The ‘Amidah Benediction on Forgiveness: Links between its Theology and its Textual Evolution --; 15 The Fathership of God in Early Rabbinic Liturgy --; 16 Some Divine Metaphors in Early Rabbinic Liturgy --; Index of Names --; Index of Sources --; Index of subjects, rites and prayers