Nine Talmudic Readings

by Levinas, Emmanuel; Aronowicz, Annette

• ISBN13: 9780253208767
• ISBN10: 0253208769
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-02-01
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

"I know of no work that more readily opens this classic of Judaic learning to the general reader." -- The Key Reporter"The appearance in English of nine of Levinas's essays on talmudic discourse, collected and beautifully translated by Aronowicz, is an important occasion.... These essays are crucial to the interpretation of Levinas's work more generally, [and] Aronowicz's excellent introduction and occasional notes are very helpful in making this work accessible to those unacquainted with either Talmud or Levinas." -- Religious Studies ReviewNine rich and masterful readings of the Talmud by the French Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas translate Jewish thought into the language of modern times. Between 1963 and 1975, Levinas delivered these commentaries at the annual Talmudic colloquia of a group of French Jewish intellectuals in Paris. Here Levinas applies a hermeneutic that simultaneously allows the classic Jewish texts to shed light on contemporary problems and lets modern problems illuminate the texts. Besides being quintessential illustrations of the art of reading, the essays express the deeply ethical vision of the human condition that makes Levinas one of the most important thinkers of our time.

Author Biography

ANNETTE ARONOWICZ, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin and Marshall College, is author of Freedom from Ideology: Secrecy in Modern Expressions.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Translator's Introduction	ix
Annette Aronowicz
Four Talmudic Readings
Introduction	3	(9)
Toward the Other	12	(18)
The Temptation of Temptation	30	(21)
Promised Land or Permitted Land	51	(19)
``As Old as the World?''	70	(21)
From the Sacred to the Holy: Five New Talmudic Readings
Preface	91	(3)
Judaism and Revolution	94	(26)
The Youth of Israel	120	(16)
Desacralization and Disenchantment	136	(25)
And God Created Woman	161	(17)
Damages Due to Fire	178