Departmental Papers (Jewish Studies)
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Publication Publication Review of Alan F. Segal, Sinning in the Hebrew Bible: How the Worst Stories Speak for Its Truth(2012-11-01) Carasik, MichaelPublication Review of Mark Leuchter, The Polemics of Exile in Jeremiah 26-45(2009-01-01) Carasik, MichaelPublication Ruth 2,7: Why the Overseer Was Embarrassed(1995) Carasik, MichaelPublication Review of Duck-Woo Nam, Talking About God: Job 42: 7-9 and the Nature of God in the Book of Job(2005-01-01) Carasik, MichaelPublication Review of J. Maxwell Miller and John H. Hayes, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah(2007-01-01) Carasik, MichaelPublication A Deuteronomic Voice in the Joseph Story(2009-01-01) Carasik, MichaelFor many years, it has been common to point to the Joseph story, Genesis 37-50, as being fundamentally different from the rest of Genesis "in that its author(s) or redactor(s) brought to their material a superior literary craftsmanship which enabled them to create a single, sustained narrative work whose parts are organically related to one another."¹ At the same time, it remains easy to detect the traditional J, E, and P sources in the story, as noted (for example) in the Anchor Bible commentary of E. A. Speiser.² It is understandable that these sources could be assembled into a narration like that of Genesis 6-9, where the contradictions about how many of each animal were taken on board and so forth show relatively clearly the seams where previously existing volumes of the story were assembled into a single text. But how could these prefabricated pieces be put together to form a work of "superior literary craftsmanship"?Publication Publication Review of Joel M. Hoffman, And God Said: How Translations Conceal the Bible's Original Meaning(2012-01-01) Carasik, MichaelA little learning, they say, is a dangerous thing. Joel Hoffman's background would seem to have left him with more than just a little learning, but a reading of his book And God Said demonstrates that he still falls well within the danger area. It's too bad, because his topic is one that deserves a good book for a general readership; and Hoffman himself has a few worthwhile things to say.Publication Response to Aryeh Cohen "Notes Towards an Erotics of Martyrdom"(1997) Carasik, MichaelI would like to thank Aryeh for his reading of b. Sanh. 74a-75a. The mark of a good reading, to my mind, is that it does not merely explain a text, but suggests further creative interaction with it; and Aryeh's reading has done this for me. I will focus my remarks on the chief line to which Aryeh drew our attention (his line #25, in my translation): "so also must (s)he be slain rather than he transgress." Just as the textual crux of *t/yehareg* provided Aryeh with the kind of uncertainty into which a wedge that opens the text for interpretation can be fit, lines 24 and 25 both share a grammatical indeterminacy that prompts further reflection. But bear with me a moment on my way to the Sanhedrin text; as a student primarily of the Tanakh, not the Talmud, I have a biblical errand to run before I can get there.