Nine Talmudic Readings

"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 Review

Nine 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.

Includes bibliographical references.

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

Acknowledgments

Translator's Introduction, by Annette Aronowicz

Four Talmudic Readings

Introduction

Toward the Other

The Temptation of Temptation

Promised Land or Permitted Land

As Old as the World

From the Sacred to the Holy: Five New Talmudic Readings

Preface

Judaism and Revolution

The Youth of Isreal

Desacralization and Disenchantment

And God Created Woman

Damages Due to Fire