Unlocking the Torah Text Bereishit Review
This is an excellent book of analysis on the Torah. Now, some "Torah insights" books deal with minor topics or offer obscure answers. This book does neither. All of its questions are at the center of understanding that portion, and its answers are keen and insightful and yet also clear and common-sensical.
For example, on Parshat Noach, he notes that everyone left the ark husband and wife separately, "Noach, his sons, Noach's wife, his sons' wives", not "Noach, his wife, his sons, his sons' wives". Rabbi Goldin explains, given the destruction of the world, no one was emotionally able to rebuild and start anew. G-d had to first bless Noach to be fruitful, then promise Noach that no destruction would happen, and furthermore offer a visual concrete manifestation of that promise (the rainbow) before finally it says that Noach's sons procreated. Nevertheless, Noach proceeds to become drunk out of his overwhelming depression and despair at the destruction of the whole world as he had known it.
Obviously, Rabbi Goldin's presentation is much more expansive, as well as lucid and engaging. Nevertheless, I believe this example suffices to show that the questions are not obscure, but rather crucial and vital, and the answers likewise are too. He has struck to the core of what it means to Noach and his sons that the world has been destroyed, and how they coped, as real human beings and not fairytale beings.
In fact, in his introduction, Rabbi Goldin notes that one of his primary purposes is to make the Torah's personalities come alive as real people and its events as things that actually happened, rather than as one-dimensional fairytale-like stories that we learned in elementary school. Unlocking the Torah Text provides an in-depth journey into the Torah portion through a series of studies on each parsha. Each study opens with a brief summary of the narrative and then presents probing questions designed to strike to the core of the text. These questions are addressed through a review of traditional commentaries spanning the ages, combined with original approaches. Deep philosophical issues and perplexing textual questions are carefully examined and discussed in clear and incisive fashion. The actions and motivations of the patriarchs, matriarchs and other biblical figures are probed with an eye towards determining the lessons to be learned from the lives of these great personalities. Clear distinction is made between pshat (straightforward literal meaning) and Midrash (rabbinical exegesis) as both of these approaches to biblical text are carefully defined and applied. Finally, thought-provoking connections are raised between the eternal Torah narrative and critical issues of our time. Each study is thus constructed to encourage continued discussion and study of the Torah narrative.
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Customer Reviews
Library - Shelby W. Green -
I must admit I have not read all of this book. I wanted and needed it for my home library. What I have read, and looking through it, it is very interesting.
Sepher Tov! - D. Mead - North Carolina, United States
Sepher Tov! Unlocking the Torah Text is an excellent introduction to an *adult* understanding of the Torah text. Most of us learned the stories as children. Goldin reintroduces them to us, showing us what we missed and introducing us to the rabbinic and scholarly interaction with the text. In dealing with Bereishit (Genesis), Goldin refreshingly avoids apologetics: he is concerned with teaching the adult learner some fascinating new things derived straight from the text and giving the reader some basic skills and appreciation for more scholarly understanding.
Unlocking the Torah Text is intended for an adult Jewish audience and hits this target squarely. However, it has also attracted attention outside the Jewish community as an introduction to a Jewish understanding of scripture. This book is exceptionally well suited for Christian adult bible studies or Sunday School classes, but will require that the leader have some understanding of the differences in naming and vocabulary between orthodox Jewish and traditional Christian names.
Jul 03, 2010 14:02:04
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