Sunday 23 October 2011

Stretching the Limits of Creative Parshanut

«I am tired of biblical commentaries that sound the same. Operating within the limitation of accepting all the main interpretations of previous generations, weekly commentators today sometimes seem like they all inevitably arrive at similar conclusions. And then someone breaks through that false image and shows how to be creative within boundaries.

....

This all seems too much for one book yet R. Kahn brilliantly succeeds in this daring collage. His book contains two essays on each weekly reading in Genesis. Every essay addresses a new topic. This genre has been done a thousand times over yet R. Kahn's contribution is remarkably original. Using midrash, both from standard and kabbalistic texts, he psychologizes the biblical characters, looking into their motivations and reactions, and symbolizes them, attributing to them philosophical and theological significance beyond their personal identities, and with all that usually finds a message relevant to today.»


Biblical Creativity | Hirhurim – Torah Musings

http://torahmusings.com/2011/10/biblical-creativity/

Shalom,
RRW

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