The Burnt Book: Reading the TalmudIn a profound look at what it means for new generations to read and interpret ancient religious texts, rabbi and philosopher Marc-Alain Ouaknin offers a postmodern reading of the Talmud, one of the first of its kind. Combining traditional learning and contemporary thought, Ouaknin dovetails discussions of spirituality and religious practice with such concepts as deconstruction, intertextuality, undecidability, multiple voicing, and eroticism in the Talmud. On a broader level, he establishes a dialogue between Hebrew tradition and the social sciences, which draws, for example, on the works of Lévinas, Blanchot, and Jabès as well as Derrida. The Burnt Book represents the innovative thinking that has come to be associated with a school of French Jewish studies, headed by Lévinas and dedicated to new readings of traditional texts, which is fast gaining influence in the United States. |
Contents
Revelation and Transmission | 5 |
Transcription | 24 |
The Schools | 41 |
Jurisprudence Derived from the Talmud | 50 |
Interpretation | 57 |
Dialogues | 82 |
What Is a Book? or The Story of an Effacing | 103 |
Translation | 113 |
The Verses Beyond | 155 |
Hokhmah | 164 |
Violence and Interpretation | 176 |
Visible and Invisible or Eroticism | 187 |
SECOND PART | 213 |
Eroticism and Transcendence | 223 |
Eroticism and Prophecy | 229 |
THIRD PART | 239 |