Zetterholm - Jewish interpretation of the Bible: ancient and contemporary

Agg. Ber. Aggadat Bereshit

A.J. Antiquitates judaicae (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews)

b. Babylonian Talmud

B. J.Bellum judaicum (Josephus, Jewish Wars)

C. Ap.Contra Apionem (Josephus, Against Apion)

Cels. Contra Celsum (Origen)

Did. Didache (in Apostolic Fathers)

Eccl. Rab. Ecclesiastes Rabbah (in Midrash Rabbah)

Exod. Rab. Exodus Rabbah (in Midrash Rabbah)

Frg. Targ. Fragmentary Targum

Gen. Rab.Genesis Rabbah (in Midrash Rabbah)

Gos. Thom.Gospel of Thomas

Haer. Adversus Haereses (Irenaeus)

Hom. Matt. Homiliae in Matthaeum (John Chrysostom)

Jub.Jubilees (in Pseudepigrapha)

L.A.B.Liber antiquitatum biblicarum (Pseudo-Philo; in Pseudepigrapha)

Lam. Rab. Lamentations Rabbah

Leq. Tov Leqah Tov

Lev. Rab. Leviticus Rabbah (in Midrash Rabbah)

m.Mishnah

Macc. Maccabees (in Pseudepigrapha)

Mekh. R. Ishmael Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael

Mekh. R. Shimon b. YohaiMekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai

Midr. ha-Gadol Midrash ha-Gadol

Midr. Psalms Midrash Psalms

Midr. Tannaim Midrash Tannaim

Num. Rab. Numbers Rabbah

Pirqe R. Eliezer Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer

Pes. Rabb. Pesiqta Rabbati

Pes. Rav Kah. Pesiqta de-Rav Kahana

S. Eliahu Zuta Seder Eliahu Zuta

S. Olam Rab. Seder Olam Rabbah

Songs Rab. Song of Songs Rabbah (in Midrash Rabbah)

t. Tosefta

Tanh. Midrash Tanhuma

Targ. Neof. Targum Neofiti

Targ. Onq. Targum Onqelos

Targ. Ps.-J. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan

y. Jerusalem/Palestinian (Yerushalmi) Talmud

Yalq. Shimoni Yalqut Shimoni

Avod. Zar. Avodah Zarah

B. Batra Bava Batra

B. Kama Bava Kama

B. Metzia Bava Metzia

Bek. Bekhorot

Ber. Berakhot

Eduy. Eduyyot

Eruv. Eruvin

Gitt. Gittin

Hag. Hagigah

Hor. Horayot

Ket. Ketubbot

Meg. Megillah

Menah. Menahot

Rosh Hash. Rosh Hashanah

Sanh. Sanhedrin

Shabb. Shabbat

Sot. Sotah

Tem. Temurah

Yad. Yadayim

Yebam. Yebamot

This book was originally written in Swedish with a general Swedish audience in mind, and to a large extent it has evolved around questions about Jewish tradition posed to me over the years by students and the public at large. These questions typically revolve around the ability of Jewish tradition to change and adapt while at the same time preserving a commitment to the Bible and its traditional interpretations. The combination of a seemingly free and at times even creative interpretation and reinterpretation of the Bible together with an insistence on the importance of and adherence to tradition within Judaism appears puzzling to many people whose background is in Protestant Christian tradition. How is it possible, for instance, to interpret away certain explicit biblical commandments but still insist on having separate dishes for meat and dairy products and to refrain from driving, writing, and knitting on the Sabbathcommandments and prohibitions that are not stated in the Bible?

This book addresses the ostensible paradox between commitment to the Bible and tradition on the one hand and the freedom in adapting them to present realities on the other. In order to comprehend this paradox, one needs to understand the underlying theology of revelation that, according to Jewish tradition, allows humans to be Gods partners in interpreting his word. This idea of an ongoing dialectical process between divine revelation and human interpretation is the key, I believe, to understanding the character and development of Jewish tradition.

The aim of the original book was to provide an accessible introduction to these issues for readers with little access to scholarly literature in English. While such introductions are more easily available to readers of English, it is my hope that the unique combination of the various areas covered in this book will lead to new insights. The treatment of the strategies that the rabbis of the rabbinic period developed in order to adapt Jewish tradition to new circumstances and the underlying views of revelation that allowed them to do it (chapter 1), together with the ways that the various denominations of contemporary Judaism address legislation of new issues and reconsider laws and customs that conflict with modern moral sensibilities, highlight the imprint that classical rabbinic Judaism has left on its modern forms. By placing the early Jesus movement within a Jewish hermeneutic tradition emphasizing its Jewish character (chapter 4), I hope to demonstrate the ways in which knowledge of Second Temple Judaism and Jewish hermeneutics may contribute to our understanding of the beginnings of Christianity. Chapters 2 and 3 present the major works that make up rabbinic literature and focus on the ways that the rabbis of the rabbinic period understood and interpreted the Bible and tradition. This part can be used as an introduction to rabbinic literature. A glossary of key terms is provided at the end of the book.