The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus [Hardcover]

Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 20, 2001

Avivah Zornberg grew up in a world of rabbinic tradition and scholarship and received a Ph.D. in English literature from Cambridge University. The Particulars of Rapture, the sequel to her award-winning study of the Book of Genesis, takes its title from a line by the American poet Wallace Stevens about the interdependence of opposite things, such as male and female, and conscious and unconscious. To her reading of the familiar story of the Israelites and their flight from slavery in Egypt, Avivah Zornberg has brought a vast range of classical Jewish interpretations and Midrashic sources, literary allusions, and ideas from philosophy and psychology. Her quest in this book, as she writes in the introduction, is "to find those who will hear with me a particular idiom of redemption," who will hear "within the particulars of rapture . . . what cannot be expressed."

Zornberg's previous book, The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, won the National Jewish Book Award for nonfiction in 1995 and has become a classic among readers of all religions. The Particulars of Rapture will enhance Zornberg's reputation as one of today's most original and compelling interpreters of the biblical and rabbinic traditions.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Particulars of Rapture is Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg's literary and theological exploration of the book of Exodus. Zornberg, the daughter of a rabbi, is a scholar of English literature who has become a popular teacher of religion in Israel, North America, and England. Her approach to Exodus is midrashic--a rabbinic tradition of creative, interpretive, even fanciful study of the Bible that often involves "the telling of stories that fill in gaps in the written biblical text." The Particulars of Rapture gathers many such stories that Zornberg has told and also discusses the process by which she created these stories--a process that she describes with reference to a wide range of psychological, philosophical, and literary works. If this all sounds complicated, that's because it is. "In my approach," she explains, "the biblical text is not allowed to stand alone, but has its boundaries blurred by later commentaries and by a persistent intertextuality that makes it impossible to imagine that meaning is somehow transparently present in the isolated text." She imagines interpretation to be part of the text itself, and not a second- order process that is derived from the text. It's a wise and receptive way of reading, and those willing to follow Zornberg's sometimes knotty prose will find, from time to time, clear bright observations about the way believers continue to experience Israel's slavery, freedom, and redemption even today. --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly

A stellar sequel to Zornberg's book on Genesis (The Beginning of Desire, which won the Jewish Book Award in 1995), this hefty volume offers a literary look at the second book of the Bible. Zornberg, who has taught English literature at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, is especially interested in women, exploring why, after women play such a vital role in Genesis, they are all but absent from Exodus. Even when Zornberg departs from that questionAand from the larger biblical themes of exodus and redemptionAshe offers clever analysis on almost every page. For Bible-readers who rely on English translations, Zornberg explains some of the Torah's Hebrew word-plays (such as the repetition of the Hebrew root for "life" when Pharaoh, who ordered the midwives to kill all Hebrew baby boys, asks them why they have instead let the babies live). Zornberg shows the literary similarities between the conversion of Jethro (Moses' father-in-law) and the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai. She weaves together insights from the Talmud, Emmanuel Levinas, Rav Kook, Franz Rosenzweig and T.S. Eliot. The book will be a challenge for readers who aren't highly literate in Judaism, which means that many interested Jewish and Christian readers will find themselves lost, wondering too often, "Who is the Sefath Emeth? Who or what is the Targum?" This is unfortunate, because this book's many riches should be accessible to the entire Exodus-reading world. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 582 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (February 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385491522
• ISBN-13: 978-0385491525
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,039,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Aviva Zornberg is an International Treasure, April 7, 2001

By 

Gertrude Wellikoff (Big Island, Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus (Hardcover)

With her trademark mix of existential, literary and biblical knowledge, Aviva Zornberg is an educator of the first order. Even those who have trouble with Biblical tales--or especially those that do--will have so many allusions and educated metaphors to work with that any literate woman or man can't help but learn essential truths about life and history from this great teacher. As a writer, my only critique is that she tends to be too homogenous in her method, a very small critique in the grand scheme of things, which is always Zornberg's subject--the grand scheme of things. Highly recommended.

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zornberg's exposition of Exodus illuminates and informs, February 24, 2001

By 

Selwyn Gerber (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus (Hardcover)

Ms Zornberg's unique method of teaching -- reflected in her writing -- reveals themes and grand tapestries in a majestic manner. Her strong background not only in Jewish textual material , but also in secular literature and the humanities provides a rich context for her insightful reflections. A classic to be savored by all those seriously interested in the Old Testament.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A modern Midrash, April 1, 2005

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus (Hardcover)

Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg is one of the most well-known and innovative Torah teachers of this generation. The present volume consists in her weekly commentaries (Parshat HaShavuah )on the second book of the Five Books of Moses, `Exodus.' Her aim is not to expound upon the surface (pshat) meaning of the text, but rather to provide a midrashic commentary. In this she looks for hidden narratives and meanings for alternative understandings as a way of deepening our understanding of the text. Here she brings to bear her own reading in secular sources, particularly in literature, psychology, sociology and anthropology. But she relies primarily on her intimate knowledge of the traditional Rabbinic commentaries. She does not work to build some overall theory or superstructure but rather intuitively and poetically to extend the meaning of the text.
For those who are knowledgeable in Torah this book will provide a real enrichment and delight in understanding. For those less knowledgeable this book will hopefully lead to a fuller engagement with the Biblical text.