Back to the Sources can be read on your own or as part of a group. You may choose to read it piecemeal, a chapter here, a chapter there. But for the greatest benefit, read it cover to cover. The knowledge you acquire in each chapter will become useful in understanding subsequent chapters.
This study guide will review some of the points made in each chapter and then suggest follow-up activities.
Observations
Each chapter of Back to the Sources contains an overview of the type of text being discussed, aspects to be kept in mind while studying such texts, analysis of an example of a text, and a "Where to Go from Here" section which includes suggestions for further reading and study.
Modern Western assumptions can directly impede the study and understanding of classical Jewish texts. It is important for the modern reader to remember that such issues as authorship, originality, chronology, and anachronism mattered little to classical Jewish writers.
In his introduction Holtz aptly reminds us, "No book can replicate the experience of study and good discussion; nor can an essay reproduce a living teacher before the reader's eyes."
General Suggestions for Further Text Study:
Find a teacher or study group. Except when geography, health, or other factors make it impossible, classical Jewish texts should be read in groups of two or more. Seek study partners through a local college, synagogue, or chavurah. Perhaps the technology of teleconferencing will provide more people with the opportunity to study via the Internet.
Learn Hebrew. Jewish texts are laden with puns, wordplays, double entendres, hidden patterns, and rhythms that are totally missed when they are read in translation. Your experience and appreciation of Jewish texts will be enhanced by any knowledge of Hebrew, including the recognition of the twenty-two letters of the alef-bet, reading, and a vocabulary of a dozen or so words.
Set a regular study schedule. The Mishnah tractate Avot teaches: Aseh Toratecha keva - "Make your Torah a habit." Set a modest goal for the amount of time you spend and how often you learn. Then stick to a schedule that meets that goal.
Many an ambitious student has set out, to read the entire Bible cover to cover. This task can be compared to learning how to swim by setting out across the English Channel. It is far safer - as far as both swimming and Text study are concerned - to start at the shallow end, swim in the company of others, listen to an instructor, and remember to breath.
Study of a Jewish text ought to begin with small sections without ignoring the larger context. For instance, an excellent goal is to study the parsahat hashavua (weekly Torah portion), each Shabbat. One shouldn't be discouraged if in the space of an hour the entire parashah hasn't been completed. It is better to have an intensive and lively discussion about two or three verses of text than to rush through three or four chapters without allotting time to view the scenery.
Exercise
Holtz includes two midrashim at the end of his introduction (pp. 28-29), one midrashic and the other kabbalistic. Both of them describe how Jews should approach Torah, but it is striking how differently they address the task.
Read each passage carefully.
Paraphrase each passage in order to better understand the author's intention.
List the similarities and differences between the two midrashim in terms of style, content, and message.
How can you as a student of Torah act on each of these messages?
Chapter 1: Bible
Biblical Narrative
Observations
Rosenberg lists and examines several of the stylistic patterns and tools used by biblical authors ("Some Characteristics of Biblical Literature," pp. 37-51). This constitutes a handy and helpful guide to some of the elements you'll encounter throughout your study of Jewish texts.
Rosenberg's declaration that "there are thirty-nine books in the Bible" (p. 33) is not entirely accurate. Christian tradition divides the Old Testament into thirty-nine books. According to the Jewish division, there are twenty-four books in the Hebrew Bible. I and II Samuel are lumped together as one, as are Kings, Chronicles, and the twelve books of the minor prophets.
Exercise
In the section titled "A Short Walk through a Biblical Narrative Text," Rosenberg outlines the Garden of Eden story (Gen. 2 and3), showing the patterns in and parallels between the verses. Read the Tower of Babel story (Gen. 11:1-9). Copy its verses and see if you can identify any patterns in the story. (Hint: verse corresponds to verse 9.)
Biblical Law
Observation
The Bible is an interweaving of stories, laws, and poetry into a single entity. While these are separate styles of writings, they overlap, interact, and utilize many of the same tools and patterns. For example, the sections on Biblical Narrative (pg. 52) and Biblical Law (pg. 82) both use the story of the Garden of Eden to illustrate a point.
Exercise
Greenstein illustrates the traditional approach to reading Law (pp. 98-101) using Deuteronomy 24:10-13 and Exodus 22:24-26. Find these verses in a Torah text and compare them.
Biblical Poetry
Observation
Lichtenstein includes sections describing the what, how, and why of Hebrew poetry. Of these, the section that should have been the most useful is "Hebrew Poetry: How Is It?" (pp. 114ff), which explains the forms of parallelism that are the defining characteristic of ancient Middle Eastern poetry. It is unfortunate that Lichtenstein's description is fairly convoluted and offers very little in the way of practical examples.
Exercise
After reading the section titled "Hebrew Poetry: How Is It?" take a close look at the first four verses of Isaiah 5 (found on page 122 of Back to the Sources). Underline and connect the phrases in each verse that are parallel as described in the previous section.
Follow-up
Open a Bible to any of the Wisdom books (Job, Psalms, Lamentations, Proverbs, Song of Songs, etc.) and select several verses. Copy these verses onto a piece of paper and underline or highlight the parallel phrases. Note the various ways parallelism is used.
Chapter 2: Talmud
Observations
The Talmud is not a code of law. As Goldenberg points out, laws, discussions, stories, and disputations are combined in the Talmud to form a broad body of learning. (The term Mishnah is another word for "Study," from the Hebrew root meaning "to repeat.")
The Six Orders of the Mishnah are: Zera'im ("Seeds" - primarily laws dealing with agriculture and the seasons), Nezikin ("Damages" - civil and criminal law), Nashim ("Women" - laws about marriage, divorce, and relations between the sexes), Mo'ed ("Holidays"), Kodashim ("Sacred Things" - sacrifices and ritual slaughter), and Toharot ("Purity").
One key to understanding the Talmud is to identify the purpose of each passage. The Tanna'im were rarely clear when they posed their questions. Goldenberg illustrates this in the section "What Was This Passage Trying to Do?" (pp. 155ff).
Exercises
Closely examine the opening paragraph of Mishnah Berakchot (p. 132). The entire paragraph is a response to the opening question, "From what time may people recite the evening Shema?" The unspoken question begs understanding of the verse in the Ve'ahavta: "Speak of them . . . when you lie down and when you rise up" (Deut. 6:7). After reading the paragraph, restate the opening question: What is the writer asking?
The paragraph (Berachot 1:1) offers several answers to the initial question. Restate the responses of R. Eliezer, R. Gamaliel, and the sages.
How does R. Gamaliel illustrate his point?
Explain how the text further explains the sages response. What inconsistency is the text clarifying?
Turn to the Gemara reading on this Mishnah (pp. 144-147). The Gemara passages expand on the Mishnah by asking further questions. To what question(s) is the Gemara responding?
Follow-up
Find a volume of the Talmud. Look through its pages. Look at the patterns of the text and the style of the lettering. Find an English translation of a Talmud tractate (Berachot and Avot are good examples for the beginner). Read several chapters. Whenever possible, study Talmud in a group.
The novel As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg provides keen insights into the personalities who created the Talmud.
Chapter 3: Midrash
Observations
Holtz provides us with a very clear and informative chapter. While it is important to recognize the differences between halachah (law) and aggadah (stories), it is also essential to note that the distinction is a fluid one. Legalistic texts are filled with legends, examples, and metaphors, just as aggadic texts often interrupt a story to explain a particular law.
In reading Midrash, you should look for two things: (1) the missing detail or question for which the author is trying to provide an answer, and (2) the lesson that can be found in that explanation.
Exercises
Page 191 contains a midrash from Genesis Rabbah that explains the biblical verse "And God said: Let us make man," (Gen. 1:26). What is the "problem" or question that the rabbis are attempting to solve?
This midrash goes beyond simply explaining the text. It presents several moral lessons. What values are being advanced by this story?
The midrash on page 195 - in response to Cain's famous statement "Am I my brother's keeper?" - has a different style and tone from the previous example. Still, as with nearly all midrashim, it begins with an unstated textual problem and in addressing that problem, it provides moral lessons. To what problem or question is the midrash alluding? What values does this midrash teach?
Follow-up
Ginzberg's multivolume Legends of the Jews and Bialik's Sefer Ha-Aggadah (translated by Schocken Books as The Book of Legends in 1992) are excellent sources of midrashic material.
Chapter 4: Medieval Bible Commentaries
Observations
Like the midrashim described in the previous chapter, medieval commentaries expand on the contents of the Bible. They differ in that the authors of the medieval commentaries wrote their explanations as a running, word-by-word, verse-by-verse interpretation of the biblical material.
Peshat is the literal interpretation of a passage. It is a simple restatement of what the words say. Derash is the message. It is look at the lessons that the passage is conveying.
Each commentary, like the midrash, springs forth from problems or questions that are not made clear in the biblical text. Thus each interpretation in the commentaries is based on a response to an unstated question posed by the author: "Why does the text say x?"
Exercise
Read the pages that chart I Samuel 1 alongside Rashi's commentary (pp. 231-242). For each paragraph
Identify the problem or question in the Samuel passage from Samuel that Rashi is trying to answer.
Identify the peshat, or literal meaning.
Determine the derash, the lesson that Rashi wants to convey.
Follow-up
Look at a Hebrew volume, of Mikra'ot Gedolot or a Chumash with Rashi. Note the page layout and the different lettering styles. Read a section or sections from an English translation of Rashi or another commentator.
Chapter 5: Medieval Jewish Philosophy
Observations
This is possibly the most difficult chapter in Back to the Sources. It attempts to compress a huge amount of history and theology into its first twenty-five pages.
After summarizing the work of Judah Halevi (pp. 268ff), Maimonides (pp. 273ff), and Gersonides (pp. 279ff), Samuelson presents "An Example of Medieval Jewish Philosophy: Proving God's Existence" (pp. 286ff). In this section four different medieval Jewish theologians provide various proofs for the existence of God.
Exercises
In one or two sentences for each, restate the proofs for God's existence presented by Isaiah, Rabbi Akiva, Sa'adia, Ibn Daud, Maimonides, and Crescas.
Halevi, Maimonides, and Gersonides each offer different approaches to Torah. Using their own words as provided in the texts along with Samuelson's interpretations, describe how each of the three understood Torah. How does each interpret biblical passages?
Follow-up
Read Judah Halevi's Ha Kuzari.
Chapter 6: Kabbalistic Texts
Observations
Lawrence Fine provides an extremely clear, well-delineated overview of kabbalistic thought and symbolism.
Fine defines a mystic as one who (1) seeks intimate knowledge of the Divine, (2) finds divine attributes in himself/herself, (3) finds divine attributes in the world and nature, and (4) lives a disciplined lifestyle that includes (5) prayer and meditation.
The idea of the ten sefirot plays a major role in kabbalistic imagery. It is helpful to view the sefirot as ten aspects of God and, by extension, ten facets of everything that God has created, including ourselves.
Exercises
Make several photocopies of the diagram of the ten sefirot (p. 321). On one copy make notes in or near the appropriate sefirah based on items from the "Additional Names and Symbolic Associations" column in the chart on page 320.
With a second copy of the sefirot diagram, make notes as you re-read the section titled "Sefirotic Symbolism" (pp. 319-325).
Choose an aspect of your own life, for example, your career or family, a particular hobby or interest. Make a list of the items, elements, individuals, etc., included in that aspect of your life. Experiment with placing these items in whichever sefirah seems the most appropriate. The goals of this activity are (1) to help you to see that aspect of your life in a new way and (2) to identify parallels between your life and that of God.
Ushpizin. Read over the section containing passages about guests in the sukah (pp. 330-336). Imagine that you could invite any seven individuals, living or dead, to your sukah. Whom would you choose?
Follow-up
For additional reading, consult the list provided at the end of Fine's chapter. In particular, you might want to look at Daniel Matt's translation of The Zohar and Ben Zion Bokser's The Jewish Mystical Tradition (1981).
Chapter 7: Teachings of the Hasidic Masters
Observation
This chapter focuses on hassidic homiletic literature rather than on hassidic tales. These homilies, or droshes in Yiddish, take the form of sermonic interpretations of Scripture. They are a kind of convergence of midrashim with kabbalistic literature.
Exercise
Compare the examples of hassidic homilies that are presented in this chapter with the midrashim you read in chapter 3. How do the hassidic explanations differ - in style, tone, assumptions, and messages - from classical midrashim and modern sermons?
Follow-up
As Green mentioned, very little hassidic homiletic literature is available in English. The exception is Tanya, available through the Lubavitcher chabad movement.
For hassidic tales I suggest Meyer Levin's book Classic Hassidic Tales (original title The Golden Mountain).
Chapter 8: Prayer and the Prayer book
Observations
The siddur (prayer book) is among the oldest texts discussed in Back to the Sources. Having changed very little in 2,000 years, it is still the most widely used text by Jews today.
This chapter presents very little in the way of text. Instead, it provides an overview of the structure of and the ideas behind the service.
The two major sections of prayer that Mintz discusses are the Shema Cycle (called Shema uvirchotecha or "Shema and her blessings") and the Shemoneh Esreh ("Eighteen," also called Amidah or "Tefilah").
Exercise
Pray! Attend synagogue services and acquaint yourself with the structure and order of the service.
In a class or study group analyze the service, one section at a time. Identify the component parts of the Shaharit and Ma'ariv services.
Design a chart showing the structure of the Shema and its blessings. Do the same for the Shemoneh Esreh. Finally make a chart showing the components of an entire daily service, including the opening readings through Aleinu and the Mourners' Kaddish.
The study of classical texts is a core activity in Judaism. One needn't be a scholar to take part in this tradition. It is, however, a lifelong quest, requiring curiosity and concentration.
The rest, as they say, is commentary. Now go forth and learn!
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