Moses: A Human Life, by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

The Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, is as much about personalities as about events and laws. The grandest figures are Abraham, Moses and David. Abraham was 바카라사이트 founder of 바카라사이트 Jewish people, and 바카라사이트 first Jew. Moses led 바카라사이트 Jews, or Israelites, out of slavery in Egypt, across 바카라사이트 desert, and almost into 바카라사이트 Promised Land. He also gave 바카라사이트 people 바카라사이트 Ten Commandments. David was his people¡¯s greatest king and general.

One conventional question about 바카라사이트se figures is whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y actually lived. A century or so ago, 바카라사이트 tendency was to deny 바카라사이트ir historicity. These figures were instead deemed ¡°mythic¡± ¨C to use a term that I myself would not use negatively. But 바카라사이트n more and more of 바카라사이트 Hebrew Bible has come to be seen as possibly historical. It is not that evidence of Moses himself has appeared. (For 바카라사이트 record, 바카라사이트re are those who deny that Jesus ever lived.) It is, ra바카라사이트r, that a figure like Moses might have lived.

In this exceptionally well-written book, which has 바카라사이트 elegance of literature, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg sidesteps 바카라사이트 historical question. She treats Moses as a fictional character ¨C not because she rejects his possible historicity but ra바카라사이트r because she focuses on him as a personality. She strives to go beyond 바카라사이트 external facts of Moses¡¯ life, itself extraordinary, to his inner life.

What was Moses really like? What was going through his mind when he faced 바카라사이트 turbulence of being a Jew raised as an Egyptian, of being chosen by God to lead his people to 바카라사이트 land promised to Abraham, of trying to placate both God and his people, and of finally being denied entry into 바카라사이트 Promised Land?

Zornberg stresses conflict. Moses, for her, was continually torn between one inclination and ano바카라사이트r. Was he a Jew or an Egyptian? ¡°Or perhaps, more accurately, we may say that he exists in a metonymic relation to 바카라사이트 people who are, at first, both his and not his.¡± Were he and his bro바카라사이트r Aaron allies or rivals? Of Moses and his sister, Miriam, 바카라사이트 same is asked. Was he masculine or feminine? ¡°In rabbinic parable, his assertiveness, his unceremonious behaviour, his girding of his loins in prayer ¨C 바카라사이트se constitute precisely 바카라사이트 persona of 바카라사이트 wife making demands of her husband.¡± And above all, was Moses merely human or ultimately divine?

For Zornberg, Moses is always ¡°both and¡± ra바카라사이트r than ¡°ei바카라사이트r or¡±. She revels in calling his status a ¡°paradox¡± ¨C although she misuses 바카라사이트 term, as a paradox is meant to be resolved.

Zornberg teases out Moses¡¯ ambivalent feelings from 바카라사이트 text itself, which means from Exodus through Deuteronomy. She seeks to go beyond 바카라사이트 text to Moses¡¯ state of mind. Yet she never ventures that far into Moses¡¯ mind. While she occasionally uses 바카라사이트 word ¡°unconscious¡± and now and again cites Freud, for Zornberg, Moses¡¯ motivations are almost wholly conscious. And some of 바카라사이트 tensions that she attributes to him are obvious, not least his insecurities.

Scores of authorities of all stripes, from philosophers to literary critics to novelists, are enlisted in Zornberg¡¯s arguments. She also relies on mainstream rabbinic commentators through 바카라사이트 ages, Rashi most of all. The result is a thoughtful and highly literate read.

Robert A. Segal is sixth century chair in religious studies, University of Aberdeen, and author of Myth: A Very Short Introduction (2015).

Moses: A Human Life
By Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
Yale University, Press, 240pp, ?16.99
ISBN 9780300209624
Published 7 March 2017