MA Bibliography (and a short posting)

This is going to be a rather odd posting, as mostly its going to be a bibliography. But first yesterday was a nice day it had a really Shabbat like feeling, kind of like being back in Jlem. Partly this may have simply been down to the weather which was kind of like Israel very warm and muggy.  But it was also that on my walk to synagogue, and just by chance the people I met where on their way to synagogue as well. So it was nice to exchange greetings of 'Shabbat Shalom', even as I left the flat I hadn't decided which shul I was going to.  In the end I opted for FPS.  It was a really nice services and I got to have a very pleasant chat with Kathy who was there as well.  Its been ages since we have run into each other.

Then it was back to the flat for a meal I'd cooked, I really must get back into the habit of cooking more. The next day I went back to FPS, Rene was leading and again it was a very pleasant service.

Next week we have Kol Bo., and I still have one or two big things on but apart from that I am so much less busy than I was until recently.

This brings me to the bibliography.  I have updated my MA bibliography which was entitled, "Incest in the Ancestry of David: A Combined reading of Genesis 19, Genesis 38 and the Book of Ruth''.

I think that its a pretty good thesis and the bibliography is I think useful to others researching in this area so I wanted to put it on line and via my blog seemed like the easiest way of so doing.

Alexander, T., Desmond. ''Lot's Hospitality: A Clue to His Righteousness'' Journal of Biblical Literature (1985) Volume 104:2 289-291.

Alter, Robert The Art of Biblical Narrative. New York: Basic Books, 1981

Anderson, A., Arnold. ''The Marriage of Ruth.'' Journal of Semitic Studies (1978) 22 171-183.

Astour, C, Michael. ''Tamar the Hierodule an Essay in the Method of Vestigial Motifs.'' Journal of Biblical Literature (1966) 85:192-196.

Arbeitman, L., Yoel. ''Tamar's Name or is it?'' Zeitschrift fur die altterstamentilche Wissenschaft (2000) 112 Number 3 341-355.

Barker, R. James Women's rights in the Old Testament times. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1992.

Bergson, Henri. La rire: Essai sur la Signification du Comique Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1900.

Brenner, Athalya. ''Naomi and Ruth'' Vetus Testamentum (1983) 33 Number 4 385-397.

-''On the semantic field of humour, laughter and the comic in the Old Testament: On Humour and Comedy in the Hebrew Bible''. Journal for the study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 92. (1990).

-Ed. ''Are we Amused? Humour about women in Biblical Worlds'' Journal for the study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 383. (2003).

Brown, F., Driver, S., R., and Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon Peabody Ma: Hendrickson Publishing, 1979.

Brooks, A., Beatrice. ''Fertility Cult functionaries in Old Testament'' Journal of Biblical Literature 60: 227-253 (1941)

Bush, W., Fredrick Word Biblical Commentary Number 9: Ruth and Ester. Dallas: Word Books Publishing, 1996.

Campbell, F., Edward The Anchor Bible: Ruth. Garden City NY: Doubleday and Company, 1975.

Childs S., Brevard Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture London: SCM Press, 1979.

Eissfeldt, Otto. Hexateuch-Synopse Leipzig, 1922.

Emertonn, J., Adney. ''Some Problems in Genesis XXXVIII. Vetus Testamentum (1975) Number 25 338-361.

• ''An Examination of recent structuralist interpretation of Genesis XXXVIII'' Vetus Testamentum (1976) Number 26 79-98.
• ''Judah and Tamar'' Vetus Testamentum (1979) Number 29 403-415.

Fish, Harold. ''Ruth and the Structure of Covenant History'' Vetus Testamentum Number 32 423-437.

Fuchs, Esther ''Sexual Politics in the Biblical Narrative'' Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 310, (2000).

Golder, C., M. ''Genesis 38 in the Context of the Joseph Story'' Ph.D diss. The University of

Manchester. 1985.

Goldin, Judah. ''The Youngest Son or Where Does Genesis 38 Belong'' Journal of Biblical Literature (1977) Volume 96:1 27-44.

Hall, Sarah. ''Tamar, a polemic on Tamar? An intertextual discussion of the Juxtaposition between male and female comprehensions of the rules of relationships within 2^nd Samuel 13 and Genesis 38 narratives'' MA. Diss. The University of Manchester, 2000.

Hamilton, P., Victor. The Book of Genesis (Chapters 18-50). New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Hubbard, L., Robert Jr. Ruth New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Huddelstun, R., John. ''Unveiling the version: the tactics of Tamar in Tamar in Genesis 38:15'' Journal of Hebrew Studies (2001)Volume 3 325-343.

Ho Y., S., Graig ''The Stories of the Family Troubles of Judah and David: A Study of Their Literary Links'' Vetus Testamentum Volume 49:4 514-531

Jackson, Melissa. ''Lot's Daughters and Tamar as Tricksters and the Patriarchal Narratives as Feminist Theology'' Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (2002) Number 98 29-46.

Kim, Dohyung ''The Structure of Genesis 38: A Thematic Reading'' Vetus Testamentum (2012) Number 62 550-560.

Lasine, Stuart. ''Guest and Host in Judges 19: Lot's Hospitality in an inverted World'' Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. (1984) Number 29 37-59.

Leach, Edmund and Alan D, Aycock Structuralist Interpretation of Biblical Myth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Malamat, Abraham. ''Naamah, the Ammonite princess, King Solomon's Wife'' Revue Biblique 106 35-40.

Mars, Leonard. ''What was Onan's Crime'' Comparative Studies in Society and History (1984) Volume 26:3 429-439.

Morschauser, Scott ''Hospitality, Hostilities, and Hostages: On the Legal Background to Genesis 19:1-9'' Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (2003), Number 27 461-485.

Myers, J., Martin. The Linguistic and Literary form of the Book of Ruth Leiden: Brill, 1955.

Niditch Susan ''The Wronged Woman Righted: An analysis of Genesis 38'' The Harvard Theological Review (1979) Number 1-2 143-149.

Noble, R., Paul ''Esau, Tamar and Joseph: Criteria for Identifying Inner-Biblical Allusions'' Vetus Testamentum (2002)Number 52:4 219-252.

Rendsburg, A., Gary ''David and His Circle in Gensis XXXVIII'' Vetus Testamentum (1986) Number 36 438-446.

Schungel-Straumar, Helen. ''Judah and Tamar'', in Great Couples of the Bible Soelle, Dorothee and Katharina Elliger., eds., Augsburg: Fortress Publishing, 2006.

Sharon, M., Diane ''Some Results of a Structural Semiotic Analysis of the Story of Judah and Tamar '' Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (2005) Volume 29:3 289-318.

Soggin, J., Alberto. ''Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38)'' Of Prophets' Visions McKay, A., Heather and David, J., Clines eds., Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplementary Series.

Tonson, Paul. ''Mercy without Covenant: a Literary Analysis of Genesis 19'' Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Number 95 95-116.

Trible, Phyllis. Text of Terror Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narrative: Overturnes to Biblical Theology 13 Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

Vesco, Jean-Luc. ''La Date du Liver du Ruth'' Revue Biblique (1967) Number 74 235-247.

West, A., Struat. ''Judah and Tamar: A scriptural enigma'' Dor le Dor (1984) 12:4 246-252.

Wolde Van, J., Ellen Ruth and Naomi London: SCM Press, 1997.

-''Texts in Dialogue with Texts: Intertextuality in Ruth and Tamar Narratives.'' Biblical Interpretatio: A Journal of Contemporary Approaches (1997) Volume 5:1 1-28.

Wenham, J., Gordon Word Biblical Commentary 2 Genesis 16-50 Nashvile: Nelson Publishing, 1994.

Westenholz, G., Joan ''Tamar, Qedesa, and Qadistu and Sacred Prostitution in Mesopotamia'' Havard Theological Review (1989) Volume 82:3 245-266.

Whedbee, J., William The Bible and the Comic Vision Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Wilson, R., Robert ''The Old Testament Genealogies in Recent Research'' Journal of Biblical Literature Number 94 169-189.

Purim and a very busy week

I am well but a little tired.  On Monday we had a delayed Purim at the college which was fun.  We studied purim 'talmud', and wore fancy-dress costumes.  Tuesday was a fairly normal but quite hard as Tuesdays tend to be because they fun so late and Wednesday was unremarkable as well.  So much so that I cannot remember anything about it really.  Other than that the morning service was led by Jeremy (who is one of our teachers) and he led it as a Sapardi (orthodox) service.  So that was interesting.  

Thursday we (Emily and I) started our Norwood placement which looks as though it is going to be both very well organised and interesting. So that was a bright note.  We then rushed back to the college for one of our sessions with Rabbi Indigo and the very tail end of student society meetings.  

Friday I headed off to Cambridge to view the Geniza fragments with Aiko.  It was fascinating and Aiko is really good fun.  

I then rushed, and rushed is correct term. Back to flat in time to pay our water bill before heading back out to an LJ Roots Friday night service lead be Emily and Benji.  It was really good they used a version of Mishkan T'fillah (which was a sight for sore eyes-although I can hardly believe that I am saying this). Although this did make me a little homesick for Jerusalem and Kol Haneshamah, not to mention all my HUC friends.  

This morning I went off to New North London Synagogue, which I always enjoy and don't get to go enough.  The only other thing that is happing is that we are trying to get our washing machine replaced.  I think that it should be okay but sooner would be better than latter.  

Academically things are still proceeding smoothly, I hope to work on more of my essays that are due in June next week. Even though I have lots of other things on as well :(

So all in all I am busy, very busy, and tired. But am doing well. 

One more week near the end of term

It has been another long week, albeit not an unpleasant one, Monday which feels like it was a very long time ago, was fairly uneventful. Just longer than usual with an extra-catch up class in it.  Tuesday was long also because I had a couple of extra-meetings.  Wednesday which is normally relatively peace was  fun but much longer than usual as some of us went out after school to eat (Mexican) and then to a movie: 'The master', which was great really really interesting.
Thursday involved a lot of running about, firstly off to where I am doing my Jewish care placement then back to college to have a meeting discussion about Zionism(s). Then back to the flat to let the washing machine man in (yes thats right it had broken again). Then in my case it was back in the direction of school to go to my weakly therapy session.
Today Friday I have been taking it easy. Went out to pick up a parcel from the post office. Am now lessing to Emily practicing her songs for the kabbalat-Shabbat service. Soon I will go with her to FPS for service then I am planning of skyping with the folks back home.
I have quite a lot of work to do this weekend. But not so much that it will be impossible to get it down.

We are getting to point when we have assessments, large and small to do for class so am busier than I would normally be which is in fact saying something.

So not much has really changed all that much since my last post. Shabbat shalom to one and all.

middle of the semester blues

The semester has reached that point where I'm in a trough. This is just because of the time of year the excitement of the start of the semester is now behind me as are my two visits for Shabbat Lech lecha. But Limmud is still a long way away (although thats good because I still have a lot to do on my sessions).  But at the moment it is just school work with the prospect of assessments coming up.

This Friday I went to Westminster synagogue to see Emily do her thing. And then we went to dinner at LJK's which was a lot of fun.

But now its sunday and the new school week re-starts.  But this trough isn't like as bad as the one in my first or second year.

Pastoral Placement

Thursday was the first actual day of my pastoral placement.  Until this point I had been either involved with talking about how it was going to work or working on adminastrive aspects of how it was going to work.
Having been in done a day I think that this placement is going to before challenging but that it will also provided opportunities for personal growth and of course experiences that will be very useful in my rabbinic career.
That said it was more an introduction to place where I'll be working to meet some of the people with whom I'll be working and to meet some of the residents of the home and to have overall discussions about how both I and the home can make the best use of my time.

I have taken the chance to head back to stoke for a weekend. Partly to celebrate dad's birthday. I also need the opportunity to get out of the bubble and de-compress.
Next week and the week after I am out about doing shabbat Lech Lacha.  And then we will be in the very middled of the semester in fact towards its close.
onwards and upwards as they say.

Sermon at Leo Baeck college

This is the text of the sermon I gave at LBC a couple of weeks back. Hope you all like it. I am leading services next week so am busy planning/working on that but now its time to go think about getting ready for shabbat and being peaceful for a little while. Shabbat Shalom.

And when Israel saw the mighty power which the Eternal had wielded in Egypt, the people feared the Eternal and they had faith in the Eternal and in His servant Moses. (Exodus 14:31)

The Children of Israel are no longer slaves in Egypt. They have just crossed the Reed Sea, which had miraculously parted for them. They have seen Pharaoh and his armies drowned in it. Now they believe in God and in Moses. In fact they are about to overtaken by prophetic ecstasy and will burst into song; known to us as the Song of Sea.

But how quickly things can change. In the very next chapter the Israelites will complain about Moses. And even before the giving of the Torah has been completed, while Moses is still on Mt. Sinai, they will build and worship the golden calf. The same people who had been saved from slavery and had seen all the miracles, which went along with the redemption, will commit idolatry.

Idolatry and its consequences became a theme of Israelite history. Over and over again the Israelites rebelled against God and worshiped idols: both during the forty years that they spent in the wilderness and when they settled in the Land of Israel, in the period of the Judges and then the Monarchy.

In the Book of Judges every time the Israelites turned away from the Eternal and worshiped idols they would be attacked by the neighbouring nations and according to the Babylonian Talmud one of the main reasons for the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian exile that followed it was idolatry.

This phenomenon continued and presented the Sages with a difficult question. How could people who had witnessed the presence of God or had heard the words of the prophets or were very wise possibly have committed idolatry?

The not especially earth-shattering answer they reached was that past generations had an inclination to worship idols.

The power of this desire, to worship idols, is related in a story in Tractate Sanhedrin. A Rabbi was lecturing about King Manasseh, a King of Judah famous for his wisdom and infamous for his idol-worship; during the lecture the rabbi referred to Manasseh in a disparaging way. That night the king appeared to the rabbi in a dream and asked him a difficult halakhic question.

The rabbi was unable to answer and after Manasseh had answered his own question the rabbi asked. 'If you were so wise how did you come to worship idols?' To which Manasseh retorted, 'Had you been there you would have rushed to serve them!'

How could this have happened? The answer is given in one of my favourite talmudic narratives, which can be found in Tractate Sanhedrin.

When the Men of the Great Assembly were building Judaism after the return from exile they were concerned that further idolatry might result in more hardship. So they prayed for their people to be relieved from the inclination to idolatry. Their prayers were successful and they were able to capture and subdue the inclination to idolatry.

Although the inclination to idolatry may no longer be with us, the Yetzer Hara, the inclination to evil very much is. But this might not be such a bad thing, for unlike the doctrine of original sin the Yetzer Hara is not an inherently bad thing.

This idea is powerfully expressed in the continuation of the Talmudic story about the Men of Great of the Assembly and the inclination to idolatry. When they had succeeded in subduing this inclination they prayed to be able to do the same to the Yetzer Hara: at which point the Yetzer Hara appeared in the form of a cat. While attempting to capture it a single hair was pulled from its coat, at which it let out a roar so loud that it shook the building. The Men of the Great Assembly decided that it would be wiser not to try and slay the Yetzer Hara so they sealed it up in a box instead.

And what was the result of a world without the Yetzer Hara?

Basically everything stopped.

The Sages concluded that without the Yetzer Hara people would not learn a trade, study, build a house, or raise a family. According to the story when the Yetzer Hara was imprisoned even chickens stopped laying eggs. Faced with the realisation that the Yetzer Hara was necessary the Men of the Great Assembly released it.

Although the Yetzer Hara is not entirely evil it is essential to balance it with the Yetzer Hatov, the good inclination. Because of the prompting of the Yetzer Hara we work and study hard and go about the business of life. And through the struggle required in balancing the Yetzer Hara and Yetzer Hatov, personal growth becomes a real possibility.

Adam Frankenberg
February 2012

Almost there

So hey my first fall week as an HUC student is behind me and I have almost been here twenty days although not quite and I am almost there with getting things sorted out. There are still a couple of outstanding things, some of them quite improtant to get sorted out ASAP, but maybe with a little bit of luck it will all be done and dusted by the end of July most of our year are off to Tel Aviv. I don't really have the time or the money to go so me, Naomi and Emily are hosting a shabbat dinner here in our flat for a few of the people from our kita, (go kita Alef!), I also had my first extra Hebrew lesson to today and was told I am a solid Kita Alef student which is nice. I am really looking forward to shabbat but have a tone of homework for Sunday and lots of Tropping notes to learn.
So Shabbat Shalom from Jlem