Subversive Sequels in the Bible Paperback – January 3, 2011

A Bible nerd's delight! A wonderfully fresh perspective on various parallel narratives in the ancient script. I appreciate Klitsner's ability to make words jump off the page. Many times I found myself saying, "Wow! I'd never seen THAT in the Bible before!"I was also very pleased with the presentation of important female characters and how their stories impact how we look at the roles of men and women. In my opinion, a very useful and honest approach to that weighty conversation.

Judy Klitsner applies literary criticism to pairs of Bible stories that reveals themes and connections that enhances our appreciation of the Torah as a whole and the individual stories themselves. The mysterious, profound and often confusing nature of well known Torah narratives is examined in a way that allows them to live with fresh meaning and power. Equally valuable to both religious practitioners and secular scholars. Kol haKavod!

This is a non-fiction book that's a "page-turner"! Many ideas are compared and examined that I hadn't heard or read about previously. Well written and exciting. I'll share it with friends!

Judy Klitsner introduces readers to a new, eye-opening, and interesting way of understanding biblical narratives in her book, which won the National Jewish Book Award. She reads the stories as one reads good literature. She shows that different biblical tales frequently and purposely use similar language, often the same word, to draw readers' attention to the connection between the tales. The basic part of this technique is well-known and used by many people to help them understand and appreciate the depths of biblical narratives. However, Klitsner moves a step further and makes a profound contribution to the understanding of the Bible. She proves, with dozens of demonstrations, that the subsequent stories subvert - radically reexamine, develop, and change - the idea or ideas that are in the prior tale. For example, three of her six chapters examine the changes in the Bible's portrayal of women. The first narrative, in Genesis chapter 1, depicts the first humans as "full and equal partners in their capacity to create and subdue." However, in chapter 2, "the equality between man and woman is lost." The man patronizingly "views her as a unique and irreplaceable gift, and as one who gives him as sense of completion as a human being." Thus, chapter 1's equality of the sexes is lost. The woman becomes subservient to man, a source of pleasure.The woman is frustrated with this demeaning secondary status. At the end of chapter 2, we discover another subversion. She seeks independence, meaning, and satisfaction. She speaks with the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The serpent, says the Talmud, Baba Bathra 16a, is her "evil Inclination," her inner urge. She expresses her feelings by violating the man's command, which he says is from God, by eating the forbidden fruit.In the next sequel, in chapter 3, her status deteriorates further; the male gives her a name, Havah, Eve in English. The naming expresses his mastery over her, just as when he named the animals he showed mastery over them. God accentuates this when He declares "he will rule over you."But, Klitsner stresses, this is not a biblical pronouncement that women must be unequal. It is "a description of sociological realities that play out through much of human history." This becomes clear when we read in the subsequent sequel, when the pair are driven from the garden, that its entrance is guarded by "cherubim," two angelic figures, which a Talmudic tradition, in Yoma 54a, understands as "symbols of male-female equality." "Seen in this way, the Cherubim symbolize male-female equality as a prerequisite to entering...God's holy places."This Klitsner emphasis helps readers understand why the Torah composes its tales in this extraordinary way. Each narrative is an event or parable written to express a particular message and is not intended to reveal the entire truth. The truth can only be grasped by reading the entire Torah, all of the narratives, not by reading one in isolation.Klitsner builds upon these subversive sequels to analyze the relationship between the patriarch Abraham and his wife Sarah, with the result that we see Abraham in an unfavorable light. We note that God too speaks to the male, but not to the female, just as in the Adam and Eve narratives, except once, when God criticizes Sarah for laughing at the divine prediction that she would have a son. Klitsner also examines the stories of Sarah's daughter-in-law Rebecca, Isaac's wife. She highlights that all of the biblical women, beginning with Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel, express frustration over their subsidiary role. Yet, she also reveals that in the subversive sequels about Deborah, Jael, Manoah's wife, and Hannah, the Bible considers their frustration justified and their mistreatment by society and their spouses terribly wrong.This is what Klitsner discusses in half of her book. She focuses on three other issues in the other half. All are interesting, thought-provoking, and worth reading.

Subversive Sequels in the Bible  by Judy Klitsner has many great insights, particularly in pairing stories based on themes and the repetition of unusual Hebrew words or phrases. For example, she shows that the famous stories of Noah and Jonah are linked in interesting ways - both feature boats at sea, doves (yonah), and other key words.Her analyses relt on close readings of the Hebrew text. This approach produces many delightful connections that are not obvious and make the book interesting and fun to read.Unfortunately, her larger thesis - that the bible has a series of interconnected stories where the conclusions of one are challenged are reversed by a second - is not well supported by the examples she gives. Frequently the conclusions of both stories are ambiguous and tentative and do not seem to be in conflict. In particular, Klitsner seems to have a definite agenda to show that the status of women in the Bible and their relationship with God changes from a patriarchal model to a much more inclusive model. While I am sympathetic to her agenda, the examples she gives in her book do not support such a conclusion.

Even the most familiar stories of the Jewish Bible have so many quirks and historical commentaries that a reader can always learn something new and relevant, as Klitsner demonstrates in this book, oriented more "toward process than toward conclusions." The first three chapters are a kind of warm-up to establish the author's method, after which she launches into her most pressing endeavor: to show the evolution of woman's roles and rights after the early low point in which Eve is condemned to pain and subservience. Throughout the book, Klitsner exhorts readers toward a more involved, more just engagement with the world, using the stories of the Bible as broad guides and as inspiration. Although I started with some skepticism toward the parallels drawn by Klitsner, feeling that (as she herself admitted), they might have "stretch marks" that indicate dubious connections, I developed enthusiasm for her scholarly backing and a type of argumentation well rooted in Talmudic as well as modern practices.

This is one of the most rewarding and enriching books about the Hebrew Bible that I've ever read. It had a big influence on me as a rabbi, and as a writer about biblical texts and contemporary interpretation. It's also written in a compelling, accessible style. Highly recommended!!

The underlying concept - a God who grows and develops in tandem with his human creations - is subversive indeed, but the author makes a powerful case for this contention. She tackles those parts of the Bible which we find hard to accept - for example, a loving God who can destroy all mankind, or accept an inferior status for women - and brings convincing evidence for subsequent sequels which revise these offending concepts.I have bought this book for all my friends - you will read the Bible with new eyes.