ADAM AND HAVAH

Halevi shines new light on a very old story, offering a brilliant interpretation of perhaps the most influential piece of scripture ever written.

It’s said that when second-century Jewish rabbis envisioned heaven, they imagined a great table at which the blessed would sit, arguing over the possible meanings of torah–Jewish teaching–for all eternity. If this is paradise, Shira Halevi is well on her way. Her new tome is a targum–basically a hybrid of translation and commentary–of the opening chapters of Genesis. The allure of writing a targum for a comprehensive thinker like Halevi is evident: the format allows its creator to tease out all (or at least some) of the various meanings of the famously spare Hebrew scriptural text. Thus Halevi fills her elaborately footnoted expansion on the story of Adam and Eve (or Havah) with alternate translations, interpretive traditions, linguistic clarifications and explanatory dialogues. Among its many strengths, her targum is both devout and progressive. The author has an easy familiarity with modern biblical scholarship and willingness to parse stale orthodoxies. Her discussions of gender and theodicy are particularly piercing. Further, her innovative interpretations of this oldest of tales may provide new insights for even experienced readers. Nonetheless, it is clear from the intricacy of Halevi’s introduction–a long and detailed excursion into the technical differences between torah, targum, midrash and other forms of scripture and commentary–that the book will likely appeal to none but the most literate reader of Jewish texts. More casual observers will probably turn away when she writes of “medium[s] for polyvalency” and “triliteral consonantal roots.” But for those willing to immerse themselves in Torah–surely, Halevi’s ideal readers–Adam and Havah offers a myriad of joys.

Gorgeous commentary.