Six Memos from the Last Millennium

A Novelist Reads the Talmud

Joseph Skibell (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

264 Seiten

2016
University of Texas Press (Verlag)
9781477307342 (ISBN)

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A thief-turned-saint, killed by an insult. A rabbi burning down his world in order to save it. A man who lost his sanity while trying to fathom the origin of the universe. A beautiful woman battling her brother’s and her husband’s egos to preserve their family. Stories such as these enliven the pages of the Talmud, the great repository of ancient wisdom that is one of the sacred texts of the Jewish people. Comprised of the Mishnah, the oral law of the Torah, and the Gemara, a multigenerational metacommentary on the Mishnah dating from between 3950 and 4235 (190 and 475 CE), the Talmud presents a formidable challenge to understand without scholarly training and study. But what if one approaches it as a collection of tales with surprising relevance for contemporary readers?

In Six Memos from the Last Millennium, critically acclaimed novelist Joseph Skibell reads some of the Talmud’s tales with a storyteller’s insight, concentrating on the lives of the legendary rabbis depicted in its pages to uncover the wisdom they can still impart to our modern age. He unifies strands of stories that are scattered throughout the Talmud into coherent narratives or “memos,” which he then analyzes and interprets from his perspective as a novelist. In Skibell’s imaginative and personal readings, this sacred literature frequently defies our conventional notions of piety. Sometimes wild, rude, and even bawdy, these memos from the last millennium pursue a livable transcendence, a way of fusing the mundane hours of earthly life with a cosmic sense of holiness and wonder.

Possessing “a gifted, committed imagination” (New York Times), Joseph Skibell is the author of three novels, A Blessing on the Moon, The English Disease, and A Curable Romantic, and a collection of true stories, My Father’s Guitar & Other Imaginary Things. He has received numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and Story Magazine’s Short Short-Story Prize.

A Note on the Title
Acknowledgments
A Novelist Reads the Talmud: An Introduction
Timeline of Relevant Events, According to Rabbinic Tradition
Memo One. Rabbi Yohanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish
Chapter 1. Eros and Alchemy in the Waters of the Jordan
Memo Two. Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai
Chapter 2. Turning the Hearts of Fathers
Memo Three A, B, and C. Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Pinhas ben Yair, and Rabbi Judah ben Gerim
Chapter 3. Towards the Hearts of Sons
Memo Four. Rabban Gamliel II of Yavneh, Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah, and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus
Chapter 4. The Gate of a Broken Heart
Memo Five. Rabbi Akiva, Shimon ben Azzai, Shimon ben Zoma, and Elisha ben Avuyah
Chapter 5. Revelation, Retribution, Perdition, Ecstasy, and Bliss: An Epic Canvas
Endnotes
Glossary

Erscheinungsdatum	21.04.2016
Reihe/Serie	Exploring Jewish Arts and Culture
Verlagsort	Austin, TX
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	567 g
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
	Literatur ► Briefe / Tagebücher
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien
ISBN-13	9781477307342 / 9781477307342
Zustand	Neuware