In a profound look at what it means for new generations to read and interpret ancient religious texts, rabbi and philosopher Marc-Alain Ouaknin offers a postmodern reading of the Talmud, one of the first of its kind. Combining traditional learning and contemporary thought, Ouaknin dovetails discussions of spirituality and religious practice with such concepts as deconstruction, intertextuality, undecidability, multiple voicing, and eroticism in the Talmud. On a broader level, he establishes a dialogue between Hebrew tradition and the social sciences, which draws, for example, on the works of Lévinas, Blanchot, and Jabès as well as Derrida. The Burnt Book represents the innovative thinking that has come to be associated with a school of French Jewish studies, headed by Lévinas and dedicated to new readings of traditional texts, which is fast gaining influence in the United States.
 The Talmud, transcribed in 500 C.E., is shown to be a text that refrains from dogma and instead encourages the exploration of its meanings. A vast compilation of Jewish oral law, the Talmud also contains rabbinical commentaries that touch on everything from astronomy to household life. Examining its literary methods and internal logic, Ouaknin explains how this text allows readers to transcend its authority in that it invites them to interpret, discuss, and re-create their religious tradition. An in-depth treatment of selected texts from the oral law and commentary goes on to provide a model for secular study of the Talmud in light of contemporary philosophical issues.
 Throughout the author emphasizes the self-effacing quality of a text whose worth can be measured by the insights that live on in the minds of its interpreters long after they have closed the book. He points out that the burning of the Talmud in anti-Judaic campaigns throughout history has, in fact, been an unwitting act of complicity with Talmudic philosophy and the practice of self-effacement. Ouaknin concludes his discussion with the story of the Hasidic master Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav, who himself burned his life achievement--a work known by his students as "the Burnt Book." This story leaves us with the question, should all books be destroyed in order to give birth to thought and renew meaning?

The Burnt Book

Religion & Spirituality

Ouaknin, Marc-Alain

Judaism

Princeton University Press

In a profound look at what it means for new generations to read and interpret ancient religious texts, rabbi and philosopher Marc-Alain Ouaknin offers a postmodern reading of the Talmud, one of the first of its kind. Combining traditional learning and contemporary thought, Ouaknin dovetails discussions of spirituality and religious practice with such concepts as deconstruction, intertextuality, undecidability, multiple voicing, and eroticism in the Talmud. On a broader level, he establishes a dialogue between Hebrew tradition and the social sciences, which draws, for example, on the works of Lévinas, Blanchot, and Jabès as well as Derrida. The Burnt Book represents the innovative thinking that has come to be associated with a school of French Jewish studies, headed by Lévinas and dedicated to new readings of traditional texts, which is fast gaining influence in the United States. The Talmud, transcribed in 500 C.E. is shown to be a text that refrains from dogma and instead encourages the exploration of its meanings. A vast compilation of Jewish oral law, the Talmud also contains rabbinical commentaries that touch on everything from astronomy to household life. Examining its literary methods and internal logic, Ouaknin explains how this text allows readers to transcend its authority in that it invites them to interpret, discuss, and re-create their religious tradition. An in-depth treatment of selected texts from the oral law and commentary goes on to provide a model for secular study of the Talmud in light of contemporary philosophical issues. Throughout the author emphasizes the self-effacing quality of a text whose worth can be measured by the insights that live on in the minds of its interpreters long after they have closed the book. He points out that the burning of the Talmud in anti-Judaic campaigns throughout history has, in fact, been an unwitting act of complicity with Talmudic philosophy and the

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Why is A the first letter of the alphabet? Why is O round? This work tells how Protosinaic pictograms - derived from Egyptian heiroglyphics and discovered in the Sinai only at the beginning of the 20th century - changed throughout the millennia and left their trace on our alphabet.

Mysteries of the Alphabet: The Origins of Writing

Arts & Photography

Abbeville Press

tells how Protosinaic pictograms -- derived from Egyptian heiroglyphics and discovered in the Sinai only at the beginning of the twentieth century -- changed through the millennia and left their traces on our alphabet.

Abbeville Pr

A text supplemented by more than a hundred illustrations of letters, art, and sculpture covers such topics as the four divine names and the five modalities of being, the light of infinity, and the significance of each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, in addition to exploring the vital influence of the Kabbalah on art, literature, music, architecture, psychoanalysis, and health.

Mysteries of the Kabbalah

The story of Maimonides, whose morality was tested by a sultan, and other traditional Jewish tales.

I'll Tell You a Story (Tales of Heaven and Earth)

Rotnemer, Dory

Matthews, Sarah

Children's Books

Creative Co

Lire Aux 'Clats. Eloge de La Caresse (English and French Edition)

Contemporary

Contemporary French Fiction

Bibliothérapie. Lire, c'est guérir

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

SEUIL

En grec, zeugma signifie le «pont» et le «lien».Le zeugma est une figure littéraire où s''exprime un lien insolite, incongru, riche de sens, entre des mots, des locutions, des phrases... Une figure littéraire qui donne à rêver, à sourire et à voyager...Zeugma, c''est aussi le nom d''une ville engloutie sous les eaux, qui exista un jour sur le bord de l''Euphrate. Ville imposante, pour laquelle se battent aujourd''hui l''histoire et l''archéologie afin d''en perpétuer la trace et la mémoire.Marc-Alain Ouaknin revisite ici cette figure littéraire et cette ville pour emmener le lecteur dans une réflexion sur l''éthique du futur, le « principe responsabilité », la montée contemporaine des eaux et les menaces sur la biodiversité, dont l''ours polaire en voie de disparition est l''un des exemples les plus évocateurs.Revenant sur l''épisode du Déluge, ce livre pense la question de l''écologie comme rapport à l''« intime », car le déluge contemporain est aussi celui des images et des paroles, qui ne permettent plus vraiment de se retrouver « chez soi » et qui submergent l''homme de rumeurs et d''informations à l''infini, noyant l''accès au livre, à la lecture et à l''interprétation, rendant difficile l''imagination créatrice qui ouvre à ce que la philosophie nommait « transcendance ».Ces pages ne sont pas une réponse mais un chemin, une croisière à bord d''une arche où il n''y a pas que des girafes et des hippopotames, mais aussi des écrivains, des philosophes, des anges, et des textes qui offrent une réconciliation avec la vie et la joie de penser.

Zeugma: Mémoire biblique et déluges contemporains

La Plus Belle Histoire de Dieu. Qui est le Dieu de la Bible ?

Bottéro, Jean

MOINGT, Joseph

POINTS

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