Thoughts on the publication of Alan F. Segal, "Sinning in the Hebrew Bible"

In an act of intentional irony we read in synagogue this morning during the reading of the Torah part of Alan Segal's book "Sinning in the Hebrew Bible: How The Worst Stories Speak for Its Truth".

We find Alan's book to be filled with erudition and common sense. That is why we admired Segal's past works and why we valued him as a friend. Segal believed in things that were mainly scholarly and he articulated them with clarity and enthusiasm.

The publisher's blurb for this book summarizes the many essences of the study:

Stories of rape, murder, adultery, and conquest raise crucial issues in the Hebrew Bible, and their interpretation helps societies form their religious and moral beliefs. From the sacrifice of Isaac to the adultery of David, narratives of sin engender vivid analysis and debate, powering the myths that form the basis of the religious covenant, or the relationship between a people and their God.

Rereading these stories in their different forms and varying contexts, Alan F. Segal demonstrates the significance of sinning throughout history and today. Drawing on literary and historical theory, as well as research in the social sciences, he explores the motivation for creating sin stories, their prevalence in the Hebrew Bible, and their possible meaning to Israelite readers and listeners. After introducing the basics of his approach and outlining several hermeneutical concepts, Segal conducts seven linked studies of specific narratives, using character and text to clarify problematic terms such as "myth," "typology," and "orality." Following the reappearance and reinterpretation of these narratives in later compositions, he proves their lasting power in the mythology of Israel and the encapsulation of universal, perennially relevant themes. Segal ultimately positions the Hebrew Bible as a foundational moral text and a history book, offering uncommon insights into the dating of biblical events and the intentions of biblical authors.

We has no idea that we would find it emotional to read a book by a dear friend who passed away in 2011. But we did feel the void of his loss even more while listening to the voice of his search for meaning and history in the texts of the Bible.

Alan was a religious man and a serious academic. Both of those traits of character and personality come through with ringing clarity in the pages of the superlative book.

We wrote this  appreciation of our friend Alan for the Jewish Standard in February 2011:

When my dear friend Alan F. Segal died at age 65 on Sunday, February 13, this earthly world lost a diligent, productive scholar of religions and a sparkling lecturer and teacher. And more than that, a great force of positive energy departed from our midst.

I knew Alan for over thirty years. During that time he served as a professor of religion at Barnard College in New York City and lived in nearby Ho-Ho-Kus. We met at first in professional circumstances as young professors of religion at conferences at Brown University and at the annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion. Both of us were enthusiastically discovering new facts and making original insights in areas of ancient religions. I concentrated more on explicating problems within the Talmud and Jewish liturgy.

Alan’s interests and energies ranged more broadly. He wrote at first about various topics such as mysticism and sectarianism in ancient Judaism that were published in his books "Two Powers in Heaven" and "The Other Judaisms of Late Antiquity." He branched out in a major work, "Rebecca's Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World," to explain how Judaism and Christianity took shape as sibling religions in late antiquity. And next he tackled the images of the apostle Paul, the founder of Christianity in "Paul the Convert: The Apostasy and Apostolate of Saul of Tarsus." Some scholars have called that publication the most important recent book on the subject of Paul.

Subsequently, Alan spent a decade investigating death and the afterlife in the world’s religions and published the results in "Life After Death: The Afterlife in Western Religions." His final book, which turns to subjects of ancient Israel, is complete and at the press awaiting publication. It surely will be influential in its own right. All of his books are widely cited in the scholarly literature.

Years ago, we discovered that we also shared a passion for new technologies. We continually probed how the newest software and hardware inventions could help us investigate some of the oldest and most puzzling problems of how humankind had searched in the past for God. At our professional conferences we talked together in equal measures about the theories and texts of scholars and about the releases and versions of advanced word processors and computers.

As a human being, Alan’s consistency was sublime. His written work in the history of religions was impeccable in its thought and accuracy. He maintained his cherished relationships with students, colleagues and friends with equal care and attention. And he continued always to be surprised and delighted by the advent of new technology.

Over the past year I spent time on many Mondays with Alan. When he was well enough, he would drive down to Teaneck to join me for a falafel lunch. And if he was not able to make it to town, I would bring him up a hot falafel or a fresh bagel to Ho-Ho-Kus. We would sit and eat and talk. Alan was concerned with his people, with Israel both in the community of nations and in the community of his campus. He was concerned about his friends. And when he could, he did wonderful and substantial things to help them.

Let me share one anecdote about Alan’s enthusiasm. One day just a few months ago I came to visit him to share a falafel lunch and I found that he needed my help. At my recommendation, Alan had ordered a new little Apple TV box and wanted to hook it up to his quite complicated home A/V system. We looked together analytically at this object as if it was a newly discovered archaeological find. And soon we realized that Alan was missing a component, an HDMI cable. I assured him we could get one at Staples at a later time. No, let’s go get one now, he replied. And though he was by that time weakened by his illness, he headed for the door. I had to hurry to catch up with him. I drove Alan a little way down Route 17 to buy the cable and returned back home with him. He would not let me leave until I had reached way back behind his TV, plugged in the new device and until we made sure that indeed it did work as promised.

In all ways, both profound and simple, I never met a person whose demeanor was more proper, whose mind was clearer and whose capacity to be a friend was more constructive. I feel privileged to have been one of Alan’s many friends. And although I am deeply sad that he and his wonderful energy are now gone from our presence, I am grateful that Alan F. Segal has left us all with his rich legacy of learning and with his exemplary affirmative lessons for our lives.

Rabbi Dr. Tzvee Zahavy is the author of many books and articles on the history of Judaism including, How the Halakhah Unfolds: Hullin, Part One and Part Two (2010), co-authored with Jacob Neusner. He lives in Teaneck and teaches Jewish liturgy at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City.

Published in the Jewish Standard (Teaneck, NJ) February 25, 2011.

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AP: Blackwell Burke Law Firm has Sued ConAgra Foods Over Hebrew National Kosher Claims

The AP reports that the Blackwell Burke Law Firm in Minneapolis has sued ConAgra Foods, owners of Hebrew National Kosher brands.

...ConAgra Foods Inc. says a lawsuit that claims its products aren't really kosher is without merit. The suit claims that ConAgra, based in Omaha, Neb., charges premium prices for Hebrew National meats, which it says aren't really 100 percent kosher...

We do not believe that this suit will last long before being dismissed.

It's quite simple why this matter will go nowhere in the courts.

ConAgra has ordained rabbis or their delegates on the premises. They monitor the production and certify the food as kosher.

According to Jewish religious law, as long as a rabbi declares meat kosher, it is kosher. It is the rabbinic decision that renders the food kosher. There are no percentage analog kosher standards. The status is binary. A food is either kosher or treif as determined by the religious beliefs and practices of Jews according to the laws of the Torah and the rabbinic laws of the Talmud, Codes and Responsa. See our translation of Hullin for many of those Talmud laws, Kosher Talmud: Babylonian Talmud Hullin.

To the best of our knowledge and judgement, that is pure religious practice, based 100% on religious beliefs, a matter that cannot and will not be adjudicated in our government court systems.

We'd guess that the simple and obvious decision to dismiss this case will be one page or less.

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From Talmudic Books: "Kosher Talmud: Babylonian Talmud Hullin" - live now and available for ordering

Another new Kindle Edition from Talmudic Books: "Kosher Talmud: Babylonian Talmud Hullin" - live for sale now and available for ordering at Amazon.

Description: To know what food is kosher, that is, fit to eat according to rabbinic Judaism, you must study the principles set forth in this volume, the Babylonian Talmud Tractate Hullin. This translation, adheres closely to the text so that the reader has a sense of the structure and balance of the original. Yet at the same time it conveys the flow of the legal arguments and debates, the dramatic unfolding of events in stories, and the sensitivities to words and language in the exegetical texts. Its aim is to facilitate a smooth conversation between readers and the text so that, without consulting the original Hebrew and Aramaic version, they can appreciate the substantive meaning and recognize some major aspects of the style of the Talmudic text.

The free Kindle book sample (Click on: Send sample now) is quite large because the book itself is over 570 pages in print format.

Here is what one scholarly reviewer said at length in praise of the book:

From Ioudaios Review. Reviewed by: Sigrid Peterson, Department of Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania.

“All may slaughter,” has to be one of the more memorable three-word opening lines ever invented – right up there with “Call me Ishmael.”  While the latter is the opening to Melville’s Moby Dick, the former is less readily identifiable. In fact, the words “All may slaughter” open and form the reiterated recall to the ground theme of Tzvee Zahavy’s modern English translation of Hullin, one of the Tractates of the Babylonian Talmud. On beginning Moby Dick, I am sure I would feel conscientious and obligated and virtuous and bored. Similarly, that was my expectation in opening Hullin on preparing to review it. That expectation has been dispelled by this accessible and fascinating portrayal of the world of the rabbis.

…The critical question in evaluating this work, and Z.’s contribution, is the quality of the translation. I am happy to report that it is an excellent translation. Z. has managed the difficult task of keeping to a literal rendition of the Aramaic and Mishnaic Hebrew of the original, while making excellent sense as one reads the English version alone. Often, translations of rabbinic literature represent paraphrases, and pass along the traditional meaning of a passage. This approach is extremely frustrating to one who is learning the language from an academic point of view, because words and phrases do not always mean, in the translated literature, what they seem to mean lexically. One often has the sense of being tricked.

Zahavy’s translation does not perpetuate this world of special meanings that lack any correspondence with the words of the text. Nevertheless, he translates with full knowledge of those meanings, as a one-time Yeshiva University student under the late R. Soloveitchik, the celebrated posek (decider of difficult questions of Jewish law). Now, however, from his academic vantage point as a professor in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota, Z. has provided the reader with clear English equivalents of the Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic of the original, as well as the parenthetical comments that are necessary to translate the laconicities of the original that contribute so much to that sense that understanding the language is never enough.

For example, the Mishnaic Hebrew phrase BO MISTAKEL does have the extended meaning “here is the proof,” and the Soncino edition of the Babylonian Talmud provides that translation. Z., however, translates “Come and take note.” This literal meaning becomes amply clear in the context; it is hard to see why the phrase needed to be given a special meaning over and above the literal translation.

The overall excellence of Z.’s translation gains from such features of Neusner’s approach as the bracketed explanatory concepts which take the place of Soncino’s footnotes. Z. uses these conventions with extraordinary economy and respect for the text and the reader. Z. has mastered the Neusner approach, and as a result the text speaks clearly for itself and the world it portrays.

Zahavy’s choices of American English equivalents are generally excellent; perhaps I was at first taken aback by his use of ‘heretics’ to translate MINIM, the word the Rabbis often used to designate Christians. After some consideration, I found that I agreed with Z.’s choice. The discussion distinguishes between Jewish and Gentile heretics with respect to the validity of their acts of ordinary slaughter (p. 72). I would have found two words, apostate and gentile, understandable in the English, yet I agree with a translation technique that finds the same equivalent for all cases, however odd the concept of Gentile heretic sounds at first.

What is it about Hullin that dispelled my initial sense of obligation, virtue, and boredom? Why do such excellent work as Z.’s, to translate an ordinary collection of rabbinic discussions of minutiae? The answer lies in the content of Hullin. Come and take note.

Hullin means “ordinary slaughter.” It is not until one is well into the discussion that the relationship of the book to its origins in Deut 12:21 is explored. Upon entering the land, all worship was to be in a central location, which meant that sacrificing animals for worship and food could only occur at that place. Until that point in the story, only priests could slaughter; however, priests could be found in a number of local sanctuaries. Now that the cult was to be centralized, there were no local priests to slaughter the meat, offering a portion for sacrifice, keeping a share, and returning most of the meat to the devotee upon some occasion for feasting. Now the rule would become “All may slaughter,” so that outside the designated central place people could still eat meat. The Deut 12:21 passage is cited as follows in this edition…:

R. Yemar said, “The verse says, ‘[If the place which the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you], then you may kill (ZBHT), any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord your God has given you...]’

I know of no one who has suggested that the intention of Hullin is to encourage vegetarianism. That may well be the effect, however, of reading through easily understandable discussions of the validity of slaughter if the knife is examined afterwards and found to be notched or nicked when the cut was made in a sawing fashion, back and forth. It is a bloody book.

It is in the midst of such discussions, however, following the details of what renders meat TEREFAH, “torn” or fatally damaged in some way that would render the meat carrion, that one learns the fascinating and relevant bit of rabbinic lore that it is not a capital crime to kill someone who is terminally ill, or TEREFAH.

“All may slaughter,” means women as well as men may slaughter; does it mean Samaritans, gentiles, apostates? The Mishna has already qualified the permission somewhat, in saying that the deaf-mute and the idiot and the minor may not slaughter, on the practical grounds of being unlikely to do it properly. However, if supervised, they too may slaughter. The discussions range widely and show some of the best of rabbinic thought, without omitting to display the pickiness of the issues. Yet the first word, “all,” characterizes the attempt at rabbinic inclusiveness.

The portrayal in Hullin of the rabbinic world grappling with the implications of the word “all” is fascinating. A similar discussion of the extent of meaning implied by permitting “all” to do something is found at the beginning of the first volume of b. ‘Arak., 2A-2B. There the Mishna begins “All [persons] are fit to evaluate,” in the Soncino translation, or “All may pledge the Valuation [of others],” in Neusner’s translation… The discussion is confusing, however, and neither translation explains the meaning of what it is the Mishna has permitted “all” to do. Also, the discussion in b. ‘Arak. wanders around, sometimes including women and minors, sometimes excluding one or the other, in a consideration of various other occasions where “all” are permitted to do something. In contrast, “All may slaughter” is a straightforward statement that requires a minimum of social explanation for today’s reader. The discussion that ensues is straightforward enough—by rabbinic standards, that is.

While the initial discussion in Hullin deals with the standard group of deaf-mutes, minors, and imbeciles, who comprise those who are excepted from mishnaic permission to slaughter, women are unequivocally admitted under the wings of the inclusive “all.” Nor does Hullin show a rabbinic discussion that is completely non-sexist, and therefore an inaccurate representation of the rabbinic world. Hullin provides insight into a world that is not hermetically sealed off from reality; that tends to prefer academic points to the close study of animal anatomy; that occasionally takes the world of women for granted; and that has a great deal of investment in determining the ethical way in which humans should proceed – in the specific case of ordinary slaughter of our food, and in the general case of the abstract consideration of “all” and its exclusions.

The discussion in Hullin is simple, clear, and precise. One does not need extensive explanation of rabbinic concepts to understand and follow the discussion. I have begun to imagine using this edition of Hullin as the text for a beginning course in Rabbinic Judaism, and find myself enthusiastic about the prospects. Hullin would also work well as a text for those fascinating courses that are often listed and seldom taught, where some students are reading the original language, and some are reading an English translation.

A Seminar on Christian Origins might look at Hullin in this edition to gain a preliminary understanding of a rabbinic view of Christianity. Since there is also material defining sacred and profane time, as well as grappling with the effects of idolatry and apostasy on the food supply, one might wish to use selections from Hullin in any number of approaches to the academic study of religion(s)…

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