Jewish Preaching, 1200-1800: An Anthology (review)

Abstract

Volume 9, No.2 Winter 1991 85 close reading of details in the tradition and its artifacts. Theory is needed to ground the innovations in liturgy and ritual that feminism has produced. Where can feminists comfortably stand on questions of subjectivity and language , on ideas of body and soul, on the rule-governed nature of the games that we play for mortal stakes? What are the competing theories of Judaism and feminism that are implicity in the varieties of feminist Judaism? Does Plaskow's adoption of the conventional categories of Judaism (Torah, Israel, God, etc.) bind one to a patriarchal system of classification? Perhaps a feminist Judaism might borrow and develop alternative feminist categories: Anger, Tears, Body, Laughter. (I am thinking of the first Matriarch eavesdropping on angels, explicitly conscious of her bodily processes, laughing at God, and assuming the divine prerogative of naming by bequeathing laughter to her descendants through Isaac's name.) In the meantime, Plaskow has given us an indispensable book, culminating years of Jewish feminist inquiry and learning. Because I think that it will be an important resource, I was frustrated by the absence of a bibliography and spent much time scanning backwards in the thorough and engaging annotations. The index too is inadequate, and I hope that future editions will, therefore, append a complete source list. Lori Lefkovitz Department of English Kenyon College Jewish Preaching, 1200-1800: An Anthology, by Marc Saperstein. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. 470 pp. $45.00. Professor Saperstein has produced a scholarly masterpiece and an intellectual tour de force that must be read by anybody with a serious interest in Jewish studies or the art of preaching. His introduction, virtually a monograph itself, is an overview of the genre and the relationship between the study of sermons and Jewish history. The main part of the book consists of sixteen medieval and early-modern sermons that Saperstein selected, edited, translated, introduced, and annotated. The final section, "Sources for the History and Theory of Jewish Preaching," contains comments on preaching by eighteen Jewish preachers during the period under consideration. The book also contains excellent bibliographies of Jewish sermons, both printed and in manuscript, secondary works on Jewish preaching, important literature on Christian preaching, a guide to all scriptural and rabbinic passages cited in the book, and a detailed, but not exhaustive, index. 86 SHOFAR To appreciate the importance of Jewish Preaching, it must be realized that the written versions of Jewish sermons preached during the period 1200-1800 are not a very accessible genre. Indeed the hundreds of extant medieval and early modern collections of sermons have not received adequate attention. Very few have been published at all, let alone in critical editions, and they certainly have not been used regularly as historical documents. Saperstein is painfully aware that the texts that he has so carefully studied usually do not represent what was actually preached, since they were edited and translated from the vernacular to Hebrew by the preacher or an amanuensis . Moreover, the published Hebrew versions of these sermons rarely identify sources and, as Saperstein showed, often omit major sections of the manuscript original. Furthermore, the texts move rapidly between many levels of discourse with very few obvious signs of transition or organization. Therefore, Saperstein's notes are one of the most important features of Jewish Preaching. They indicate structural elements, point out transitions, identify sources, show what was common and what was unique, trace significant differences in manuscripts, compare passages with interpretations offered by other commentators and preachers, provide valuable thematic crossreferences unavailable elsewhere, mention specific contemporary events, and criticize previous scholarly views on certain passages. Saperstein's most significant contribution is showing the many levels of textuality in each sermon and identifying the numerous literary associations that each author took for granted because they came naturally to many in his audience, for a major aspect of the sermons for them was often what modern readers would notice least: clever reworkings of biblical and rabbinic texts with subtle allusions to contemporary events. In his introduction Saperstein argued that sermons could serve as a mirror of contemporary events, but often do not. However, more important than being a repository for...