JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

tion is mystic (sod; see *Kabbalah). It is difficult, however, to
determine whether the burgeoning of the study of the Bible
as a whole, and particularly in France (and Spain) was confined
to scholars, or whether it encompassed the entire people.
The remarkable explanation given by Rashi, who wrote
commentaries on practically the entire Bible, of the deathbed
statement of R. Eleazar: “Keep your children from higgayon”
(meditation) – ”Do not accustom them to excessive study of
the Bible, because of its attractiveness” (Ber. 28b) – certainly
seems to point to a discouragement of the “excessive” study
of the Bible as a whole.
The 16th to the 18th centuries are characterized by an almost
complete neglect of the study of the Bible as such. Talmud
and Kabbalah became almost the sole subjects of study.
Only in Italy was the study of the Bible as such pursued, and it
produced such epoch-making works as Elijah *Levita’s Masoret
ha-Masoret, Azariah dei *Rossi’s Me’or Einayim, Abraham
*Portaleone’s archaeological researches, and the commentaries
of Obadiah *Sforno and Moses Ḥefez (*Gentili). Otherwise,
biblical commentary consisted largely of novellae, supercommentaries
and homiletical disquisition. Various attempts were
made, e.g., by *Judah Loew b. Bezalel of Prague, to revive the
study of the Bible, but with little effect.
Modern Times
The revival of the study of the Bible among Jews was inaugurated
by the pentateuchal commentary of Moses *Mendelssohn,
the Biur. That commentary heralded the return to the
study of the Bible per se, with emphasis upon the literal interpretation
of the Bible according to its natural meaning. Basing
itself largely upon the classic rabbinical commentators of the
Bible, Rashi, Samuel b. Meir (Rashbam), Ibn Ezra, and Naḥmanides,
it eschewed homiletical interpretation entirely and
confined itself solely to establishing the literal meaning of the
text. However, this renewed interest in the study of the Bible
was confined to scholars. The number engaged in it was small,
and it had little effect on renewing interest in the Bible, and
hardly penetrated into the consciousness of the Jewish masses.
There were theological inhibitions which prevented the introduction
of the fruits of modern biblical study, and those
scholars who did engage in it had largely to make their contributions
in European languages, in which almost all biblical
study was developed. The prohibition against women studying
Torah enunciated by R. Eliezer (Sotah 3:4) and accepted
as halakhah (YD 246:6) was regarded as applying only to the
Oral Law, and not to the Written. Women were, nevertheless,
not encouraged to study the Bible; “she should not be taught
in the first instance, but if she was so taught it is not regarded
as obscenity” (YD loc. cit. Yad. Talmud Torah 1:13). Thus there
was no special study of the Bible by women, yet the *Ẓe’enah
U-Re’enah, a midrashic exposition of the Bible in Yiddish especially
written for women, achieved an immense popularity.
An almost dramatic transformation took place with the
rise of the national movement after the end of the 19th century.
On the one hand, the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language
bible
made possible the study and teaching of the Bible in the language
in which it was written, and on the other hand, for the
first time among the Jewish masses, that study was liberated
from the theological confines to which it had been limited. A
secular approach to the Bible, which regarded it solely as the
greatest cultural and literary monument of Jewish culture, the
outstanding achievement of the Jewish people when it lived
a full national life in its own homeland, was adopted. It gave
impetus to the most striking aspect of study in modern Israel,
the restoration of the study of the Bible per se. The Bible and
its study has come into its own in modern Israel. It is studied
with equal interest both in religious and non-religious
schools, with the obvious difference, however, that whereas
in the former the religious aspect is paramount and there is a
complete absence of any reference to biblical criticism, in the
latter it is studied from the point of view of literature and history.
Its study can be regarded almost as a national pastime. It
has become a significant feature of Israel life; it is divided into
daily readings so that the entire Bible is read in the course of
the year, and those readings (for Prophets and Hagiographa),
with a topical commentary, are the subject of a daily broadcast.
Biblical “quizzes,” whether among youth, in the army, among
the general populace, or international have become a popular
feature. Criticism has been leveled against this phenomenon
in that it tends to emphasize a wide and comprehensive
knowledge of the text alone, with no consideration given to
its more profound aspects. But for the first time a public exists
which employs the language of the Bible as its vernacular
and which has a considerable knowledge of the text. As a result,
practically for the first time since biblical study became
an independent discipline, the possibility has been created for
that study to be undertaken and disseminated in Hebrew. It
has been suggested that the great enthusiasm for the Bible in
Israel is a search for roots. It is witnessed in the popular interest
in Bible conferences, in archaeological digs, in the revival of
biblical place- and personal-names. Contact with the land of
the Bible and its distinctive natural features and tangible conditions
has had a distinct influence, for example, in the fields
of topography, the history of settlement in Israel, and biblical
realia, which have been intensified in recent years.
[Louis Isaac Rabinowitz]
Bibliography: HELLENISTIC JUDAISM: J. Freudenthal, Hellenistische
Studien, 2 vols. (1874–75); J. Wieneke, Ezechielis Judaei poetae
Alexandrini fabulae… (1931); Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica,
ed. by K. Mras, 1 (1954), 419–554; 2 (1956), 165–256; English translation:
E.H. Gifford’s edition, 3 (1903); F. Jacoby (ed.), Die Fragmente
der griechischen Historiker, 3C, pt. 2 (1958), 666–713, nos. 722–37; N.
Walter, Der Thoraausleger Aristobulos (1964); Wacholder, in: HUCA,
34 (1963), 83–113; idem, in: HTR, 61 (1968), 451–81. MODERN TIMES:
M. Haran, in: Ha-Universitah, 14, no. 3 (1969), 10–12; idem, Biblical
Research in Hebrew (1970).
in christianity
Christianity began as a conventicle in Judaism, with a complete
and unquestioned acceptance of what had come to be
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 663