The Kingly Sanctuary: An Exploration of Some Underlying Principles of Judaism, for a Jewish Student who has Become Disillusioned
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The Kingly Sanctuary: An Exploration of Some Underlying Principles of Judaism, for a Jewish Student who has Become Disillusioned
After learning the basics of Judaism, Judd Lewis, a graduate student in literature, felt he had to learn more. He dropped out of graduate school and enrolled full-time in an Israeli yeshiva. Now four years have passed and Judd is disillusioned. He confronts his former teacher and mentor, a Syrian Jew knowledgeable in Judaism, with a barrage of questions: Why do so many things in the Talmud seem to be just clever arguments? Doesn’t anyone care about what is really true? Did Moses really write the Torah? Why doesn’t yeshiva study ever face up to the challenges of science, of biblical criticism, and other aspects of the modern world? Most of all, where is “the reality of ha-Shem†in all this—shouldn’t that be the whole point of studying? Their dialogue, sometimes angry, sometimes humorous, ultimately touches on the most basic issues in Judaism, as Judd and his mentor each strive to convince the other of their very different views. This is a book for people of all kinds: yeshiva students and yeshiva dropouts, the pious and the not-so-pious, and any ordinary reader eager to sit in on a seminar in Advanced Judaism.
Praise for James Kugel: “Kugel has a fine ear for narrative, a lifelong scholar’s discipline, and a wonder and confidence fed by his beliefs. His gathering up of a life’s work gives readers a chance to brush up against genius, and perhaps examine those beliefs we claim for ourselves.†The Seattle Times “[Kugel,] far more than just a scholar, is above all a reader and knows that, even more than knowledge, taste, and discrimination, the most important thing to bring to a text is oneself: not a part of oneself, but the whole, entirely focused and entirely open, read to give and take all. To be able to read in this way is a rare gift, and Mr. Kugel, who can also write, has it.†Hillel Halkin, The Forward “Mr. Kugel’s enormous undertaking [The Bible As It Was], is likely to be seen as a milestone in the long critical history of Bible studies. . . But while Mr. Kugel’s book is deeply grounded in scholarship, it is written with a straightforwardness and even an occasional wryness that makes it widely accessible, a pleasure to read.†Richard Bernstein, The New York Times “Perhaps the most famous living controversial Apikores [heretic] in the world is professor James Kugel, formerly of Harvard University, and now teaching at an Israeli University.†Voz Is Neias (Yiddish: What’s News?), an internet blog.
James Kugel: Starr Professor of Hebrew Literature at Harvard University from 1982 to 2003, Kugel retired from Harvard to become Professor of Bible at Bar Ilan University in Israel, where he also served as chairman of the Department of Bible. A specialist in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Kugel is the author of more than seventy research articles and thirteen books, including The Idea of Biblical Poetry, On Being a Jew, The Bible As It Was (winner of the Grawemeyer Prize in Religion), How to Read the Bible (awarded the National Jewish Book Award for the best book of 2007), and In the Valley of the Shadow. He is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and Editor in chief of Jewish Studies: an Internet Journal.
