The JPS Torah Commentary series guides readers through the words and ideas of the Torah. Each volume is the work of a scholar who stands at the pinnacle of his field. Every page contains the complete traditional Hebrew text, with cantillation notes, the JPS translation of the Holy Scriptures, aliyot breaks, Masoretic notes, and commentary by a distinguished Hebrew Bible scholar, integrating classical and modern sources. Each volume also contains supplementary essays that elaborate upon key words and themes, a glossary of commentators and sources, extensive bibliographic notes, and maps.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This book is okay, a competent commentary on Genesis. My only two reservations concern the non-availability of a paperback version (a reasonable consideration if one wanted to buy the whole JPS series on a limited budget), and, perhaps more importantly, the relative lack of specifically Jewish perspective. I couldn't distinguish a lot of the comments from what you might find in more rigorous detail in the Anchor or Word commentaries (two scholarly Christian series with a tendancy to higherish criticism). This is particularly noticeable in the pre-Abrahamic section of the book where the commentary is influenced more by modern views on the relation of Genesis to Canaanite myth than by traditional reverence for the text. This is obviously a question of personal preference but I find myself making more use of, and getting more from, Hertz's Pentateuch and Haftorahs. There is not much here in Sarna's Genesis that is not also found in Ephraim Speiser's (Anchor) or George Wenham's (Word).
Format:Hardcover
I'm just a layperson but have read through several commentaries, The Stone Chumash, The Plaut Commentary, and parts of others, and the J.P.S. Nahum Sarna Genesis Commentary is my favorite. All the commentaries are wonderful to read, but I personally find Mr. Sarna's approach a nice balance of reverence and scholarhip. I find it a fascinating mix of historical information, interpretive possibilities, and theologic implications. (And I overspent for my copy, buying it in a bookstore).
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This is simply a magnificant work! This contains the complete Hebrew text of Genesis, the JPS's new English translation, and an extensive original commentary that illuminates the text like a 1000 watt searchlight. On average, each four or five lines of text gets a full page of explanation and commentary, so every subject gets covered in detail.
Sarna, like all the JPS Torah commentators, makes use of traditional rabbinic commentaries, and the Mishna, Midrash and Talmud. But it doesn't end here: The commentary goes on to make good use of literary analysis and comparative Semitics; intertextual commentary relating each book to other biblical books, and evidence from modern archaeological, discoveries.
It manages to be respectful, religious, and authentic to the Jewish tradition, while at the same time rigorously adhering to the highest standards of biblical criticism and intellectual honesty.
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