The Valediction of Moses: A Proto-Biblical Book by Idan Dershowitz (review)

Abstract

elsewhere, she makes reference to The Onion and The Daily Show; and throughout the book, she includes a variety of playful asides (e.g., “and with the reappearance of our trusty genre toolbox!” [202]; “It seems unfair to end this chapter without at least waving to the elephant in the room” [223]). This more personal tone also emerges in her expressions of modesty, as when she acknowledges that her prior treatment of the Temple Scroll was perhaps “too simplistic” (48), or notes (too humbly, in my opinion) that with her monograph, she seeks “to advance a conversation rather than to pretend to have the final word“ (227). These types of remarks are not simply refreshing; they also cumulatively work to make Zahn’s argument more compelling, as she emerges as a real person: always refining her own ideas; trying to propose better ways of explaining what we have; and eager to contribute to ongoing conversations, not dominate them. In this sense, Zahn’s book is exemplary not just for its readability and its persuasive efforts to reframe discussions of textuality in Second Temple Judaism and beyond, but also for the ways in which it exemplifies what a scholar can and should be.