The JPS Tanakh: Gender Sensitive Edition ed. by David E. S. Stein, Beth Lieberman, and Hilary Lipka (review)

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Reviewed by:

• The JPS Tanakh: Gender Sensitive Edition ed. by David E. S. Stein, Beth Lieberman, and Hilary Lipka
• Zev Garber

The JPS Tanakh: Gender Sensitive Edition. Edited by David E. S. Stein, Beth Lieberman, and Hilary Lipka. Translated by Job Y. Yindo. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press as a Jewish Publication Society book, 2023. Pp. 1752. $39.95.

A consistent and persistent belief article among Jewish and Christian traditionalists is that Sacred Scripture is the revealed, inerrant word of the Lord, which biblical criticism can assault but never wreck asunder. Nonetheless, in recent decades a growing number of traditionalists see benefit in the inroads made by rationalist thinking and modernist categories of thought. For example, [End Page 290] conjoining advocacy of Creatio ex Nihilo and creation of all life, and scientific Big Bang theory, and evolution. Faith and criticism combine in the JPS Tanakh: Gender Sensitive Edition (RJPS, Revised Jewish Publication Society) to assess the life and thought of ancient Israelite people and religion as narrated in the Hebrew Bible, which is distinguished by a trifold agenda.

First, a careful reading of the classical teachings of Ancient Near East culture, people, and religion suggests a context of understanding and evaluating the metaphysical, epistemological, and moral assumptions of the Tanakh. Second is the application of selected teachings from contemporary enlightened methodology and thought to the context of biblical myth and saga, song and proverbs, history and legislation can uncover hidden layers of biblical religion, ethics, and morality. Jewish and Christian Bible translations and sources are consulted and cited. Third, RJPS incorporates advances in scholarship and changes in English while maintaining utmost fidelity to the original Hebrew in thought but not in translation. Gender-inclusive renderings where appropriate and called for historically and linguistically highlight this gender-sensitive, faith-reflected edition. The objective is to show that the authoritative, inerrant way of Jews and Christians for Torah biblical tradition need not fear additional linguistics and philology in upgrading the translation of the Tanakh into acceptable contemporary gender-sensitive English idiom and mode. Translation and countless notes and references are Jewish-oriented and Judeo-Christian friendly. This precise and concise updated English translation and notes of the Hebrew Bible satisfactorily fulfills its goal. Nonetheless, I will mention three important issues that need to be developed further for clarification and understanding.

Dual Torah

Various biblical verses point to the Pentateuch as "Torah" distinct from the rest of the scriptures. The verse, "Moses charged us with the Teaching (Torah) as the heritage of the congregation of Jacob" (Dt. 33:4), suggests the inalienable importance of Torah to Israel: It is to be transmitted from age to age. This transmission has become the major factor for the unity of the Jewish people throughout their wanderings. The rabbis of the Talmud kept the Torah alive and made its message relevant in different regions and times. This has been done by means of the rabbinic hermeneutic of a dual Torah read into verses from the book of Exodus. The rabbis find the hook to their oral Torah in the very words of the written Torah itself. Regarding God's words to Moses on the covenantal relationship between God and Israel, it is said in Exodus, "Write down (ktav) these words, for in accordance ('al pi; literally, "by the mouth") with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel" (Ex. 34:27). "I will [End Page 291] give you the stone tablets with the teachings (torah) and commandments which I have inscribed (ktav-ti) to instruct (by word of mouth) them" (Ex. 24:12).

The Sages saw the words "write" and "accordance" and "instruct" as the legitimate warrant for the written Torah (Torah shebiktav) and the oral Torah (Torah shehb`al peh). In their view, the written Torah of Moses is eternal. The oral Torah is the application of the written Torah to forever-changing historic situations, which continue to uncover new levels of depth and meaning and thus make new facets of Judaism visible and meaningful in each generation. The rabbis find written and oral word complements, which complement written and oral Torah in the text of the Torah. It is seen...