Description
Book Synopsis"The Wisdom of Love" strives to challenge the discrepancy between the way source texts relate to love and the way they are perceived to do so, introducing readers to the extensive, profound, and significant treatment of love in the Jewish canon. This is a book about love, not its repression; it is an opportunity to study the wisdom of love, not those who lack such wisdom and are unlikely to ever acquire it. The book brings about not only a change in perception - recognising the existence of the wisdom of love per se - but also the realisation that this wisdom is the very foundation of religious wisdom as a whole, rather than a peripheral branch of it. All love derives from a single source: love between man and woman. It is from this source that all other manifestations of love, such as love of God, love of wisdom, love of one's fellow, draw their meaning.
Trade Review"Rabbi Dr. Naftali Rothenberg of the Van Leer Institute of Jerusalem explores another religious approach to these issues in “The Wisdom of Love: Man, Woman and God in Jewish Canonical Literature”. He finds that the Bible, Talmud, Midrash and halacha (Jewish law) devote considerable attention to love and that much of rabbinic tradition treats love’s spiritual and physical aspects without inhibition. His study exposes a cognitive dissonance between what the Jewish canon says and what we expect our holy texts to say. The book celebrates love as a classical rabbinic ideal, and it is as rare as it is refreshing: scholarly, yet eminently readable; spiritual, yet sober." -- Eugene Korn, editor of Meorot: A Forum for Modern Orthodox Discourse and American, director of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation in Efrat, Israel.
"Spiritual and physical love between men and women are important parts of Jewish religious canons. They appear frequently in the Bible, and are therefore the subject of much analysis in works like the Talmud, the Midrash and mystical works like the Zohar. How these canonical works treat love is not well known nor well documented outside of small scholarly and religious circles. With this book, Rabbi Naftali Rothenberg, a senior research fellow at the Van Leer Institute of Jerusalem, reaches out to a broader audience. Though based on significant scholarship, Rabbi Rothenberg's presentation of the various interpretations offered in the canons is for those who want to understand and appreciate, rather than those conducting in-depth research." -- Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR
Table of ContentsContents:PrefaceIntroduction: Love in the Canonical Literature: Dealing with Cognitive DissonanceSection I: The Androgyne - Unity; Separation; Desire and Unity1. The Androgyne Myth According to Plato 2. Male and Female Unity, Primordial Sin and Rebellion against the Gods3. In the Midrash: Androgynous Adam4. In the Kabbalah: An Eternal/Divine, Spiritual and Human Androgyne5. The Rebirth of the Androgyne: Judah Abravanel Cites Plato and Moses6. Summary: The Power of Myths Section II: A Profile of the Sage of Love1. Introduction: The Philosopher as Sage of Love2. The Love of Rachel3. The Sage of Love A"RescuesA" The Song of Songs4. Practice and Theory in the Wisdom of Love5. The Sage and Temptation 6. Love thy Fellow as the Basis of Human Socialisation7. Optimism out of Love8. Ultimate Love9. The Orchard of Love10. Summary: The Universal SageSection III: The Sage of Unconsummated Love: Judah Abravanel's Dialoghi d'amore1. Introduction: Philo and Sophia2. The Sage's Desire3. Love as a Universal Phenomenon4. The Paradox of Abstract Perception5. Love and Beauty6. When and where was Love Born?7. Unconsummated LoveSection IV: Written by Men for Men: Feminist Revolution and Innovation in the Canonical Sources1. Introduction: Identifying Revolutionary and Innovative Approaches in Cultural Sources2. A Monogamous Message to a Polygamous Culture 3. Onah: The Obligation to Have Sex for Pleasure 4. The Love Relationship as Perfection: The End of Male Exclusivity 5. Summary: Innovation and the NormSection V: Contrast and Harmony in the Love Relationship - On Spirituality and Abstinence1. Introduction: The Dualistic Approach2. Marriage and Intellectual Growth: Help or Hindrance?3. Categorical Rejection: Abstinence is Punishable by Death!4. The Dilemma of Abstinence for Individuals on a High Spiritual Plane5. Moses' Abstinence6. Abstinence as a Precondition for Love in the Philosophy of Rabbi Bahya Ibn Pakuda7. Rabbi Judah Halevy's Rejection of Abstinence8. Summary: Maintaining BalanceBibliographyIndex
