Sacred Body: Readings in Jewish Literary Illumination

Sacred Body: Readings in Jewish Literary Illumination explores how Jewish texts, narratives, and cultural practices emphasize the "everyday sacred" of a dynamic earthly existence, celebrating life-affirming decisions, actions, and relationships while avoiding abstraction, metaphysics, and apocalypticism. According to Roberta Sabbath, this tradition, known as Jewish literary illumination, expresses Jewishness in mythic, proto-historic, legalistic, mystical, philosophical, and aesthetic forms.

Format: Hardback
Length: 216 pages
Publication date: 15 April 2023
Publisher: Lexington Books

Sacred Body: Readings in Jewish Literary Illumination delves into a profound exploration of Jewish texts, narratives, and cultural practices, offering fresh and insightful interpretations that shed light on the intricate relationship between the "sacred" and the divine. By emphasizing the "everyday sacred" of a dynamic earthly existence, this book challenges the traditional notion of the "sacred" being solely associated with the transcendent. It celebrates life-affirming decisions, actions, and relationships while avoiding abstraction, metaphysics, and apocalypticism.

In her book, Roberta Sabbath argues that a diverse array of Jewish artifacts, ranging from sacred scripture to contemporary novels and ballet performances, articulate a tradition that has existed for millennia in mythic, proto-historic, legalistic, mystical, philosophical, and aesthetic expressions of Jewishness. She refers to this tradition as Jewish literary illumination, and through her deft demonstration, she showcases how it illuminates the central message of Judaism: that earthly existence and the body are not only the realm of the physical but also the site of the spiritual and the sacred.

Through a rich tapestry of literary examples, Sacred Body: Readings in Jewish Literary Illumination invites readers to explore the profound connections between the body, the earthly realm, and the divine. It encourages us to embrace the richness of Jewish tradition and to recognize the spiritual significance of our daily lives. This book serves as a valuable resource for scholars, students, and anyone interested in delving deeper into the complexities of Jewish spirituality and its relationship to the human experience.

Weight: 431g
Dimension: 239 x 158 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781666907964