325Index
1 Kings: 18:45, 42; 19, 308
1 Samuel: 1:17, 107; 9:9, 115; 9:18, 115; 10:20 – 21,
308; 15: 22, 132; 25:9, 146
2 Samuel: 20:19, 145; 22, 186 – 87
Abram/Abraham (patriarch), 20 – 22, 47 – 48,
61n1, 149 – 50, 153, 308; legacy and teach-
ings, 128 – 29, 132; as a literary device,
288 – 89
Abravanel, Don Isaac, 88, 93
Abudarham, 25
Accounts of the Creation and the Chariot, 133
ad litteram reading of biblical texts, 111
Aft er Childhood, 293
aggadah and aggadic interpretations, 42, 44,
65 – 66, 141. See also midrash and mid-
rashic interpretations
Agnon, S. Y., 288
Ahab (king), 310
Ahad Ha’Am, 232 – 33
Akiva (rabbi), 49, 53, 58 – 60
“Al hamizbe’ah” (on the altar), 288, 296n21
Allon, Yigal, 301
Alter, Robert, 281 – 82
Amital, Yehuda, 269 – 71
‘Anan ben David, 95
angels, 161
anthropomorphism, 124, 131, 159 – 61, 163 – 67
antirationalism. See rationalism and
rationalists
Apocrypha, 11n3
“Aqud” (bound), 287 – 88
Arabic language and culture, 81 – 83, 86.
See also Islam and Islamists; Judaeo-
Arabic culture
Aramaic translation (targum), 27 – 28, 36 – 37,
45n7
Aristotle, 125
Aschkenasy, Nehama, 282
atonement and repentance, 22 – 24. See also
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
authority, 98, 295. See also scripture(s);
Talmud(s)
authorship of Torah, 205 – 6, 268 – 69. See also
Moses
Baal Shem Tov, 168 – 69
Babylonian exile, 305. See also Ezra and
Nehemiah
Babylonian Talmud (BT), 4, 32, 111; Avodah
Zarah 36a, 145; Bava Batra 14b – 15a, 114 – 15;
Kiddushin 21b, 272; Makkot 24a, 255; Megil-
lah 3:10, 29n5; Sanhedrin 64b, 137n2; Shab-
bat 31a, 45n4; Shabbat 63a, 110; Shabbat
88b – 89a, 175n4; Sotah 16a, 111
Th e Battle, 290
Ben-Aharon, Yariv, 290
Ben Gurion, David, 281, 314
“the Besht.” See Baal Shem Tov
Bialik, Haim Nahman, 285, 296n21, 299
Bible/biblical literature, 1 – 7, 11n4, 13n23,
29n1, 94 – 96, 257, 260. See also scripture(s);
Tanakh; approaches and assumptions, 66 –
69, 77n8, 95, 97, 204, 305 – 12; canonization
of (see canon and canonization); as cul-
tural or historical artifact, 96 – 97, 232, 235,
240, 242; distancing from/drawing close
to, 302 – 3, 307 – 10; hypertextual qualities,
68 – 75, 311 – 12; interpreting, 49 – 50, 88 – 89,
110 – 12, 124, 195 – 97, 252 – 53, 311 – 12 (see also
biblical exegesis; midrash and midrashic
interpretations); language (see scriptural
language); national development/iden-
tity and, 280, 286 – 95; printing, eff ect of,
13 – 14n25, 15; secularization of, 301 – 3; the
synagogue and, 15 – 27; unity of, 67 – 75, 309;
vocalization of, 77 – 78n10; Zionism and, 7,
241, 299 – 301
biblical criticism and critics, 203 – 29,
248, 300; Breuer/Orthodox movement
and, 210 – 12, 267 – 69, 273 – 77; Conservative
movement and, 209 – 10, 217;