This dissertation examines Jewish exegesis of the book of Job to two ends. First, it explores four topics previous generations of scholars left unstudied or incompletely examined. Second, it uses the results of these studies to describe the history of the Jewish tradition of Job exegesis from the period of the Talmud until the present. / Chapter 1 provides a review of the scholarly literature treating various aspects of Job exegesis from antiquity to the post-Holocaust period and highlights a number of issues in need of further study. / Chapter 2 argues that Wertheimer's reconstruction of Midrash Iyov, although unlikely an accurate presentation of a rabbinic original, preserves a number of authentic rabbinic sources. In contrast to the known tradition these preserve a laudatory view of Job that appears to have been suppressed. / Chapter 3 contextualizes the rabbinic exegesis of Job. Earlier scholars argued that the rabbinic interpretation of Job was shaped by anti-Christian and anti-Gentile attitudes, and that it responded to Christian exegesis. These studies were challenged because historical evidence for this Jewish-Christian discussion was lacking. In response to this challenge, this chapter provides additional evidence and argues that the discussion did take place. The two participants were the fourth century Babylonian Jewish sage Rava and his Christian contemporary Aphrahat. A comparison of their comments on Job establishes a relationship between the two and substantiates earlier scholarly claims. / Chapter 4 explores the relationship between the Zohar's exegesis of Job and that of Maimonides and Nahmanides. The research concludes that the Zohar's interpretation is a weaving of these two scholars' views and presents Job as one who suffered because he was ignorant of mystical secrets. / Chapter 5 examines the interpretation of Job in the post-Holocaust period. It argues that in contrast to the pre-Holocaust tradition, which blamed Job for what happened to him, post-Holocaust thinkers have not allowed the victim to be blamed. These thinkers have preferred to challenge God rather than Job. / Concerned with the second objective of the present study, chapter 6 provides an outline of the major trends in Jewish Job exegesis. In the Second Temple period Job was described as a pious figure to be emulated. The earliest rabbis maintained this view. By the late third or early fourth centuries, Christian valorization of Job led to Jewish negation of his importance. This led to the depiction of Job as a blasphemer deserving of divine punishment. The view of Job as a less than innocent victim was preserved but modified in various ways in the middle ages (by mystics, philosophers, and peshat exegetes), and was perpetuated through the mid-twentieth century. Only the Holocaust forced a reevaluation of this view. Job was able to have his righteousness restored in an age when interpreters understood, by virtue of their own experiences, that the innocent could truly suffer unjustly.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.85173 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Kalman, Jason |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Jewish Studies.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002223593, proquestno: AAINR12866, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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