Defining Jewish Difference From Antiquity to the Present [Paperback]

Berkowitz shows that interpretation of Leviticus 18:3 provides an essential backdrop for today's conversations about Jewish assimilation and minority identity.This book traces the interpretive history of Leviticus 18:3, a biblical verse that forbids Israel from imitating its neighbors.Berkowitz shows that ancient, medieval, and modern interpretation of this verse provides an essential backdrop for today's conversations about Jewish assimilation and minority identity more generally. The book makes an innovative contribution to three major areas of scholarly interest: Jewish culture, the history of ethnicity and religion, and Bible interpretation.This book traces the interpretive history of Leviticus 18:3, a biblical verse that forbids Israel from imitating its neighbors.Berkowitz shows that ancient, medieval, and modern interpretation of this verse provides an essential backdrop for today's conversations about Jewish assimilation and minority identity more generally. The book makes an innovative contribution to three major areas of scholarly interest: Jewish culture, the history of ethnicity and religion, and Bible interpretation.This book traces the interpretive career of Leviticus 18:3, a verse that forbids Israel from imitating its neighbors. Beth A. Berkowitz shows that ancient, medieval, and modern exegesis of this verse provides an essential backdrop for today's conversations about Jewish assimilation and minority identity more generally. The story of Jewishness that this book tells may surprise many modern readers for whom religious identity revolves around ritual and worship. In Lev. 18:3's story of Jewishness, sexual practice and cultural habits instead loom large. The readings in this book are on a micro-level, but their implications are far-ranging: Berkowitz transforms both our notion of Bible-reading and our sense of how Jews have defined Jewishness.1. Introduction: law, identity, and Leviticus 18:3; 2. The question of Israelite distinctiveness: parl³.