Karen Vinick

Due Date: 1 December 2019

Jewish Education and Jewish Studies

Summary Report - Unit 1

How to Read a Chapter of Tanakh ​and ​How To Read The Bible

Interpretation is key in being able to truly understand and become immersed in a text. It
is important to read the words and delve below the text’s surface so a personal connection can
be made with what the author is portraying. Reading a text of any kind is about becoming a part
of the story, to feel involved in what you are reading, not just to simply be a passive spectator.
Reading the Bible with that same close attention to interpretation is just as important, if not
moreso, than others because its purpose serves to help us learn how to govern our lives in a
positive manner. ​How to Read a Chapter of Tanakh a ​ nd ​How To Read The Bible ​both delved
into issues and questions in interpreting the Hebrew Bible as a means to help us create a
personal connection with the text. Both articles encourage readers to read deeply into each
nuance of the text to truly find the meaning of what the Bible is trying to teach. While both
articles make excellent points in regards to interpreting the text in a meaningful way, I also read
into their articles some issues that may make meaningful interpretation more difficult. The bible
has been used throughout history to govern people religiously, politically, culturally, and socially.
The scholars who have interpreted the bible through the ages have let so much of their own
interpretations known, that it is hard not to be clouded by them when we try to interpret the text
in a personal way for our lives. It is our job, as readers, to do our best to take what we know
from the scholars and what we know from the text to create our own personal interpretations of
the text that will be meaningful and relevant to our modern lives.

How to Read a Chapter of Tanakh ​teaches that the art of interpretation is being able to
recognize the big picture. Nechama Leibovitz argues that she does not feel teaching how to
interpret the Bible is beneficial to the reader as an individual, “Shouldn’t each individual attempt
to establish his/her own reading, a reading suitable to his/her spirit and soul?” (Leibovitz 35).
Instead, she goes on to teach that recognizing each word choice and sentence structure was
thought out and written deliberately by the authors. She backs this argument by bringing to light
the different ways Ishmael is referred to and how it gives the reader a glimpse of his
relationships with others and how he is viewed by them. Though his various epithets may seem
inconsistent at first, once you connect those epithets to who is using them, they tell a much
bigger story without having to disclose much detail. “...the epithets describing a man will vary,
intimating important issues, relationships, and ideas” (Leibovitz 43). Understanding that each
word of the Bible was written with deliberate intention gives the reader the chance to to see
each part of the bible as important. However, giving each word and phrase the same fervent
gravity creates one level and so the biggest part of the teachings may not be as apparent.
“...this intense attention is directed not only to the gravity of the words, but even to their
sequence, to the sentence structure, repetition, parallelism, to everything written - and
unwritten” (Leibovitz 36). Since the authors have put such stress on every detail, it is our job as
readers to find the important parts that will be applicable to our lives, which arguably may result
in readers overlooking the major point of the lesson due to lack of understanding or relevancy to
their own lives. However, it is our job, as teachers, to help students be able to interpret the text
so they can extract the important parts that speak to them.
Leibovitz voiced that she does not believe in telling us how to interpret the Bible because
that needs to be personal to the reader in order to connect to the text. Kugel argues in his
article, ​How To Read The Bible, t​ hat there has been so much scholarly interpretation throughout
history that our own interpretations may be clouded based on what we have been told. “​Holy
Scripture...is covered over with the debris of the traditional interpretations​…” (Briggs 664). While
Kugel argues, similarly to Leibovitz, that the Bible was written with intention and has no
mistakes, he also states that to truly understand, it must be read in a certain way to get its initial
and original meaning prior to all of the scholarly commentary. The stories in the Bible had been
passed down orally before being written down and controlled by kings, sages, and priests.
Having the writings in their possession allowed these officials used them as a means to govern
politically, religiously, culturally, and socially. Knowing that officials in charge of having to lead
mass groups of people have control of the text can already make the reader weary, wondering
whether the text had been changed at all for governmental gain even before we let ourselves be
impacted by the opinions and interpretations of the scholars. While we should keep the
interpretations of scholars in the back of our minds, I do believe, similarly to Leibovitz, the
importance of the message is in each written word.
As teachers of Jewish text, it is important to provide students with the tools to interpret,
but not the interpretations. I agree with Leibovitz in that it is not our job to teach interpretation,
but to give students enough background information on how the Bible was written that they can
interpret the text on their own. While recognizing that each word and phrase was written with
deliberate intention (Leibovitz), and recognizing that there is not one imperfect word or phrase
throughout (Kugel), it may seem daunting when trying to interpret the text. However, this also
gives the reader the ability to find importance in everything. Seeing every part of the Bible as
important and deliberate is necessary in making sure there will be at least one part of the bible,
ideally many more, that will be relevant, important, and life changing to all people.