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Jewish Quarterly Review 96.2 (2006) 250-261



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Jewish Myths between Text and Ethnography:

On Michael Fishbane's Biblical Myth and Rabbinic Mythmaking

The Concept of Myth has been discussed in Jewish studies almost since its beginning. While in those initial steps discussions about myth adhered solely to the Hebrew Bible, during the next stages of the development of Jewish studies the discussion expanded to other periods of Jewish culture, raising new questions and issues, so much so that it became almost an independent discipline. Still, when a seminal study on Jewish myths is published, one that covers three successive periods—the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic literature, and medieval Kabbalah—and opens major theoretical and historical questions for a new discussion, this is undoubtedly a scholarly event. Such a book has been written by Michael Fishbane. While the long-term impact of this important study cannot be foreseen, we should not refrain from an attempt to assess the contribution of such a central publication.

The outstanding contribution of this study is its range. Fishbane delves into three complex historical periods that, in spite of great differences, are connected to each other in overt and covert relationships. One obvious link is tradition; each period builds on the motifs, thought structures, and models of the prior generations. It is impossible to understand the mythical creativity of the Kabbalah without the mythical derashah (sermon) in the Talmud and midrash; or, in turn, the mythical thinking in rabbinic literature without the foundations built in the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible is another link binding all three eras. Fishbane also looks at the sustained and evolving apperception of the one God—an image that is the basis of the mythic worldview—as well as particular themes such as the struggle of God with the primaeval creatures, and the participation of God in the nation's sufferings.

Despite its scope, the book does not neglect the details. We could say [End Page 250] that here, no doubt, God is found in the details. The author did not rely for his arguments on this or that representative text but brings another text and another one, each one with detailed explication founded on the severest philological principles: the manuscripts, the language, the sources, the variants, the background. One of the truly impressive characteristics of this book is the fact that its author never surrenders to any temptation toward popularization. The book is difficult and rigorous, demanding maximum concentration and professionalism. The best example for that is appendix 2, "The Term Kivyakhol and its Uses." In this appendix, Fishbane collects all the instances of the term from every existing source in manuscript or printed book and examines the context and place of each among the other instances of the term. He also categorizes all the instances according to their themes and forms and assesses their function and meaning in Jewish culture. This is exemplary philological research, and only very few like it have been published in recent years. In conclusion, this read is not easy going, and is not intended to be.

One of the main interests of the study is its reassessment of the concept of "the monotheistic myth." This concept changes, in many aspects, the way we understand myths in Jewish culture, and not only in the Hebrew Bible, where Fishbane uses it the most. The general scholarly understanding of biblical myths (and in many cases of those in rabbinic literature as well) is that they are either "fragments" or "remnants" of pagan myths, or "metaphors" through which creators of Jewish myths tried to express other ideas. This sort of reading has dominated Jewish studies for decades, and I myself used this approach in my studies of biblical myths.1 According to this paradigm, biblical myths were not living expressions of biblical religiousity but either were inserted there incidentally, as remnants of older, primitive religions, or should be grasped as rhetorical models, used as vehicles to express other religious truths. With the help of dozens of examples taken from these...

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