New Commentary on the Haftarot

With the publication of Nahum Sarna's commentary on Genesis in 1989, the Jewish Publication Society inaugurated its JPS Bible Commentary series in an effort to provide readers with a set of sophisticated volumes of Jewish Bible commentary that employ a combination of traditional and modern critical perspectives. The publication of volumes on the Torah is now complete, and the series has entered its second stage with the publication of commentaries on biblical books that play an important role in Jewish liturgy alongside the Torah: the five Megillot and Jonah, which are read at major Jewish festivals; and the haftarot readings from the Prophets, which are read together with the Torah portion for every Shabbat and festival. Presumably, commentaries on the books of the Prophets and the Writings as a whole will follow in successive stages.

The significance of a series that combines traditional and modern Jewish scholarship must not be overlooked. Earlier Jewish series were either very brief, such as the venerable Soncino Books of the Bible; or entirely traditional in their orientation, such as the more recent ArtScroll series or the Judaica Books of the Bible. In this respect, modern Jewish Bible commentary has lagged behind its Christian or secular counterparts as represented in series such as the Anchor Bible, Berit Olam, the Forms of the Old Testament Literature, Hermeneia, and the Old Testament Library, although Jewish authors and series editors appear in increasing numbers in each of these series and others as well. Many other series are explicitly Christian, such as the Word Bible Commentary, Interpretation, and the New International Commentary on the Old Testament; or they have not yet published volumes by Jewish authors, such as the International Critical Commentary or the New Century Bible. By presenting an explicitly Jewish commentary that draws on both traditional and modern sources, the JPS Bible Commentary intentionally asserts Judaism's identity as a modern, forward-looking tradition that employs and grapples with perspectives from the past and the present in its efforts to chart a course for the future. A similar impulse is evident in the publication of the modern Hebrew Mikra Leyisraʾel series; indeed, there is an interrelationship between the two series, as volumes in each have been translated for publication in the other.

It is with this in mind that we turn to Michael Fishbane's volume on the haftarot. Jews encounter the Prophets first and foremost in the liturgical reading of the haftarot together with the Torah in Shabbat and festival services. Although we have read prophetic books as a whole throughout our history, as evidenced by the extensive commentaries by Rashi, Radak, Ibn Ezra, and many others, we have reserved systematic public readings of entire books of Scripture for the Torah, the Megillot, Jonah, and Obadiah—but even the last three are read together with Torah. Indeed, the haftarot are not read to understand the Prophets in and of themselves—we do not even read prophetic books such as Nahum, Zephaniah, and Haggai at all in a public liturgical setting. They are read primarily as a means to understand Torah. Because of the primary interest in Torah interpretation, even commentaries on the haftarot have been relatively rare. Fishbane notes the relative absence of commentaries on the haftarot and states that his purpose in writing this commentary is "to help fill this striking cultural gap and thus serve the liturgical, intellectual, and religious interests of the contemporary Jewish community" (xxxi). He further indicates his concern "to foster and develop a mode of biblical literacy that might transform the words of the Prophets . . . into words of living instruction." Although such a sophisticated biblical literacy is growing rapidly among Jews in North America, Israel, and elsewhere, the recent flap over Rabbi David Wolpe's observations—based on modern critical scholarship, that the Exodus narrative does not represent, strictly speaking, an entirely historical event—points to the need for such literacy.

Fishbane's volume appears to be aimed at a highly sophisticated Jewish reading audience. That audience would include...