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T H E J E W I S H QUA R T E R LY RE V I E W, Vol. 94, No. 1 (Winter 2004) 162–163 BARUCH J. SCHWARTZ. Torat ha-kedushah: ‘Iyyunim ba-h .ukkah ha-kohanit sheba-Torah (The Holiness Legislation: Studies in the Priestly Code). Jerusalem : Magnes Press, 1999. Pp. 448. In this book, a complete revision and restructuring of his Hebrew University dissertation, Baruch J. Schwartz applies the method of ‘‘Total Interpretation,’’ heralded by Meir Weiss, to legal material. He draws a sharp distinction between literary compositions and legal texts and argues that because the legal texts in the Bible exhibit rhetorical and literary features, they should be considered literary texts, not legal ones. This seems to me to be a false distinction because texts from all genres may exhibit literary features. It would be more accurate to argue that in order to illuminate the meaning and significance of legal texts more fully, interpreters need to pay closer attention to their literary features. Prophetic, narrative, and poetic texts from the Bible have all justifiably been analyzed in this way, and legal texts should be next in line. Schwartz shows that biblical legal texts exhibit multiple formulations, unexpected contexts, and unusual word choices that require closer analysis than has been done in the past. These features are not mere ornamentation but are a means of rhetorical expression that the legislator has consciously chosen in order to impart his theology. As a result, Schwartz chooses to elucidate the program of P and H in his analysis rather than plot a historical development from one to the other. Schwartz offers a close reading of Lev 17–19. He does not provide a verse-by-verse commentary of these chapters but rather he offers discussion and analysis of pertinent issues raised in them. Schwartz does not make clear why he has selected these particular chapters. Do they form a unit? Do they cohere in some way? Are they a representative selection of the Pentateuchal document H? Was this book the beginning of a more extensive work on all of H? Whatever Schwartz’s reasoning, his selection of these chapters with their varied content allows him to comment on many features of the theology of P and H. He shows a tremendous sensitivity to nuances in the text and to the concepts that inform Lev 17–19 as well as the Pentateuchal sources P and H. Let a few examples suffice to show the fruit of Schwartz’s labor. He reveals that in Lev 17, blood serves as ransom for the life of a person who eats blood. Elsewhere in the Priestly literature, blood purifies sacred objects and places from the impurities and sins of the Israelites. This SCHWARTZ, THE HOLINESS LEGISLATION—BARMASH 163 difference originates in the function of the passage on blood in Lev 17 in its rhetorical and literary context. The consumption of any blood, not just that of sacrifices, is forbidden. Anyone who consumes blood is subject to the death penalty and the blood serves as a way of redeeming his life. This theological innovation was enabled by the alternative meaning of the verb kipper, ‘‘to give ransom,’’ a meaning that does not appear in regard to the expiatory sacrifices, and was expressed by putting in a sacrificial context the expression kipper ‘al ha-nefesh, which elsewhere appears only in contexts in which ransom is to be given to redeem a life. A unique expression and play on words generates the idea that God allows (noten) the ransom because he is the one who gives (noten) the blood on the altar as a means of ransom. Schwartz argues that the laws in Lev 19 are associated through the concept of kedusha, holiness. Some of them are explicitly described as such in Lev 19. Others are associated in other contexts with the root k-dsh , and that is the reason why they are placed next to one another in a single unit, Lev 19, whose leading word is ‘‘holiness,’’ kedusha. In Lev 19, the fruit of the fourth year is called ‘‘that which is set aside (kodesh) for jubilation’’ (Lev 19:24) and, therefore, may not...

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