The Jewish Law Annual (review)

Hebrew Studies 33 (1992) 136 Reviews The sixth and fmal chapter outlines Hasel's proposal for a multiplex approach to OT theology. In theory, his proposal is laudable for taking into consideration all the different types of approaches and synthesizing them. However, it remains to be seen whether anyone will be able to carry it out. No doubt numerous fruitful studies on various aspects of OT theology will continue to be published, but incorporating all of them into a unified whole would seem to be a Herculean task. I have used the third edition as a text for seminary classes and found it to be most helpful. I look forward to using this new edition in the future. Christopher W. Mitchell Concordia Seminary St. Louis. MO 63105 THE JEWISH LAW ANNUAL. Vol. 9. Bernard S. Jackson, ed. Pp. 300. New York: Harwood Academic, 1991. Cloth, $65.00. As with previous volumes in this series, the present one, too, is devoted to a symposium on a specific topic: criminal law as it bears specifically on the relationship between husband and wife. This topic occupies Part One of the tripartite volume. Part Two is the "Chronicle" section and is devoted to a survey of "both contemporary developments in Jewish law and legal issues in other systems (national and international) particularly affecting Jewish concerns" (p. 1). Here we find a survey by J. D. Bleich of "Contemporary Halakhah" regarding the treatment of checks in years of shemitah (pp. 235-250) and a survey by D. B. Sinclair of "Jewish Law in the State of Israel" which deals with (1) "Custody and the Role of Women in Their Children's Education"; (2) "Brain Death"; (3) "Conscientious Objection"; and (4) "Registration of a Convert" (pp. 251-267). Part Three offers the reader a succinct "Survey of Recent Literature" organized in topics (pp. 271-300). We are promised by the editor that the next volume will contain an index of the surveys published to date. A "Review Column" will also be initiated in the next volume. Part One opens with the voluminous article of S. M. Passamaneck, "Aspects of Physical Violence against Persons in Karo's Shu/ban Arukh" (pp. 4-106) which deals with the subject in two parts. "The first part is a descriptive overview of the subject based on a taxonomy of the mate- Hebrew Studies 33 (1992) 137 Reviews rial ... ," and the second contains "a translation and annotation of chapters of Shu/ban Arukh 1:Ioshen Mishpat which treat the matter of violence of persons" (p. 8). The following article of P. Segal, "Postbiblical Jewish Criminal Law and Theology" (pp. 107-121) studies the issue of "divine jurisdiction" in the Tannaitic period with its biblical antecedents. The main question in this issue concerns the relationship between the legal system and the divine realm, especially when it comes to practical matters involved in the application of the law. The author suggests that "divine jurisdiction" originated in priestly circles, and therefore death by the divine hand was in fact death at the hands of the priests who were God's representatives on earth. The theme of this article has bearing on the important issue of the biblical kiiret penalty, the definitive interpretation of which still evades scholars. A. Kirschenbaum's article, "The Role of Punishment in Jewish Criminal Law: A Chapter in Rabbinic Penological Thought" (pp. 123-143), tackles the question of the virtual impracticality of Jewish law in the realm of crime and punishment. The author raises the question as to how the rabbis could by-pass scriptural injunctions regarding capital punishment and render execution virtually impossible in practice. What was their penology theory? Several approaches to this question are reviewed. The author puts forward the following argument: "The rabbis of the Talmud and their medieval successors regarded the criminal law of the Torah as primarily a mighty instrument of character training, religious indoctrination and spiritual edification, and only secondarily (and sometimes not at all) as of practical import" (p. 127). This understanding of the essence of scriptural law in the eyes of the rabbis is very important and has grave implications with regard to the thorny question of the identity and purpose...