Graded Holiness: A Key to the Priestly Conception of the World (review)

Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 160 Reviews interests of the child, for now girls also study Torah, even in the Orthodox world. Thus, if that is a ground (even if not the sole one) for a custody decision , it could argue for placing children of both genders with the parent that can finance their education! Shifman does not dwell on this, for the whole point of his article is that contemporary Israeli law forbids rabbinic courts to award custody solely on the grounds of which partner is more likely to raise the child in a religious way; they must rather be governed by all aspects of the child's welfare-although, as he points out, in practice this only means that religious courts must be clever enough to couch their religious concerns in language about the child's welfare. In what is a fascinating case study of the interaction of legal and moral norms, Elimelech Westreich discusses the normative status of the father's duty to maintain his children. While most Israeli Amoraim saw it as a legal obligation stemming from an enactment of Usha in 150 C.E., the Babylonians saw it exclusively as a moral obligation without express legal remedies for non-compliance, and later Jewish authorities thus based the duty itself on the general obligations of charity. Ya'akov Meron compares this and other aspects of family law with their counterparts in Moslem law, and Antoine Garapon does the same for French law, thus providing a good comparative lens for the Jewish law materials. Part 2 includes a wonderfully clear and thorough exposition by Martin Edelman of the current status of religious freedom in American law, and Daniel Sinclair briefly discusses the current status in Israeli law of Messianic Jews, Reform marriages, and various forms of conversion to Judaism. Finally, Part 3 is a helpful survey of recent articles and books on Jewish law. All in all, this is a most worthwhile book on topics of critical interest not only to scholars of Jewish law, but to anyone interested in contemporary Jewish realities. Elliot N. Dorff University ofJudaism Los Angeles. CA 90077 GRADED HOLINESS: A KEY TO THE PRIESTLY CONCEPTION OF THE WORLD. By Philip Peter Jenson. JSOTSup 106. Pp. 281. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992. Cloth, $60.00. This book, whose goal is historical-theological, explores the gradations of holiness (and with this, cleanness and impurity) found in the various dimen- Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 161 Reviews sions of priestly cuitic and religious practice. The study is synchronic and "systematic," treating as a whole all of what can be subsumed under the priestly rubric (including holiness materials). The work is inspired by the studies of scholars such as Menahem Haran (on the material gradations in the tabernacle) and Jacob Milgrom (on the gradations in the haillill sacrifice ). Jenson brings the conclusions of these and other studies together, reworks them, and adds many discoveries of his own. The heart of the work is an analysis of gradations in the spatial, personal, ritual, and temporal dimensions (chaps. 4-7). This specifically deals with degrees of holiness (a) in the Tabernacle and surrounding camp, (b) among groups in society (with this he examines gradations in personal impurity), (c) in sacrifice (with this he examines stages of purification), and (d) among festivals and other holy days. In treating each of these matters he adduces several complementary bodies of evidence to establish gradations. For example, for social gradations (b) he looks at hierarchical interrelationships of groups; rites de passage setting certain persons apart from others; prohibitions, duties, and privileges of various groups; family origins; places of dwelling in the wilderness camp; clothing (priestly); and cultic access. The study allows one to see the close systematic connectedness of these different dimensions. Gradations in one dimension can be viewed as a reflection of and intertwined with gradations in other dimensions. The study goes far to suggest that the priestly writings manifest a system which is the result of careful intellectual activity. Indeed, in his concluding chapter, Jenson observes that the guiding notion or theological principle of the priestly prescriptions is that of "order"; they are intensely concerned with classification, structure, and grading. This key...