The JPS Torah Commentary: Leviticus

The JPS Torah commentary series is one of the best I've ever read. The reverence for scripture and the insight after 4,000 years of thought is absolutely amazing. I have the full set and would recommend to anyone looking to study in depth with the Torah / Pentatuch.

So much to learn and such a wealth of knowledge!

The JPS Torah commentary series is perhaps the finest commentary on the Torah, filled with useful insights and careful discussion of the text. I recommend it to all.

very good

A great source for those who want to understand the Hebraic roots of the scripture. Jews and Christians will love it.

The product quality description is off. This was not a "very good" item but "acceptable." The spine was loose and the pages were very faded out. Not worth the price I paid for it.

This is the third in the five book JPS series on the Five Books of Moses, called by its Greek name,the Pentateuch. The name Leviticus was also derived from the third century BCE Greek translation, called the Septuagint. The title focuses on the contents of the volume, which deals primarily with the Levitical Priests.The great Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides (1138-1204) stated in his Guide of the Perplexed that God neither wants nor needs sacrifices. Since most modern people would agree with this sage and since the volume focuses mostly on sacrifices, Baruch A. Levine, who wrote the commentary to this biblical book, would be expected to have problems explaning the sacrifices. However, he draws on ancient and modern writings, Jewish and non-Jewish, and he handles his task well.In addition to his commentaries on each verse, Levine includes an extensive three-dozen page introduction that addresses the scriptural text, the book's content, when it was written, the priesthood, the sanctuary and its cult, among other matters. He also introduces some twenty sections with additional extensive explanations on such subjects as the types of sacrifices, the laws of kosher, the unique Yom Kippur Tabernacle ritual, the laws of holiness, and the Jewish calendar.An example of his commentary is his comment that the usual translation of benei yisrael as the "children of Israel" is unsatisfactory. It fails to express the concept of peoplehood. The proper translation of this idiomatic phrase is, Levine explains, "the Israelite people."

This is another well-done JPS commentary. However, it does have a different flavor from Nahum Sarna's work on Exodus and Genesis: Levine focuses more on close reading of the text, and a bit less on history and comparative analysis.