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robinrobin720's review
5.0
I love this book. I listened to the audio book, but I just may buy the paper version for rereading.
eponineswish's review
5.0
What I love about this book that it is a journey not only into the Hebrew, but into rabbinic commentary and a Jewish perspective of the Old Testament. In Christian thought, there's often an immense chasm between our New Testament frame of mind and the Old Testament it originated from. It feels like a foreign world. This book begins a journey towards bridging that gap and coming to understand the Old Testament as a portion of our story. There needs to be more dialogue between Christians and Jews - we share a great deal with one another, and are family in many ways. This book is a beautiful and necessary portion of that communication.
betanine's review
4.0
Looking at the Bible from another angle
Kushner has a lot to say about grammar and translation, but she doesn't shy away from her own experience and background and as I would except. Instead of a textbook, academic discussion, Kushner's inclusion of her story brings a life to a discussion of grammar and translation that resonated with me. I am not Jewish and do not speak Hebrew, so having that perspective painted, especially in Genesis, fleshed out my view of the text in a new way for me.
There are times when I felt that her story was distracting from the discussion of grammar and translation. Especially in the chapter titled Memories. I'm glad I stayed with it because her story always tied together in the end.
This book engaged me intellectually and emotionally. This might be a challenging read for people who are not word nerds or interested in biblical translation. A Christian coming into this book expecting a Christian perspective would not find what they are looming for. At the same time, Kushner is always respectful of Christians and shows an interest in understanding how Christians read and understand the Old Testament.
Kushner has a lot to say about grammar and translation, but she doesn't shy away from her own experience and background and as I would except. Instead of a textbook, academic discussion, Kushner's inclusion of her story brings a life to a discussion of grammar and translation that resonated with me. I am not Jewish and do not speak Hebrew, so having that perspective painted, especially in Genesis, fleshed out my view of the text in a new way for me.
There are times when I felt that her story was distracting from the discussion of grammar and translation. Especially in the chapter titled Memories. I'm glad I stayed with it because her story always tied together in the end.
This book engaged me intellectually and emotionally. This might be a challenging read for people who are not word nerds or interested in biblical translation. A Christian coming into this book expecting a Christian perspective would not find what they are looming for. At the same time, Kushner is always respectful of Christians and shows an interest in understanding how Christians read and understand the Old Testament.
katebelt's review
4.0
Fascinating personal journey and enlightening comparisons of Christian Bible translations and the earliest Hebrew writings. Our PC(USA) pastors must pass Hebrew language proficiency exams before ordination. I'm not one, though the Bible translations we use often include footnotes to include the original, Jewish translations into English. For me, this is the short course. I love this translation of the poetry of Genesis 1:1-2 from the Schocken Bible, translated by Everett Fox. (Also pointing out this is present, not past tense.)
At the beginning of God's creating of the heavens and the earth,
when the earth was wild and waste,
darkness over the face of Ocean,
rushing-spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters-
At the beginning of God's creating of the heavens and the earth,
when the earth was wild and waste,
darkness over the face of Ocean,
rushing-spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters-
panichistory's review
4.0
I love the deep analysis of single words or phrases and their multiple translations. The personal stories were nice to an extent but I was mostly just hungry for more analysis!
stephang18's review
4.0
Gentle introduction to understanding the words of the Hebrew bible. The ending spends too much time in the author.
ohwhatagloomyshow's review
4.0
This memoir was fine but it rambled WAY too much to be anything more than fine.
beccak's review
4.0
I'm glad my friend Judy told me to read this book. It's a quick read, charming in its balance between personal essay and textual analysis. Kushner's insights into the differences between the Christian readings of the Bible (relying on translations) and Jewish opinions (relying largely on the original text) were sometimes familiar, sometimes new, but because of her strong voice and the delightful family histories woven throughout, I didn't even mind reading over familiar interpretations of Torah verses. My only problems with the book: 1) I kinda took issue with the way she translated one word, 2) I wished it was longer, which is usually a good way to end a book.
sjfurger's review
5.0
This book is the author, Aviya Kushner's journey through the Bible, translation, Judaism, and family. I learned so much about how the way I have been taught about the Bible and what it says affects how I see life, and also how much is lost in translation from Hebrew. Kushner's incredibly personal story is beautifully written, but it is her scholarly information about the Bible, and grammar and the choice of words in translation that I found most interesting. I highly recommend this to anyone even vaguely interested.