Moses

A Human Life

Zornberg Avivah Gottlieb

An unprecedented portrait of Moses's inner world and perplexing character, by a distinguished biblical scholar. No figure looms larger in Jewish culture than Moses, and few have stories more enigmatic. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, acclaimed for her many books on Jewish thought, turns her attention to Moses in this remarkably rich, evocative book. Drawing on a broad range of sources – literary as well as psychoanalytic, a wealth of classical Jewish texts alongside George Eliot, W. G. Sebald, and Werner Herzog-Zornberg offers a vivid and original portrait of the biblical Moses. Moses's vexing personality, his uncertain origins, and his turbulent relations with his own people are acutely explored by Zornberg, who sees this story, told and retold, as crucial not only to the biblical past but also to the future of Jewish history.

About the Author

Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg lectures on the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic thought at academic, psychoanalytic, and Jewish educational institutions around the world. In 1995 she received the National Jewish Book Award for "Genesis: The Beginning of Desire". She lives in Jerusalem.

Reviews

"Only Avivah Zornberg could tell the story of Moses in such a way as to situate him on the very cusp of the sacred and the human while showing how completely he participates in both. Only Zornberg has the prodigious scholarship to draw out from her sources the uniquely anguished and creative energy of Moses' life. In doing so she makes a plea for a Jewish ethics grounded in the outsider, the one who stutters and falls, while at the same time returning Moses as a fully modern prophet to the modern world" – Jacqueline Rose, author of "The Last Resistance" and "Women in Dark Times"

"The author has perfected a distinctive approach to the biblical text that is both traditional and post-modern, playful and profound, imaginative but also truthful" – Steven Weitzman, author of "Solomon: The Lure of Wisdom"

"A rich, erudite study of Moses... Readers are introduced to nuanced yet eye-opening new views and interpretations of otherwise familiar texts... A meaty, worthwhile biography by a great interpreter of Jewish texts" – Kirkus Review, Starred Review

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