The Horizontal Society: Understanding the Covenant and Alphabetic Judaism (Vol. 1)

by Jose Faur, Josae Faur

Overview

The Horizontal Society is an exposition of rabbinic thought as exemplified by Maimonides. The thought streams of Greece, Rome, and Christendom serve as a contrast. This work is in the Hebrew rhetorical tradition of melisa. The main text in five sections-—The God of Israel, The Books of Israel, The Governance of Israel, The Memory of Israel, and The Folly of Israel—focuses on these core matters. It includes numerous references to orient the reader. The mode is similar to the author's previous work, such as Golden Doves with Silver Dots: Semiotics and Textuality in Rabbinic Tradition, interacting with the latest thought from today's academy. This book illustrates the horizontal organization of the Jewish people. Other social organization is based on hierarchy. Two principles made this difference possible for Israel. First, the Hebrew Scriptures alone propose that every human being is created in the image of God. This necessitates the absolute equality of every human being. Second, the Sinai covenant establishes the Law as the supreme authority. Whereas in other societies, might is the source of authority, in Judaism authority is limited by the Law. These principles were summarized by the last Prophet of Israel: "Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously…, profaning the covenant of our fathers?" (Mal 2:10). There is a subdivided bibliography of forty pages, including both Jewish and "Western" sources. The scholarly apparatus includes indices of terms, names, and subjects. There are also seventy appendices of interest to rabbinic readership.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781934843130
Publisher:	Academic Studies Press
Publication date:	07/29/2008
Series:	Emunot: Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah , #1
Pages:	456
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

José Faur (PhD 1964, University of Barcelona) is Professor Emeritus, Law School, Netanya Academic College, Netanya, Israel. He was the first Jewish recipient of a doctorate from the University of Barcelona since the Expulsion in 1492. He has taught at JTS and Bar-Ilan Universityand published in Hebrew, Spanish, French, Italian and English. His books include: Golden Doves with Silver Dots: Semiotics and Textuality in Rabbinic Tradition (Indiana UP, 1986); In the Shadow of History: Iberian Jews and Conversos at the Dawn of Modernity (SUNY, 1992); Homo Mysticus: A Guide To Maimonides's Guide for the Perplexed (Syracuse UP, 1998).

Table of Contents

Preface. Acknowledgements. Hebrew Transliteration Table. Abbreviations. Prologue. Section 1: The God of Israel. Introductory Remarks. 1. The Book of Creation. 2. Monolingualism and the Analphabetic Mind. 3. God as a Writer. 4. Of Scribes and Analphabetic Poets. Concluding Reflections. Section 2: The Books of Israel. Introductory Remarks. 5. the Berit ('Covenant') Sinai-Moab. 6. Scripture and the Mental Law of Israel. 7. The Publication of Scripture. 8. Epistles and Memoranda. 9. Interpreting the Books of Israel. 10. Law and the Judiciary. 11. The Boundaries Derasha. Concluding Reflections. Section 3: The Governance of Israel. Introductory Remarks. 12. Of Herut. 13. Hierarchic Humanity. 14. Horizontal Man. 15. The Household of Israel. 16. Humanity before Statehood. 17. God's Territory. 18. The Three Crowns of Israel. 19. Hebrew Theocracy: Sovereignty under the Law. 20. The Crown of a Good Name. 21. Galut: Right without Might. 22. Jewish Dominion over the Land of Israel. 23. Pagan Political Thought. 24. A Perfect Tora. 25. The Five Doctrines Taught by Patriarch Abraham. 26. The Two-Realm Governance. 27. Silencing Scripture. The Road to Serfdom: Freedom without Law. 29. Paul's Theo-politics. 30. Escape From Guilt. 31. Imperial Religion. 32. The Poltical Dimension of Anti-Semitism. 33. Two Concepts of Human Rights. 34. Pax Romana and Pax Hebraica. 35. The Sabbath is the Lord's. 36. Separating Church from State. Concluding Reflections. Section 4: The Memory of Israel. Introductory Remarks. 37. National Memory. 38. the Matrix of Jewish Memory. 39. Walking Under the Fox's Shadow. 40. The Emergence of the Sword / Cross Axis. 41. A Crisis of Memory. 42. Unmasking Spurious Versus Israel. 43. The Publication of the Mishna. 44. Minting Tradition into Oral Law. 45. National and Vernacular Memory. 46. Melisa and the Realm of the Verisimilar. 47. Expanding National Memory. 48. Kalla and the Formation of the Babylonian Talmud. Concluding Reflections. Section 5: The Folly of Israel. Introductory Remarks. 49. Qabbala and the Conveyence of Talmudic Tradition. 50. "Little Foxes" - Rabbis without Qabbala. 51. The Day of the Willow. 52. The Genesis of Jewish Heroic Virtue. 53. Heroic Knowledge. 54. Payback Time - The Case of Catalonian Rabbis. 55."Our Lords, the Rabbis of France". 56. Fighting Assimilation?. 57. Kabbalah vs. Qabbala. 58. Cult of the Occult. 59. The Anti-Scientific Obstinancy of Maimonideans. 60. The Five Pillars of Anti-Maimonidean Kabbalah. 61 The Problem with 'Philosophy'. 62. A Reflective Response to R. Hayye Gaon's Call. 63. The Mishne Tora. 64. Hierarchic Truth. 65. Inerrant Saint. 66. Israel's Fourth Miracle. Concluding Reflections. Epilogue.

Editorial Reviews

"An extraordinary synthesis of his three previous English-language works, particularly his groundbreaking study Golden Doves with Silver Dots… It is the indispensable concept of Religious Humanism that has served as the central theme of Jose Faur’s many writings and in The Horizontal Society he gives the reader the summa of his thinking on the subject, thus offering the most illuminating introduction to Jewish civilization that we currently possess."

David Sasha

"[Faur is] a great specialist in Talmudic literature in whom we can see a scholarship of the same caliber as Saul Lieberman or David Weiss Halivni."

Thierry Alcoloumbre

"An extraordinary synthesis of his three previous English-language works, particularly his groundbreaking study Golden Doves with Silver Dotsâ?¦ It is the indispensable concept of Religious Humanism that has served as the central theme of Jose Faur’s many writings and in The Horizontal Society he gives the reader the summa of his thinking on the subject, thus offering the most illuminating introduction to Jewish civilization that we currently possess." -- David Sasha, Director of the Center for Sephardic Heritage in Brooklyn, New York.

[Faur is] a great specialist in Talmudic literature in whom we can see a scholarship of the same caliber as Saul Lieberman or David Weiss Halivni. -- Thierry Alcoloumbre

From the Publisher