Book Review: The Commentators’ Bible — The Rubin JPS Miqra’ot Gedolot, Genesis

The Commentators’ Bible: the Rubin JPS Miqra’ot Gedolot — Genesis. Michael Carasik, Editor/Translator/Annotator (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2018), 459 + xxvi pp. Reviewed by David J. Zucker.

The Commentators’ Bible: the Rubin JPS Miqra’ot Gedolot is an English version of the so-called Rabbis’ Bible. As in the traditional version of this work, the biblical verses are set in Hebrew in the center of each page, and next to it two targumim: the more literal 1917 Old JPS translation (OJPS) and the more idiomatic 1985 New JPS translation (NJPS). Surrounding the page are the writings of the leading medieval exegetes: Rashi, his grandson Rashbam, Ibn Ezra, Radak, and Ramban (Nahmanides); below the Hebrew one often finds the relevant questions of Don Isaac Abarbanel. Additional comments come from the anonymous Mesorah, Bekhor Shor, Hizkuni, Gersonides, and Sforno.

The Commentators’ Bible is an incredibly rich feast presenting multiple ways to understand verses and even words. The medieval commentators here “read the Bible very, very carefully,” noting connections, contradictions, or difficulties that casual modern readers have missed, and helping readers look at these verses from a fresh perspective. Sometimes later commentators disagree with or contradict their predecessors; not all of them comment on every verse, though for major issues they all have their say.

Michael Carasik, who teaches biblical Hebrew at the University of Pennsylvania, provides helpful front matter, including sections on “Frequently Asked Questions” and “What’s on the Page?” His “Principles of the Translation” points out that a basic assumption of the volume is that the commentators are being rewritten in contemporary English for readers who do not know Hebrew — this is not a direct translation but a rewrite, and Carasik explains what he leaves out, such as when a later commentator essentially repeats an earlier one’s comment.

The Binding of Isaac (Gen. 22) illustrates how the volume is set up. For the opening words alone, Rashi offers a traditional midrashic explanation of what was said and by whom; Rashbam explains at length that “some time afterward” refers back to the preceding chapter; Ibn Ezra addresses philosophers’ misunderstandings before explaining that God’s purpose in testing Abraham was to reward him; Kimhi takes the simplest approach, dating the test to after Abraham’s long residence among the Philistines; and Ramban relates the test to the premise that human beings possess absolute free will.

Turning this medieval text into a user-friendly document for the twenty-first-century English reader required imagination and some assumptions; the translation takes liberties with the literal words of Rashi, Rashbam, and the others rather than rendering them word-for-word. That The Commentators’ Bible is not a literal translation may be a failing for some readers, but that it captures the major ideas of the sages and presents them in colloquial English far outweighs that criticism.