Book Review: Torah Song: The Theological Role of Torah Poetry

BOOK REVIEW

Torah Song: The Theological Role of Torah Poetry, Geula Twersky, (New York: Kodesh Press, 2022), 252 pp. Reviewed by Lara Kwalbrun.

Geula Twersky’s study of Torah poetry, Torah Song, examines the use of poetic device, technique and language at critical moments in the Torah text. This is an insightful and thought-provoking study springing from Twersky’s own artistic desire to hear and appreciate the interactive beauty that biblical poetry invites. Poetry’s often overlooked but vital role in the biblical narrative serves to connect thematic links and express Torah theology. As the author writes, Torah poetry is revealed to be a “loosely connected network of meditations linking the five books of the Torah, in a broad reflection on God’s eternal sovereignty, and Israel’s unique role as the keepers of the Divine covenant.” This clearly written and evocative study also contextualizes this poetry in the larger story of Tanakh and even wider, in the historical context of the ancient Near East. This engaging work manages to create a methodology for reading verses whose meaning is often elusive verse while weaving poetic explication, scholarship, and Torah commentary into a multifaceted analysis that is both intellectually and theologically meaningful. This book is divided into sections on the songs (“The Song of the Sea”, “The Song of the Well.” and “The Song of Moshe’’) and on the blessings (the blessings of Yaakov, Bilam’s prophecies and the blessing Moshe bestows upon the nation before his death). Each are analyzed for language, metaphor, symbol, theme, and intertextual connections. This careful study rewards the reader with a nuanced realization that Torah poetry, however individually distinct, is thematically and didactically linked by the idea that Israel embraces God as sovereign. These “poems” speak to the divine role and purpose that is the soul of the Torah itself. Torah Song creates an impressive bridge between the worlds of literature, scholarship and Torah that deepens the reader’s appreciation for not only what is written but how. It is a welcome addition to and complements the classic study of biblical poetry, Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Poetry.