Old Russian midrash. Ancient interpretations of the biblical plot about Yaakov and his children. Kugel J.

The book of an outstanding American and Israeli researcher James Kugel is devoted to the interpretations of biblical stories about Patriarch Yaakov and his sons. These interpretations were born at the turn of the new era, when the Bible was waiting for an answer to the questions of pressing and tragic: what was the guilty of Israel to God, does he have the hope of salvation? The creative fantasy of the interpreters was combined with the fidelity of the letter of Scripture. It is not for nothing that the “ladder of Jacob” and “Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs” - a translation of the creations of Jewish scribes - entered the literature of Ancient Rus'. In his exegetical study “Old Russian Midrash” the famous biblicalist James Kugel examines Jaakov’s main milestones from various angles, trying to present a familiar biblical plot most voluminous, and analyzes the approach of the traditional Jewish commentators of the Torah and the texts of ancient manuscripts found in the Kumran caves.