The Book of Lamentations: A Meditation and Translation

Rating:
Summary: A meditation on catastrophe and history
Review: Slavitt's book is both a translation of the Biblical text and an extended meditation on Tish'a b'Av, the Jewish day commemorating a long series of losses and destructions. For those outside as well as within Jewish tradition, and interested in mourning and bereavement, this is fascinating material. It is beautifully written, and although it does not work as "consolation" literature, it places personal sorrows in a wider context. In the debate - within and outside Judaism - over whether the Holocaust was unique and if so, how, this book represents the negative stance. Jews had many many occasions of religious and historical catastrophe to cope with. This is a different point of view than, say, "Strange Fire: Reading the Bible After the Holocaust" edited by Linafelt, but both books are really worth delving into.

Rating:
Summary: A meditation on catastrophe and history
Review: Slavitt's book is both a translation of the Biblical text and an extended meditation on Tish'a b'Av, the Jewish day commemorating a long series of losses and destructions. For those outside as well as within Jewish tradition, and interested in mourning and bereavement, this is fascinating material. It is beautifully written, and although it does not work as "consolation" literature, it places personal sorrows in a wider context. In the debate - within and outside Judaism - over whether the Holocaust was unique and if so, how, this book represents the negative stance. Jews had many many occasions of religious and historical catastrophe to cope with. This is a different point of view than, say, "Strange Fire: Reading the Bible After the Holocaust" edited by Linafelt, but both books are really worth delving into.