The Legends of the Jews: Vol. 3: Moses in the Wilderness

by Louis Ginzberg

Louis Ginzberg's landmark seven-volume "The Legends of the Jews" assembles the many elaborations and embellishments of Biblical stories that flourished in the centuries following the Bible's own creation. Ginzberg devoted most of his life to gathering these legends from their original sources - written in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Syrian, Aramaic, Ethiopic, Arabic, Persian, and Old Slavic - and reproducing them completely, accurately, and vividly. He presents them in their traditional Biblical sequence and reconciles the sometimes contradictory versions of the same stories found in different sources. In addition to four volumes of the legends themselves, The Legends of the Jews includes two indispensable volumes of notes, which provide the sources for every legend, as well as a comprehensive index to the people, places, and motifs found in the legends and their sources.

Genres: Religion, Judaism, History, Judaica

492 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Talmudist and leading figure in the Conservative Movement of Judaism of the twentieth century, professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS).

Reviews

[Roy · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a monumental waste of time this volume is. Too much time is spent on Moses. Too much is said about Moses' supposed piety. Too much is said about Moses' whining about not going into the promised land. Too much is said about Moses correcting God (even the one line in the Bible was too much of that). This volume was just so over the top with trying to prove that Israel and only Israel was worthy of God's love and Moses was the reason for it. Not even the fact that it is giving a glimpse into the culture of Israel can save it.

[Melvin Marsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not sure where these legends are coming from. Somehow I was expecting more than just the Torah by the time we got to Volume 3.