The Rhetoric of Jewish Liturgy: A Historical and Literary Commentary on the Daily Prayer Book

The Rhetoric of the Jewish Liturgy is the first comprehensive academic study of the Jewish liturgy in over a century. It integrates material from biblical literature, Second Temple literature-including the Dead Sea Scrolls of Qumran and Jewish Hellenistic literature-rabbinic literature, early Christian literature, the Cairo Genizah, classical piyut, and medieval manuscripts and commentary, along with modern philological, literary, and historical research. Since the liturgy reflects the history of Judaism, its study becomes an expedition through the pathways of Jewish history and thought from biblical to modern times. By integrating historical, literary, and theological perspectives, this study succeeds in clarifying many heretofore obscure liturgical issues.