Torah Occularcentric (“The Eyes of All Israel”)

eyes

At Simchat Torah last night they unrolled an entire sefer Torah and hold it up for the kids to see from inside the circle. I went to read the last lines. Unsurprisingly the JPS translation does little justice to the strong visual sense of of the Hebrew. Describing the strong hand and mighty power “made” by Moses before the “eyes” of all Israel (Deuteronomy 34:12), the very last image formation of the text is haptic-ocular.

About zjb

Zachary Braiterman is Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University. His specialization is modern Jewish thought and philosophical aesthetics. http://religion.syr.edu
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