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Re: "Love" in the DSS
Dear Ed,
I beg to differ. If you will recall the ahavah rabbah prayer, which is
the second berakah before the recitation of the Shema there is the
request weyahed levavenu le'ahavah ulyirah et shemeka- and unify our
hearts to love and fear your name. no doubt love of TOrah was very
important in Judaism (perhaps based on psalm 119), but it did not mask
its own true purpose which was the love of God (I refer back to the same
prayer where you will see that adherenc eto TOrah precedes love of God's
name).
As for love of God in the pentateuch, don't forget the Deuteronomic
command, also chosen as the first paragraph in the recitation of Shema.
Also recall Moran's famous article in CBQ in which he interprets love in
covenant situations as fidelity and not the romantic, emotional type we
are used to in the twentieth century.
YOur reference to NEpohiti is interesting, but we must ask whether the
renditions is intent on distancing man from GOd on the one hand, and
explaining how love of God is to be accomplished on the other.
Victor Avigdor Hurowitz
Dept of Bible and ANE
Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Beer Sheva, ISRAEL
On Sat, 6 Apr 1996 Edmcook@aol.com wrote:
> Some additional evidence in support of H. Manhoff's observations. It may be
> observed that in Targum Neofiti ( and other targums as well perhaps) the
> biblical expressions concerning "love for God" are usually translated e.g.
> "you shall love the Torah of God" etc. In Judaism love seems to be directed
> to Torah, not to God.
>
> Ed Cook
> HUC-JIR
> Cincinnati
>