Naomi S. S. Jacobs. Delicious Prose: Reading the Tale of Tobit with Food and Drink. A Commentary. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 148. Leiden: Brill, 2018. xxii + 274 pp.
2020; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 44; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1017/s0364009420000161
ISSN1475-4541
Autores Tópico(s)Archaeology and Historical Studies
ResumoReviewed by: Delicious Prose: Reading the Tale of Tobit with Food and Drink. A Commentary by Naomi S. S. Jacobs Gary A. Anderson Naomi S. S. Jacobs. Delicious Prose: Reading the Tale of Tobit with Food and Drink. A Commentary. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 148. Leiden: Brill, 2018. xxii + 274 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009420000161 This book covers all the meals and references to food found in Tobit, beginning with the tithes and firstfruits Tobit brings to Jerusalem in 1:6–8 and concluding with the brief reference to Tobiah's feeding of Sarah's parents in their old age in 14:13. There is no overarching thesis to the book; rather, it is written in the form of a continuous, running commentary on every passage that is related to food or drink. Each section begins with a detailed consideration of text-critical issues before turning to matters of interpretation. There is also a consistent concern for issues of gender, class, and wealth. Though the author discusses date, provenance, and original language, no firm conclusions are reached. Jacobs believes the book underwent extensive and continuous development and proper interpretation requires respecting the diversity of voices contained within the various versions of the book. For this reason, her text-critical discussion is not so much a search for the original text as it is a survey of the various readings at hand. In conclusion she writes, "If one's goal is to seek out the complicated ways in which Jews of the Second Temple period incorporated, negotiated, and resisted their surrounding cultures by situating, educating and advocating how Jews should behave, one can do no better than examine matters of the table in popular fiction like Tobit" (205). Let us take a look at two of the more central moments in the book. In chapter 2, after Tobit has been restored to his family, the narrator relates that the festival of Pentecost was at hand. As was the custom, a grand meal was prepared and Tobit reclined at table to enjoy the feast. But before partaking of any part of the meal, Tobit turned to his son and said, "Go, my child, and bring whatever poor person you may find of our people among the exiles in Nineveh" (2:2) in order that this person might enjoy the meal with the family. It is crucial to note, Jacobs argues, that this delay in eating reflects Tobit's strong devotion to God. Personal enjoyment takes a backseat to the obligations of Torah. [End Page 418] In one of the more important observations of the book, Jacobs notes that the Pentecost meal in chapter 2 lends structure to the book as a whole for it points forward to the welcoming meal and wedding feast that will take place at the home of Raguel and Edna in chapters 7–8. As Pentecost sets in motion the tragedy of blindness for Tobit, the wedding of Sarah and Tobiah marks the onset of healing. Jacobs notes a number of parallels in the way food structures these crucial moments in the story. In chapter 2, Tobit delays eating in order to fulfill the commandment of charity toward a kinsman. In chapter 7, Tobiah delays eating in order to fulfill the command to marry a kinswoman (cf. 4:13 and 6:16). Jacobs's conclusion is worth citing in full: Tobiah has not only shown that he . . . can put aside the demands of the body as a worthy goal, but that all that his father has undergone can be mended. Tobit's consumption of his festive meal, marked by sadness (2:5–6), similarly has been overwritten by the happy wedding celebration at Ecbatana (8:19–20, 9:6) . . . Tobit's Shavuot meal (2:3), the welcoming meal [in Ecbatana] (7:9), and the wedding celebration (9:6) are also tied together by a description of the characters reclining. . . . Just as Tobit's and Sarah's crises (3:7–10) and prayers (3:1–6 and 3:11–15) unite the two households in sorrow, they now have been united by joyous endogamous marriage (per 6:13 and 7:11). This is in...
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