In my Torah Study Book Study group, we are currently reading (finishing this week), Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg's Moses: A Human Life, here. Zornberg has a particularly interest in midrash, and continues that interest in this book. I have other postings on midrash on this blog, so those wanting more on midrash can click the link at the bottom of this blog entry.
I recently sent this email to our group:
You may be interested in this offering from TheTorah.com: Prof.Edward L. Greenstein, Where Are God’s Tears in Lamentations?, here:
The opening sets it up nicely:
Tears abound in Lamentations: the poet cries, the people cry, even the city cries, but God does not. In contrast, the gods and goddesses of ancient Near Eastern city laments, cry along with their people. Midrash Eichah Rabbah, seemingly uncomfortable with such a callous depiction of God, rereads Lamentations to include God weeping.
That is just the opening. A really good read.
This reminds me of the midrash I mentioned that I got from Avivah Zornberg about God rebuking the angels who were celebrating the death of the Egyptians by drowning. I originally heard this in a Krista Tippett interview of Zornberg back in 2005. The audio and transcript of that interview, titled The Transformation of Pharaoh, Moses, and God, is here. Here is the relevant excerpt:
