By focusing on the Jewish textual traditions the book series Perspectives on Jewish Texts and Contexts examines both the continuity of a tradition through its transmission of canonical, classical and contemporary texts, as well as the ways that a tradition must continuously adapt itself to respond to new intellectual, historical, social and political contexts. Since there is no reading that is not also an interpretation, imbuing the past with concerns of the present day, the volumes in this series will examine the Jewish textual tradition through questions of its transmissibility, focusing on how these texts give rise to new commentaries, translations and adaptations. By attending to the evolving, topical concerns of Judaism, understood as a living textual tradition, and by fostering dialogue between literary, philosophical, political and religious perspectives, the book series, which consists of original scholarship and proceedings of international conferences, reflects contemporary concerns of Jewish Studies in the broadest sense. Editorial Board Prof. Robert Alter (University of California, Berkeley) Prof. Steven E. Aschheim (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) Prof. Leora Batnitzky (Princeton University, Princeton) Prof. Richard I. Cohen (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) Prof. Mark H. Gelber (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva) Prof. Moshe Halbertal (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) Prof. Christine Hayes (Yale University, New Haven) Prof. Moshe Idel (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) Prof. Samuel Moyn (Columbia University, New York) Prof. Ilana Pardes ((Hebrew University, Jerusalem) Prof. Alvin Rosenfeld (Indiana University, Bloomington) Prof. David Ruderman (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia) Prof. Bernd Witte, (Heinrich Heine Universität, Düsseldorf)