Smashing the Tablets

Radical Retellings of the Hebrew Bible

Sara Lippmann, Seth Rogoff

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English

State University of New York Press
01 April 2025

Judaism; Judaism: sacred texts; Criticism & exegesis of sacred texts; Religious aspects of sexuality, gender & relationships; Jewish studies

Series: SUNY series in Contemporary Jewish Literature and Culture

Provocative new readings of biblical texts by major contemporary Jewish writers.

Lot's daughters rebel against their predatory father, Jacob wrestles an angel in a queer underground nightclub, Job arrives in the form of an avaricious former sorority girl-Smashing the Tablets presents a collection of provocative new readings of biblical texts by major contemporary Jewish writers. Behind this groundbreaking collection is the idea that foundational texts must be read anew or they become tools of conservatism and reaction. To achieve fresh readings, it is often necessary to step outside traditional modes of analysis, whether academic or theological, and to violate the conventions of storytelling and interpretation. By challenging dominant readings and identifying underrepresented characters and moments that have been ""written out"" of the biblical conversation, the essays, stories, and poems in this collection rupture assumptions, unsettle the reader, and give voice to the voiceless. The Bible in this collection is bent, recontextualized, queered, inverted, and smashed to pieces. Smashing the Tablets is one of the most significant Jewish literary collections in decades, a groundbreaking must-read for Jews and others interested not only in the Bible but also in identity, faith, and power.

Edited by: Sara Lippmann, Seth Rogoff
Imprint: State University of New York Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 17mm
Weight: 363g
ISBN: 9798855801170
Series: SUNY series in Contemporary Jewish Literature and Culture
Pages: 250
Publication Date: 01 April 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgments Foreword: You Suck and Other Stories Shalom Auslander Introduction Seth Rogoff and Sara Lippmann 1. Lilith in God's Hands Courtney Sender 2. Look at Her Xyxs, Her Brxght, Brxght Xyxs Rosebud Ben-Oni 3. Cain and Abel Seth Rogoff 4. Cain Ariana Reines 5. Are You Still Alive Michael Zapata 6. Ess and O Anna Solomon 7. Lot's Daughters Zeeva Bukai 8. Binding Variations Daniel Torday 9. Bilhah and Zilpah Made Me Yearn for Torah erica riddick 10. A Little East of Jordan Moriel Rothman-Zecher 11. The Story of Dinah Sarah Blake 12. Plagues Madeline Cash 13. Mount Sinai and Me Aaron Hamburger 14. Make It Mean Something Elisa Albert 15. Upon the Hills with Jephthah's Daughter Erika Dreifus 16. How David Leaves Temim Fruchter 17. Once a Witch Matthue Roth 18. Isaiah and Power Aviya Kushner 19. The Job Book Steve Almond 20. Root Ilana Masad 21. Bauhaus City Omer Friedlander 22. Haman Max Gross 23. Scroll of Stars Michael David Lukas Contributors

Sara Lippmann is the author of Lech, Jerks, and Doll Palace. Seth Rogoff is the author of the novel The Castle and chair of Journalism and Media Studies at Anglo-American University.

Reviews for Smashing the Tablets: Radical Retellings of the Hebrew Bible

""Smashing the Tablets unscrolls the ancient into a congregation of brilliant, strange, and necessary voices. A glorious reminder of how marvelously undead the bible is—after all."" — Sabrina Orah Mark, author of Happily: A Personal History-with Fairy Tales ""Filled with smart, funny, transgressive, thoughtful essays and stories by many of my very favorite Jewish writers, Smashing the Tablets is the best kind of anthology—the one you hold dear, pass around, and read again and again."" — Lauren Grodstein, author of We Must Not Think of Ourselves ""Smashing the Tablets is irreverent and rowdy, furious and funny, inventive and learned. It reminds us that the old texts don't have to be read in the old ways—and, indeed, that revisiting them can help us see the present through new eyes."" — Lily Meyer, author of Short War ""This book is the kind of art we need in this moment: radical, imaginative, and most of all unafraid. Shattering a thing can be an act of faith: we make space for that thing to reform. Smashing the Tablets teaches us this lesson twenty-four times, in twenty-four ways."" — Shelly Oria, editor of I Know What's Best For You: Stories on Reproductive Freedom