An illustrated history of medieval Jewish Bible exegesis
Early in 2017 my book ‘Now I Know’. Five Centuries of Aqedah Exegesis appeared at Springer’s publishing house. (flyer) I would like to make here a few remarks on the origin and history of this study. Quite early in my professional life I decided to combine the obligation to teach the various stages of the Hebrew language with research into the history of Jewish Bible exegesis. Additionally, the topic of the Aqedah presented itself as a beacon for navigating the expanses of rabbinic and medieval literature. On and off I worked on various aspects of the Aqedah theme (as my List of Publications may show). Many components of the reading and research assembled in ‘Now I Know’ thus have a long history. In the face of the many and various developments in all areas of research related to Jewish Bible exegesis—הַמִּתְחַדְּשִׁים בְּכָל יוֹם—it was, given the encyclopaedic nature of this enterprise, not easy to keep my observations and conclusions up-to-date. It was a great temptation to keep going on, to expand and augment. Yet, it is good to accept the fact that there is also merit in timely closing down.