Legendy Židů - svazek 4 – Ginzberg Louis (2023)

This fourth hardcover volume in the Czech-language Legends of the Jews presents stories, prophecies, resurrection miracles and theological reflections, many of which even biblical scholars have never heard. It tells, among other things, how Joshua was swallowed by a whale and threatened with an Oedipal fate, while Moses used magic to strengthen his intellect; how the Israelite spies were priests and priests were like angels, visible when they wished to be seen and invisible when they did not; how the Spirit of God descended upon Kenaz, giving him a vision that the world would exist for only seven thousand years before the Kingdom of Heaven arrived; and how the city of Luz survived Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar, remaining beyond the power of the Angel of Death. The volume also recounts that all prophets were born in the seventh month of pregnancy, that Saul heard Samuel but could not see him, and that a strong man could stand inside Absalom’s skull. It explores the belief that the world was created only for the exceptionally righteous or the extremely sinful, Solomon’s rule over people, animals, demons and spirits, Elijah’s role as a guide for the righteous in paradise, the Jewish origin of the Arab legend of Al-Khidr, the canonization of sacred texts, and the failed attempt to banish sexual desire from the world.