arts & entertainment

Untold Stories Of The Bible

Book Fair author introduces a compendium of biblical history, with
ancient writings that offer different answers to universal questions.

Suzanne Chessler
I Contributing Writer

"For example, a lot of our information
comes from the historian Josephus, who is
both important and of questionable reli-
here are no footnotes in Joel M.
ability. I put that in the text because I think
Hoffman's new book, but there are
that's important for readers to know."
references to more information.
Among the topics covered in Hoffman's
The Bible's Cutting Room Floor: The Holy
book are what happened to Adam and Eve
Scriptures Missing from Your Bible (Thomas after they left the Garden of Eden, what
Dunne Books) offers narrative about holy
caused Abraham to reject idolatry and
writings the author describes as being
what eventually is believed will happen to
left out of the Bible and suggests possible
Earth. Its passages offer ancient answers
explanations as to why
for man's struggle to define
these writings were omit-
good and evil.
The Bible' s Cutting
ted.
"My favorite chapter is
Room Floor
The text includes a
the one about Adam and
"Selected Readings" sec-
Eve Hoffman says. "I fell
tion to expand on what
in love with the 2,000-year-
Hoffman has presented.
old manuscript The Life of
A companion website,
Adam and Eve (a group of
www.theunabridgedbible.
Jewish writings recounting
corn, is planned to be
the lives of Adam and Eve
updated regularly with
from after their expulsion
additional relevant mate-
from the Garden of Eden
rial.
to their deaths), and I tried
Hoffman will elaborate
to convey it as best as pos-
Dr. Joel M. Hoffman
on his topic during a
sible in modern English.
Brunch and Learn ses-
"It's got familiar
sion at noon Wednesday, The book asserts that while
characters, and I think
Nov. 12, at the Jewish
everyone would like to
today's Bible contains only 150
Community Center in
know what happens to
Psalms, there used to be more.
West Bloomfield as part
them. It has high drama,
of this year's Jewish Book
insightful psychology
Fair.
and important life lessons.
"Seeing that others have done a very
"It's also beautifully told. Most of the
good job of documentation, I didn't find it
credit goes to the original author, whose
appealing to repeat that:' Hoffman, 46, says name we sadly don't know:"
in a phone conversation from his home in
Hoffman says that most of the avail-
upstate New York.
able translations he studied are literal in a
"Instead of footnotes, I tell readers as I
technical sense, and that makes them very
go along where I got my information and
hard to read.
where there's significant reason to doubt
The author, who also has written In the
the information.
Beginning as well as And God Said, traces

T

Author of And God Said

e

Joel M. Hoffman

"An important message in my book is
that there is more than one correct answer
to a question. Equally important is that to
understand Scripture, we have to read more
than what we now call the Bible:'
Commenting that religion is about
interpretation, Hoffman asserts that people
should not be surprised that different reli-
gions interpret events differently. Similarly,
one religion will have different interpreta-
tions of events over the course of time.
"The best example is the Book of Enoch:'
says Hoffman, who devotes an entire chapter
to the subject. "A few hundred years into the
first millennium, people pushed the book
out of mainstream religion because religious
leaders no longer liked its message"
The more research Hoffman does, the
more respect he has for religion.
"I realize its depth and importance to us:'
he says. "I also find myself getting frustrat-
ed with some public faces of religion who I
think are more interested in a good gig than
focusing on religion:' ❑

As part of this year's Jewish
Book Fair, Joel M. Hoffman will
speak at noon Wednesday, Nov.
12, during a Brunch and Learn
in Marion & David Handleman
Hall at the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield. $18.
Reservations required: (248) 661-
1900; theberman.org . For more
information on the book, go to www.
theunabridgedbible.com/.

ws

mla Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

•■

At The Movies

Originally scheduled to open on Friday,

Oct. 24 (now TBA), is The Good Lie,
U which
centers on four young Sudanese

men who were orphaned as a result of
13 that
country's civil war but were fortu-

nate enough to get the right to resettle
in America. Helping
these refugees are a
charity worker (Reese
Witherspoon) and an
employment-agency
owner (Corey Stoll,
38).
Opening on Friday,
Oct. 24, is Birdman,

38

his research for the new book back 30
years. As a high school student, he was
interested in language, and that interest
developed into his initiatives.
"That led me to study language seri-
ously, which gave me insight into Hebrew:'
he explains. "That gave me insights into
the Bible, which prompted me to look into
other things that give us insight into the
Bible. I felt prompted to learn Greek.
"I looked at manuscripts that people are
less familiar with, and I read those manu-
scripts. Most of the manuscripts are widely
available in academia.
"What I added was a professional trans-
lator's eye and hopefully, for at least three
of the chapters, some storytelling tech-
nique so that I could bring the documents
alive:'
Hoffman has taught Hebrew at the
Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of
Religion, where his dad, a Reform rabbi,
teaches liturgy. Joel Hoffman is the direc-
tor of the religious school at Vassar Temple
in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
The author prepared for his religious
writings with an undergraduate degree in
linguistics from Brandeis University and
a doctoral degree in linguistics from the
University of Maryland, College Park.
For fun, and as J.M. Hoffman, he writes
a thriller series, The Warwick Files.
"Religion, much more than it does now,
used to allow more than one answer to a
question:' Hoffman says. "Over the course
of the years, especially after the scientific
revolution, we have become less and less
comfortable with more than one answer.
"Modern people are so fascinated with
science that we have trouble recognizing
that the scientific approach doesn't work
for art and religion.

October 23 • 2014

JN

which stars Michael Keaton as an actor
famous for playing a movie superhero
("Birdman"), but who wants respect as
the star of a Broadway show.
The Oscar-touted film has one big
Jewish connection: the great cinema-
tographer Emmanuel Lubezki, 50, a
six-time Oscar nominee who finally
nabbed the Academy Award this year
for Gravity. Almost all reviews have
gushed about how Lubezki used
camera work and editing to give the
appearance that Birdman was filmed in
one continuous take.

Think Pink

Joan Lunden, 64, the former co-host of
ABC's Good Morning America, disclosed
in June that she had breast cancer.

She has been named a special corre-
spondent for NBC's Today show for the
month of October, doing weekly reports
on breast-cancer issues.
Lunden converted to Judaism shortly
before marrying her first husband,
producer and Detroit native Michael
Krauss, in 1978; they share three adult
daughters and a grandchild. Her first
marriage broke up in 1992; in 2000,
she wed business-
man Jeff Konigsberg,
with whom she has
two sets of twins.
Paula Abdul, 52,
has partnered with
the Avon Foundation
for Women in a new
* ft
campaign called
Lunden

#CheckYourself. For this campaign,
Adbul made a video that includes a
song and dance based on the simple
steps people should take to check
themselves for breast cancer (go
to http://www.avonfoundation.org/
resources/check-yourself!).
"This campaign is very personal for
me," Abdul has said. "My sister, Wendy,
was diagnosed with breast cancer in
2000; she inspires me
every day. My hope
is that this new video
will inspire women
and men to take
charge of their own
breast health through
screening, detection
Abdul
and treatment."

❑