Shadal on Exodus

Samuel David Luzzatto (1800-1865) known by his Hebrew acronym Shadal was the leading Italian Jewish scholar of the 19th century. A linguist educator and religious thinker he devoted his talents above all to the interpretation of the Bible. As a master of Hebrew grammar and usage he focused on the plain meaning of the text. Although he was a devout believer in the divinity unity and antiquity of the Torah Shadal approached the text in a remarkably free spirit of inquiry drawing upon a wide variety of sources ancient and contemporary Jewish and non-Jewish. As a result his interpretations may strike even the modern reader as fresh and novel.Among the highlights of Shadals Exodus (Shemot) commentary are his view of the Ten Plagues as nature-based phenomena that nevertheless contained supranatural qualities his discerning literary analysis of the Song of the Sea and his daring willingness--despite his acceptance of rabbinic halakhah in practice--to look behind the Rabbis interpretation of the books legal sections and examine their literal meanings.Shadals treatment of Exodus as well as the other books of the Torah consisted of his Italian translation of the text and his Hebrew-language commentary. Here for the first time is an all-English version of both the text translation and the unabridged commentary the first complete edition of Shadals Exodus since its original publication in 1872. The translator-editor has supplied explanatory notes and a list identifying the sources cited.