S. Tamar KAMIONKOWSKI. Leviticus: Wisdom Commentary, Volume 3, Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press (Michael Glazier Book), 2018. Pp 326, $39.95. ISBN 978-0-8146-8102-2 (hardcover); ISBN 978-0-8146-8127-5 (ebook). Reviewed by James ZEITZ, Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, Texas 48207.

In her “Author’s Introduction” to Leviticus, S. Tamar Kamionkowski begins by asking: Is the genre of Leviticus about “Ritual or Text”? While Leviticus 1-16 is about rituals—as a “manual for priests (that perhaps reflects actual practices of ancient Israel—it is also a “Text.” Thus she asks about the theological worldview of the sacrificial system, and the “Gross Factor” involved in the texts about slaughter, butchery, and blood: “not good sermonic material!”

Kamionkowski is professor of biblical studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, PA. She is the author of Gender Reversal and Cosmic Chaos (in Ezekiel), and co-chair of the SBL’s Jewish Interpretation of the Bible sessions. Her Wisdom commentary on Leviticus is “feminist” in various ways. In describing ritual laws (a Priestly concern), she notes that women were in charge of making the ritually prescribed meals. She critiques rituals’ social structures (e.g. priestly privilege). She adds a feminist viewpoint on the New Moon festival in Lev. 23:1-3, noting exceptions for women to refrain from working on the new moon, and how early associations between women and the new moon “provided the impetus among Jewish feminists to reclaim the new moon festival (Rosh Hodesh) as a legitimate Jewish sacred day for women. She notes that, in some circles, celebrating the cycle of the moon is connected to the monthly rhythm of women’s bodies.”

As a Jewish feminist biblical scholar, commenting on Leviticus, she explains (xlii) her defensiveness: since “Leviticus has been a site for conscious and unconscious anti-Semitism” (xlii). She will also “uncover gems” such as Lev. 25:1-7: the Sabbath for the Land, about “land ownership.” It offers radical solutions for modern times: e.g. Jubilee 2000 (coalition of organizations…to promote debt forgiveness for the world’s poorest nations”). At other times she calls the text to account “where it promotes oppressive or potentially harmful positions.” Finally, this Wisdom commentary includes “diverse voices” – in gray boxes. For example, Chinese cultural perspective on the ransoming power of purification rituals (44); African dietary laws and disease; (93f); Southeast Asia on sexual prohibitions (Sonia K. Wong, 186f.)

An important contribution is her clarification of the two-part structure of Leviticus (P legislation in 1-16; Holiness laws in 17-26): They involve two different approaches (especially regarding purity and “sin” laws)—viz., a ritual approach in Lev. 1-16, and a “moral” approach in Lev. 17-26. Commenting on Lev. 12:1-15:33 (“Impurity, Not Sin”)she says: “I separate the theology of P [ritual impurity and specific unintentional wrong behaviors] and H [on three grave sins: incest, murder, and idolatry] and their views. She concludes that “reading Lev. 1-16 through a lens of the moral judgments of Lev. 17-27 is an error” (lvi).

Another contribution regards depictions of God: P’s God goes beyond male and female: Thus Lev. 1-16 (obsession with the sacrificial cult, blood, etc.) “tries to reconcile the “gulf between ‘being God-like’ and having a body that is constantly in flux.”“H’s God” is more “anthropomorphic… in partnership with Israel…The H theologians call for “a radically new understanding…I believe H’s theology has a feminist twist to it. While “P distances God from the life of Israel… H brings God into a profound intimacy.” “The knot that binds God and Israel is holiness…”

Finally—of more general interest—are Kamionkowski’s comments regarding texts that were important for early Christians and have remained important for modern Judaism—on atonement, forgiveness of sins, and purification: Lev. 16: Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement; Lev. 17:10-12: laws on Blood as impure or as ransom for human life. [Baruch Schwartz argues that H is engaging with P’s view of the function of blood: in P, blood purifies…for H, blood also serves as a ransom]. See also her comments on Incest Laws – which includes narratives about incest. But she titles the section (18:1-5) “Don’t Be Like the Canaanites.” She adds a feminist viewpoint to her comments on homosexuality in 18:22: “you shall not like with a male as with a woman. ban on ‘male-male sexual penetration—but lesbianism doesn’t involve penetration.

Overall, an important commentary on a complex but important book of the Bible. To be read by graduate students and biblical scholars (citations of text are in Hebrew)—or college teachers who want students to have more information on issues such as Paul’s interpretation of Jesus’ sacrifice as “atonement” for sin, ritual laws on blood impurity, and controversial modern issues on homosexuality.