A self-taught Jewish Biblical scholar in Texas is fashioning an entirely new allegorical interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, discovering rich motivational lessons and spiritual guidance from the Book that have gone unexplored by scholars and Jewish and Christian clergy until now. Drawing on his extensive study of ancient Semitic languages beyond Hebrew including Akkadian, Syriac-Aramaic, Arabic, Ugaritic (a rediscovered Semitic language), Amharic (a Semitic language in Ethiopia), and Sabaic (a language of southern Arabia), David Kolinsky has written an extensively researched translation and commentary of the first parashah (portion) of the Hebrew Bible. Having already translated the entire Torah and many other books of the Old Testament allegorically, he anticipates writing commentary on each portion of the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses) and on some of the writings (Esther, Jonah, and Ruth) in the years to come.
My intent is not to replace previous understandings of the Torah, said Kolinsky - the founder and teacher of this new approach But rather to provide a deep dive into an allegorical understanding of the Torah based on the alternate meanings of even the seemingly simplest words and names. The Torah itself is rich with word play, Kolinsky notes. For example, Adam and his wife are described as ערום (arum) naked in Genesis 2:25 and in the following verse, the snake is described as ערום (arum) cunning. Such word play is elucidated by Kolinskys understanding of the underlying Semitic roots. While seemingly identical, the first word, arum, (ערום) meaning naked evolved from the word arah (ערה) naked and the second from the word rymah (deceptive רימה).
Whether a person believes that the Torah is Divine, Divinely inspired, or of human authorship, I am hoping that these understandings will intrigue and engage both people interested in the Bible as well as those interested in what can be gleaned from the Torahs allegory about human nature and behavior, Kolinsky said.
Another of his findings relates to the first family of Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel. Kolinsky explains that in Torah allegory, each character represents a human archetype -a pattern of human behavior- that interacts and to some extent struggles within the mind of each person. From the verb DaMAH (דמה to think imaginatively and make comparisons), Adam represents a persons thinking or musing over his many options. To me, it brings to mind Rodins sculpture, The Thinker, lost in his own thoughts, but in crucial ways utterly inert, Kolinsky says. As an archetype, Adam needs some support and guidance.
Enter Chava (known to English readers as Eve חוה). Her name is traditionally tied to the word for life, Chai, but, Kolinsky says, her name also means one who points things out and instructs. In the Bibles words, Eve is an ezer knegdo – a helper in opposition to Adams thinking. Her role is to take Adams thoughts and turn them into action, Kolinsky says, an archetype that, in some marriages, persists today.
Kolinsky says the next generation also represents the next stage of how our minds function cognitively.
