Bibles Lives

With the wit and imaginative insight which he showed so brilliantly in A Rabbi's Bible, here Jonathan Magonet presents a series of 'Bible lives', pen portraits of a galaxy of figures from the Hebrew Bible, major and minor, and demonstrates that in the hands of a good interpreter it is also the case that the 'Bible lives'. The presentation is inspired not least by a different star, the late Pearl Bailey, to whom he once taught Bible at Leo Baeck College and who commended to him the technique of 'first a fast number to get their attention. Then a slower one. Then talk to them a little just to keep them interested, and hit them again with something fast.' So here we have heroes and heroines - Shiphrah and Puah, Ritzpah and Zipporah, Jephthah and the author of Psalm 137, leading up to Abraham; loyalties, particularly as exemplified in the characters from Ruth; `baddies' like Pharaoh, Goliath, Dathan and Abiram; and comic turns, all leading up to a set piece on Esther. Then come victims and politicians and a little set of parodies of biblical interpretations, `Purim spiels'. As a grand finale there is a fascinating account of Jonah. Pearl Bailey would have applauded!