What academic literary scholars might do with this type scene is compare and contrast the different scenes in order to understand how each scene is unique. What I then do, though, is look at the scene and say, “Its uniqueness conveys its deeper religious message.”
The midrashim, of course, also note that three people meet their wives next to a well. There’s a midrash in Shemot Rabba and another one in Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer which compares some of these scenes. But the Midrash doesn’t usually develop these comparisons. They sort of throw it out there for you as food for thought whereas in academia there are certain methodologies in which we compare and contrast the scenes.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
More than anything, I hope readers will more deeply appreciate Tanach – how Tanach is rich, profound, thought-provoking, and oftentimes deals with very relevant questions.
At the same time, though, I also wanted to show that academia can meet tradition and not be a contradiction – how they can be mutually beneficial for the other.
Some people are very wary of academic bible, finding it cold, dispassionate, and more interested in its origin than its message.
People are wary because academia is detached and it does have this sort of pretense of being objective and academic and not looking for it to impact their lives. But one of the things I wanted to show in this book is that you can use some of the tools found in academia to more deeply understand the messages of Tanach.
What would you advice a young person who is interested in academic bible but fears the religiously inimical ideas and attitudes he or she will encounter?
First of all, I don’t generally give advice unless it’s somebody I know very well.
But it would depend on a lot of things. It would depend on where they wanted to study, what they wanted to study, etc. I believe we should encounter the world and not shy away from it. But I’m not necessarily advocating studying Tanach through the prism of – not just non-traditional sources – but anti-traditional sources.
I think I did gain quite a bit from academia, but every person has to make their own decisions. I’m certainly not telling people what to do. It’s a world we have to navigate, and not everybody is equipped to navigate it and not everybody should navigate it – but if someone wants to, it is something they can do with the right guidance, the right kind of circumspection, and the right teachers.