CONTENTS -- Preface to the First Edition -- Preface to the Second Edition, Revised and Augmented -- Introduction -- Part One HISTORY, TIME, AND PARADIGM IN SCRIPTURE -- I. Hebrew Scripture and the Requirements of Historical Thinking -- i. Historical vs. Paradigmatic Thinking in Judaism -- ii. Historical Thinking in Ancient Israel -- iii. Historical Writing in Ancient Israel -- II. History, Time, and Paradigm -- i. Historical Writing and the Conception of Time -- ii. From Historical Time to Time Cyclical and Time Paradigmatic -- iii. Paradigmatic Time: A Definition -- iv. Paradigmatic Time: An Example in Rabbinic Literature -- v. Past, Present, Future Time and Eternity vs. Time Undifferentiated by Event -- Part Two The absence of History -- III. Missing Media of Historical Thinking (I). The Sustaining Narrative of One-time Events, Biography -- i. General Considerations -- ii. The Mishnah, Tosefta, Abot, Sifra, Sifré to Numbers, and Sifré to Deuteronomy -- A. One-time Events -- B. Composite of one-time Events into a Narrative -- C. The Raw Materials for Biography -- D. Lives of Sages -- iii. The Later Midrash-Compilations: Genesis Rabbah, Leviticus Rabbah, and Pesiqta deRab Kahana -- A. one-time Events -- B. Composite of One-time Events into a Narrative -- C. The Raw Materials for Biography -- D. Lives of Sages -- iv. The Latest Midrash-Compilations: Song of Songs Rabbah, Ruth Rabbah, Esther Rabbah I, and Lamentations Rabbah -- A. One-time Events -- B. Composite of One-time Events into a Narrative -- C. The Raw Materials for Biography -- D. Lives of Sages -- v. Does Rabbinic Literature Utilize the Media of Historical Thinking -- IV. Missing Messages of Historical Thinking (II): The Pastness of the Past -- i. Temporal Order Does Not Apply to the Torah -- ii. General Considerations.

iii. The Mishnah, Tosefta, Abot, Sifra, Sifré to Numbers, and Sifré to Deuteronomy: The Present-Tense Past: Scripture Re-Presented in the Immediacy of the Moment -- iv. The Later Midrash-Compilations: Genesis Rabbah, Leviticus Rabbah, and Pesiqta deRab Kahana: The Present-Tense Past: Scripture Re-Presented in the Immediacy of the Moment -- v. The Latest Midrash-Compilations: Song of Songs Rabbah, Ruth Rabbah, Esther Rabbah I, and Lamentations Rabbah: The Present-Tense Past: Scripture Re-Presented in the Immediacy of the Moment -- Part Three The Presence of the Past, The Pastness of the Present -- V. The Enduring Paradigm -- i. Making Connections and Drawing Conclusions in Paradigmatic Thinking -- ii. The Mishnah, Tosefta, Abot, Sifra, Sifré to Numbers, and Sifré to Deuteronomy -- A. The Paradigm of Israel's History -- B. Israel and the Nations -- C. Explaining the Pattern of Events -- D. The Future History of Israel -- iii. The Later Midrash-Compilations: Genesis Rabbah, Leviticus Rabbah, and Pesiqta deRab Kahana -- A. The Paradigm of Israel's History -- B. Israel and the Nations -- C. Explaining the Pattern of Events -- D. The Future History of Israel -- iv. The Latest Midrash-Compilations: Song of Songs Rabbah, Ruth Rabbah, Esther Rabbah I, and Lamentations Rabbah -- A. The Paradigm of Israel's History -- B. Israel and the Nations -- C. Explaining the Pattern of Events -- D. The Future History of Israel -- v. Paradigmatic in Place of Historical Thinking -- vi. Telling Time -- Part Four From History to Paradigm -- VI. Narrative: The Conduct of the Cult and the Story of the Temple -- i. The Paradigmatic Counterpart to Continuous Narrative -- ii. The Mishnah, Tosefta, Abot, Sifra, Sifré to Numbers, and Sifré to Deuteronomy -- A. The Conduct of the Cult -- B. The Story of the Temple.

iii. The Later Midrash-Compilations: Genesis Rabbah, Leviticus Rabbah, and Pesiqta deRab Kahana -- A. The Conduct of the Cult -- B. The Story of the Temple -- iv. The Latest Midrash-Compilations: Song of Songs Rabbah, Ruth Rabbah, Esther Rabbah I, and Lamentations Rabbah -- A. The Conduct of the Cult -- B. The Story of the Temple -- v. Nature's Time Instead of History's, the Episode in Place of Continuous Narrative -- VII. Biography: Exemplary Pattern in Place of Lives of Sages -- i. The Paradigmatic Counterpart to Biography -- ii. The Mishnah, Tosefta, Abot, Sifra, Sifré to Numbers, and Sifré to Deuteronomy -- A. Birth. First Public Appearance -- B. Torah -- C. Virtue -- D. Death -- iii. The Later Midrash-Compilations: Genesis Rabbah, Leviticus Rabbah, and Pesiqta deRab Kahana -- A. Birth. First Public Appearance -- B. Discipleship and Study of the Torah -- C. Virtue -- D. Death -- iv. The Latest Midrash-Compilations: Song of Songs Rabbah, Ruth Rabbah, Esther Rabbah I, and Lamentations Rabbah -- A. Birth. First Public Appearance and Origins -- B. Discipleship and Study of the Torah -- C. Virtue -- D. Death -- v. The Paradigmatic Person -- Part Five Transcending the Bounds of Time -- VIII. Zakhor: Is Rabbinic Judaism a Religion of Memory? -- i. Marking Time: Memory or Dream -- ii The Scriptural Foundations of Paradigmatic Thinking -- iii. Scripture's Memory and Tradition -- iv. Zakhor: Is Rabbinic Judaism a Religion of Memory? -- iv. Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Zakhor. Jewish History and Jewish Memory Revisited -- vi. Transcending the Bounds of Time -- vii. Model-Explanation -- viii.Explaining the Explanation: Why Here? Why Now? So What? -- ix. Paradigm over Cycle -- Part Six Five Supplementary Studies: A Documentary Account of the Idea of History in Rabbinic Judaism -- IX. The Mishnah's Conception of History -- i. History in the Mishnah.

ii. History and the Laws of History -- iii. What Actually Happened that Matters -- iv. The History of the Temple Not Narrated but Classified -- v. Not the Unique but the Exemplary -- v. The Messiah in the Mishnah -- X. The Yerushalmi's Conception of History -- i. The Context -- ii. The Conception of History in the Talmud of the Land of Israel -- iii. The Yerushalmi's New History -- iv. The Doctrine of the Messiah in the Talmud of the Land of Israel -- XI. Genesis Rabbah and the History of Israel -- i. Genesis Rabbah -- ii. How the Rabbinic the Rabbinic sages Read the Book of Genesis, What They Found There -- iii. The Case of Abraham -- iv. Isaac and Jacob and Israel's History -- v. Joseph, the Tribal Fathers, and Israel's History -- vi. Beginnings Reveal Endings -- XII. Astral Israel in Pesiqta deRab Kahana -- i. If not history, then what? -- ii. The Negative side. Israel is not subject to astrological influence -- iii. The Positive Side: Israel on earth matches the stars in the heaven. The Unstated Position of Pesiqta deRab Kahana -- iv. God is reasonable and when Israel has been punished, it is in accord with God's rules -- v. God will save Israel personally at a time and circumstance of his own choosing -- vi. Theology of Pesiqta deRab Kahana -- vii. The Unique Theological Perspective of Pesiqta deRab Kahana -- viii.Two cycles of time joined -- ix. The theology of astral Israel and the reading of Scripture -- x. The absolute, fixed order of the document once more -- xi. Nature and renewal -- xii. How Pesiqta deRab Kahana Forms a Theological Statement of Astral Israel -- xiii.Pesiqta de R. Kahana's theology in the context of the Rabbinic system and structure -- xiv. Astral Israel in Pesiqta deRab Kahana -- xv. Israel is not subject to astral influence because Israel forms a Celestial Body.

XIII. What, Exactly, Do We Mean by "an Event" in Judaism? Address at CollÈge de France, Paris, 1990 -- Subject index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W -- Y -- Z -- Index of Ancient Sources.