From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey

A Commentary on Food in the Torah

By Diana Lipton

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 302

ISBN: 978-965-524-252-2

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Food is at the heart of Jewish life and culture, the subject of many recent studies - popular and academic - and countless Jewish jokes. From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey: A Commentary on Food in the Torah spotlights food in the Torah, where it’s used to explore such themes as love and compassion, commitment, character, justice, belonging and exclusion, deception, and life and death. Originally created as an online project to support the innovative food rescue charity, Leket Israel, From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey comprises short essays on food and eating in the parasha by 52 internationally acclaimed scholars and Jewish educators, and a commentary by Diana Lipton. 

Proceeds from sales of this book will go to Leket Israel, Israel’s national food bank.   


About the Author: 
Diana Lipton received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Bible at the University of Cambridge. After almost ten years as Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge, she moved to King's College London as a Lecturer and then Reader in Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies. She is now an Adjunct Lecturer in Bible at Hebrew University's Rothberg International School. Her published works include Revisions of the Night: Politics and Promises in the Patriarchal Dreams of Genesis, Longing for Egypt and Other Unexpected Biblical Tales, and Lamentations Through the Centuries. Diana has a long history of voluntary work in the Jewish community, and this book emerged from her first project with Leket Israel. Diana has two sons, Jacob and Jonah, and she lives in Jerusalem with her husband, Chaim Milikowsky. 


Praise for Forbidden Fruit:
“Diana Lipton’s many insights into biblical texts are well known to contemporary scholars. Her commentary on food in the Torah offers a fresh look at some familiar passages and themes. Definitely eye-opening!” 
James Kugel, author of How to Read the Bible 

“Food in the Torah, argues Diana Lipton, is the basis of a rich and subtle language with which God communicates with Israel, Israel addresses God and people speak to each other. This is the theme of a suggestive collection of essays by some great Judaic scholars of our time, yielding delicious fruits of insight and an unusual salad of sustenance and spirituality. A feast to be treasured by all lovers of that full-flavoured mix of food and faith that is Jewish life at its best.” 
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks 

“Every generation approaches the Torah in search of insight. Traditional commentaries and even translations reflect this quest. A central concern of our time is food. In this splendid volume Diana Lipton combines an impressive array of contributors with her own commentary to create a wonderful ‘spread table’ of insights from the Torah on a subject that affects us all.” 
Professor Naomi Tadmor, author of The Social Universe of the English Bible: Scripture, Society and Culture in Early Modern England