The book challenges traditional interpretations of the festival calendars in the Pentateuch, arguing that they do not merely mirror historical cultic and social realities. Instead, it posits that these laws actively shape new ideas through textual revision and redaction, akin to midrashic techniques. Shimon Gesundheit critiques classical hypotheses that seek to categorize legal codes and establish chronological sequences, advocating for a view that emphasizes the progressive literary development of these texts.
