Though not a Talmudist, few appreciated the dramatic potential of Summertime like Janis Joplin

It’s the summer, and some of you are swimming at the beach, hiking in the woods, and generally far away from the darkness of microfilm collections and poorly-lit reading rooms. Two upcoming events in Jerusalem will give your brain a chance to exercise and your pupils some time to readjust to the indoors.

First, tomorrow, Tuesday July 11  at 7:30pm at the Jerusalem theater, the Van Leer Institute and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem will be hosting a screening and discussion of Joseph Cedar’s Footnote – a film close to the heart of this blog and which I hope to write a review of (with Elli Fischer) for the Jewish Review of Books. Participants at the event will include Cedar himself, along with Hebrew U professors Israel Bartal, Shlomo Naeh, Avinoam Rosenak, and more.

Second, as Prof. David Halivni continues to push back the date of the redaction of the Babylonian Talmud, the renewed Jewish National Library will have Prof. Halivni give a talk next Sunday, July 17th at 1pm when he will finally ask “Was there a Redaction of the Babylonian Talmud?”

(You can submit events of interest to thetalmudblog[at]gmail[dot]com)