For those attending the SBL/AAR, here is a quick round up of rabbinics-related sessions and panels of interest.  And for those not attending, now you will at least know what people are talking about. Following the list, there are additional papers that are not part of rabbinics-only panels.  If there are papers missing, feel free to add them in the comments.  And if you’re at the conference, feel free to discuss the sessions as they happen. 

Friday, 8:20 to 10:25am: A Reassessment of the Synagogue in Late Antiquity: Between Continuity and Renewal 
Room: A30 Grand Ballroom

The session aims to explore developments relating to the primary and central Jewish institution of Late Antiquity, the synagogue, from the diachronic and synchronic perspectives.
Lee I. Levine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Presiding
Introduction (5 min.)
Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina,
The Chronology of Late Antique Synagogues in Palestine (20 min.)
Zeev Weiss, Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
The Synagogue in Ancient Palestine: Shaping Sacred Space in the Byzantine Realm (15 min.)
Lee I. Levine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Flourishing of Jewish Art in Late Antiquity (15 min.)
Jonathan Price, Tel Aviv University,
The Place of Synagogue Inscriptions in the Epigraphic Culture of the Roman Near East (20 min.)
Ophir Münz-Manor, Open University of Israel, The Talmud Blog,
The Ancient Synagogue in its Byzantine-Christian Context: The Case of Hebrew Liturgical Poetry (Piyyut) (20 min.)

Sunday, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM – S20-226: History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism
Room: Grand Ballroom C – Intercontinental

Christine Hayes, Yale University, Presiding
Lee Levine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Emergence of the Patriarchate: A Third or Fourth Century Phenomenon? (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Holger Michael Zellentin, University of Nottingham
No Exit: Punishment, Hell, and Early Byzantium According to the Talmud Yerushalmi (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Michael Rosenberg, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
On the Immersion of Proselytes: Identity Marker, or Purification? (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Discussion (10 min)
David Brodsky, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
From Disagreement to Talmudic Discourse: Progymnasmata and the Evolution of the Talmudic Sugya (20 min)

Monday, 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM: From the Babylonian Exile through the Babylonian Talmud: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Ancient Judaism
Room: 3008 – Convention Center

The centuries between the time of the Babylonian Exile and the flourishing of rabbinic Judaism as embodied in the Babylonian Talmud were marked by wide-ranging religious transformations, literary developments, and social and cultural growth. The Journal of Ancient Judaism and the JAJ Supplement Series address this crucial period. Celebrating our first two years of publication we invite scholars in the field to discuss the concept of Ancient Judaism by asking for the distinctions and continuities between the Israel of Biblical times, Second Temple Judaism, and the Judaism that developed under the rabbis.

Maxine Grossman, University of Maryland College Park, Presiding
Armin Lange, Universität Wien, Presiding
Thomas Römer, Université de Lausanne, Panelist
James VanderKam, University of Notre Dame, Panelist
Lawrence Schiffman, Yeshiva University, Panelist
Christine Hayes, Yale University, Panelist
James Kugel, Bar Ilan University, Panelist

Monday, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM – S21-221: History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism
Room: 3000 – Convention Center

Theme: Review of Legal Fictions: Studies of Law and Narrative in the Discursive Worlds of Ancient Jewish Sectarians and Sages, by Steven Fraade

Alyssa Gray, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (New York Branch), Presiding
Moshe Bernstein, Yeshiva University, Panelist
Charlotte Fonrobert, Stanford University, Panelist
Jonathan Klawans, Boston University, Panelist
Richard Sarason, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Panelist
Steven Fraade, Yale University, Respondent
Business Meeting (30 min)

Monday, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM – S21-229: Midrash
Room: Mission II & III – Renaissance Parc 55

Theme: Egyptian Cultural Icons in Midrash
This panel discussion is devoted to the topic of the significance of Egypt in Midrashic texts, with a particular focus on a critical consideration of “Egyptian Cultural Icons in Midrash” by Rivka Ulmer.

W. David Nelson, Groton School, Presiding
Susan Tower Hollis, Empire State College, State University of New York, Panelist (20 min)
Isaac Kalimi, University of Chicago, Panelist (20 min)
Deborah Green, University of Oregon, Panelist (20 min)
Steven Daniel Sacks, Cornell College, Panelist (20 min)
Yaakov Elman, Yeshiva University, Panelist (20 min)
Rivka Ulmer, Bucknell University, Respondent (20 min)
Discussion (30 min)

Tuesday, 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM – S22-119: History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism
Room: Sierra J – Marriott Marquis

Theme: Methodological Considerations for the Study of the Babylonian Talmud in Light of Syriac and Middle Persian Sources

Carol Bakhos, University of California-Los Angeles, Presiding
Yaakov Elman, Yeshiva University, Panelist (20 min)
Richard Kalmin, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Panelist (20 min)
Prods Oktor Skjaervo, Harvard University, Panelist (20 min)
Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Tel Aviv University, Panelist (20 min)
Richard Payne, Mount Holyoke College, Panelist (20 min)
Adam Becker, New York University, Panelist (20 min)
Discussion (30 min)

Tuesday, 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM – S22-127: Midrash
Room: Twin Peaks – Intercontinental

Theme: Meaning and Messianism in Midrash

W. David Nelson, Groton School, Presiding
Serge Ruzer, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Comprehensive Messianic Midrash in the Making: From 1 Enoch to Gospels to Genesis Rabbah (20 min)
Rachel Adelman, Harvard University
Preempting the Redemption: The Bones of the Ephraimites and the Messianic Pretender in Midrash (20 min)
Jonathan Kaplan, Yale University
Finding the Elusive Lover: Early Rabbinic Re-reading of the Song of Songs as a Statement of God’s Abiding Presence with Israel (20 min)
Marc Bregman, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
The Early History of Midrashic Texts (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)

Additional papers of interest:

Sunday, 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM – S20-130a – Meals in the Greco-Roman World
Room: 3012 – Convention Center

Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism Jordan D. Rosenblum, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sunday, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM – S20-220a – Early Jewish Christian Relations
Room: Cyril Magnin I – Renaissance Parc 55

Rabbis and Disciples of Jesus—A Conflict Over Interpretive Authority Karin Hedner Zetterholm, Lund University

There’s Something about Mary’s Child: Rabbinic Polemics and the Early Christian Scribal Reception of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas Stephen J. Davis, Yale University

Sunday, 3:00 pm-4:30 pm – A20-275 – Lesbian-Feminist Issues and Religion Group and Religion and Disability Studies Group

Brides and Blemishes: Queering Women’s Disability in the Babylonian Talmud, Julia Watts Belser, Missouri State University

Sunday, 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM – S20-340 – Speech and Talk: Discourses and Social Practices in the Ancient Mediterranean World
Room: Yerba Buena 15 – Marriott Marquis

Décor, Decorum, and Declamation: The Spatial Setting of Rabbinic Speech Gil Klein, Loyola Marymount University
The Memory of Hagar’s Talk in Christian and Jewish Texts Marianne Kartzow, Universitetet i Oslo

Sunday, 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM – S20-337 – Rhetoric and the New Testament
Room: Nob Hill D – Marriott Marquis

Early Rabbinic Rhetoric: An Introductory Catalogue Jack N. Lightstone, Brock University

Monday, 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM – S21-143 – Sensory Perception in the Bible and Early Judaism and Christianity
Room: Sierra J – Marriott Marquis

The Garden of Eden: A Sensual Study in Rabbinic Midrash Deborah Green, University of Oregon

Monday, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM – S21-211a – Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah
Room: Golden Gate C3 – Marriott Marquis

The Voluntary Nature of the Nehemiah Covenant in Rabbinic Literature David A. Glatt-Gilad, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Monday, 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM – S21-304
Biblical Hebrew Poetry
Room: 2012 – Convention Center

Did the Rabbis “Forget” Parallelism? A Reassessment of Biblical Hebrew Parallelism in Tannaitic Midrashim Jonathan Kaplan, Yale University

Monday, 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM – S21-331 – Religious Competition in the Third Century CE: Interdisciplinary Approaches
Room: Yerba Buena 12 – Marriott Marquis

Inscription as Competition: Graffiti and Cultural Identity in the Greco-Roman Levant Karen B. Stern, Brooklyn College of City University of New York
. Authority and Empire in Sasanian Persia: The Socio-cultural Interface between the Babylonian Sages and Zoroastrian Priests  Jason Mokhtarian, Indiana University (Bloomington)
Gregg Gardner, University of British Columbia, Respondent