With pretty much all of my BA requirements behind me, I’m happy to finally have time to do a little web-logging. This note is based on some studying I did with Shai two and a half years ago. I present it here both to share it with the Talmud Blog community and also in order to receive feedback. Continue reading
Seek and Ye Shall Find: On Federico Dal Bo’s Feminist Commentary on Karetot
Federico Dal Bo, Massekhet Keritot. A Feminist Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud V/7. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013. IX+487 pp. €129
Federico Dal Bo is a very talented individual. This is the impression the reader gets not only from his unassuming biography on page II (two PhDs in unrelated disciplines awarded four years apart!), but also from even a cursory perusal of his new commentary on one of the most neglected corners of the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Karetot. It takes talent, and courage, to undertake a project as audacious and comprehensive as the title promises. Continue reading
Review of Elizabeth Shanks Alexander, ‘Gender and Timebound Commandments in Judaism’- Guest Post by Raphael Magarik
Implicit in the title of Elizabeth Shanks Alexander’s new book, Gender and Timebound Commandments in Judaism, is the question: What does gender have to do with “time-bound, positive commandments”? What motivates rabbinic texts to rule that women are exempt from those mitzvot? And as the phrase “in Judaism” implies, this question arrives entangled in important arguments over how Jewish women ought to practice today. Continue reading
Some Recent Hebrew Publications
One of the many points of feedback that we’ve gotten during the World Congress of Jewish Studies, going on now in Jerusalem, is that it would be nice if we also posted some of what we posted on our Facebook page to the blog as well. In that spirit, here’s a list of some of the important Hebrew publications that came out over the past week or two. Continue reading
“What does the Talmud Have to Offer Israeli Culture?” Yair Lipshitz and Moulie Vidas in Conversation on the Value of Talmud Study, the Beginnings of Talmudic Culture, and the Talmud’s Role in Israeli Society.
Over the past two years of blogging here at the new Talmud Blog, it has been more than a pleasure for us to meet interested readers from all over the world and various walks of life. While most of these “meetings” and discussions have only been held virtually, through our own events and other outlets we have also had the opportunity to meet in person. Next week, as scholars of Jewish Studies converge on Jerusalem for the 16th World Congress of Jewish Studies, we will be holding a Talmud Blog event catered to readers of the blog who may be in town as well as to a larger general audience:
“?מה יש לתלמוד להציע לתרבות הישראלית”
.יאיר ליפשיץ ומולי וידס בשיחה על ערך הלימוד, ראשית התרבות התלמודית, ומקומו של התלמוד בחברה הישראלית
“What does the Talmud have to Offer Israeli Culture?”
Yair Lipshitz and Moulie Vidas in conversation on the value of study, the beginnings of Talmudic Culture, and the Talmud’s role in Israeli Society.
Yair and Moulie’s conversation will based on Moulie’s current project, “The Beginning of Talmudic Culture,” and will include a discussion of Yerushalmi Hagigah 1:7.
The event, which will take place in Hebrew, is kindly being hosted by The Carousela– a cafe/restaurant in Rehavia- and will take place next Sunday, July 28th, at 7:30 pm. Please RSVP in the form below or through the Facebook event.
[All are also invited to Ophir’s concert on the following Wednesday (the 31st)!]
Talmudic Culture and its Discontents: The NLI’s Series on the Talmud and Israeli Society
From its beginnings, classical Zionism dreamed not only of resettling the Land of Israel but also of re-occupying classical Jewish language and literature. For most Zionists, the language was Hebrew and the literature, the Bible. After all, it is the Hebrew Bible that is concerned with Israelites fighting wars, settling their promised land, and tilling the good earth. The Talmud may very well have been the focus of more intellectual energy than any other book in Jewish history – but it is still the handbook of a powerless, landless people written in the dark and confused tongue of the Babylonian Diaspora. Continue reading
Rabbinic Spiritual Capital: A Review of ‘Judaea-Palaestina, Babylon and Rome: Jews in Antiquity’
Benjamin Isaac and Yuval Shahar (eds.), Judaea-Palaestina, Babylon and Rome: Jews in Antiquity (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012).
This volume is a collection of seventeen articles presented at a 2009 conference held at Tel Aviv University in honor of Aharon Oppenheimer on the occasion of his retirement. Oppenheimer is known to scholars of ancient Judaism and Christianity thanks to his work on a vast range of topics, many of which are represented by the articles in this book. Continue reading
Livestream: The Talmud and its World
Check back here at 5pm Jerusalem Time (10am Eastern Standard Time) for a Live Stream of the fourth Talmud blog event:
The Talmud and its World:
Reading the Bavli Alongside its Late Antique Neighbors
A Text-based Conversation with Iranist Yuhan Vevaina (Stanford) and Mandaic Scholar Charles Häberl (Rutgers). Facilitated by Shai Secunda (Hebrew University).
The handouts are available here: Charles’, Yuhan’s. Questions for the speakers can be left in the comments section below.
Discovering the “Talmudic DNA” at the National Library
Last Wednesday night, a mixed group of retirees, middle-aged Jerusalemites, and younger students convened at the National Library of Israel for the second event of the series “Meetings in the Bavli,” titled “The Talmudic DNA.” The evening began with a reading of the sugya of “zeh neheneh v’zeh lo haser” from Bava Qamma 20a-20b by the Israeli blogger/scholar of religion/activist/social critic par excellence, Tomer Persico. Continue reading
Meeting the Bavli at the National Library: Notes from an Uncultured Anthropologist- Guest Post by Assaf Harel
“Pumbedita & Vilna in Silicon Valley” is the title of the opening session in a series of five public meetings at the National Library of Israel. The series aims to investigate the relevance of the Bavli in the 21st century. Baldly, the first session asks: “Is the Babylonian Talmud relevant to the secular-western society in which we live?” Continue reading
The Talmud Blog 