The paper argues that the pesaḥ is a ritual with no origins in the literature we have, from the earliest recoverable fragment, through the first revision that introduces as many problems as it aims to solve, to subsequent extensions in multiple directions, with no arc, no trajectory, no telos, but recurrent hermeneutic expressive engagement.

The paper argues that the pesaḥ is a ritual with no origins in the literature we have, from the earliest recoverable fragment, through the first revision that introduces as many problems as it aims to solve, to subsequent extensions in multiple directions, with no arc, no trajectory, no telos, but recurrent hermeneutic expressive engagement.

ABSTRACT: How to understand the processes, by which bodies ingest, gestate, generate, excrete, and expel various kinds of substances? This paper treats these questions as sorted through in rabbinic texts. The ways in which we think about how material bodies come into being, and the ways in which we distinguish and explain the emergence, entry, and…[Read more]

ABSTRACT: How to understand the processes, by which bodies ingest, gestate, generate, excrete, and expel various kinds of substances? This paper treats these questions as sorted through in rabbinic texts. The ways in which we think about how material bodies come into being, and the ways in which we distinguish and explain the emergence, entry, and…[Read more]

Covering the period from the close of the rabbinic canon to the present day, Classics of the Jewish Tradition will introduce students to the most influential texts that have shaped Jewish culture, in a variety of genres and languages representative of the diversity of Jewish creativity. Through close reading of selected primary sources and a…[Read more]

Covering the period from the close of the rabbinic canon to the present day, Classics of the Jewish Tradition will introduce students to the most influential texts that have shaped Jewish culture, in a variety of genres and languages representative of the diversity of Jewish creativity. Through close reading of selected primary sources and a…[Read more]

Drawing on rabbinic sources redacted in the early third and late fourth/ early fifth centuries, this paper tracks the intertwined lives of divine image-things and rabbis living in late Roman and Byzantine period Palestine. The paper argues that the religious image-things of others (or avodah zarah, in rabbinic terms) pressed in different ways on…[Read more]

Argues that Qohelet’s famous bit of speech on the seasons at 3:1-8 mimics and mocks proverbial poetry, as part of his larger, prosaic denial that life has discernible and usable rhythms and rhymes.

Argues that Qohelet’s famous bit of speech on the seasons at 3:1-8 mimics and mocks proverbial poetry, as part of his larger, prosaic denial that life has discernible and usable rhythms and rhymes.

Analysis of the story of David and the Gibeonites, argues that two different stories have been spliced together.

Analysis of the story of David and the Gibeonites, argues that two different stories have been spliced together.

Theoretical discussion of law and narrative and their interaction in biblical historiography.

Literary and historical analysis of the passage at Num 9:1–14

Literary and historical analysis of the passage at Num 9:1–14

Presents a new compositional history of the centralization law.