Michael L. Satlow

Then and Now

academic

Great Jewish Books: Second Time Around

by

Last year I taught an undergraduate class called “Great Jewish Books” and posted the syllabus here.  The course, I thought, went very well.  Nevertheless, since I am an inveterate tinkerer, I have tinkered with the syllabus for the upcoming semester.  In terms of readings, I switched the excerpts for both classic rabbinic texts and medieval mystical texts and added more in Jewish thought (at the expense of I. B. Singer and Glueckel of Hameln).  I am still uncomfortable with the lack of works authored by women, though.  I have also changed the writing assignments slightly, making them more focused to better achieve the goals of the class.

A copy of the syllabus in Word format can be found here.  I welcome suggestions.  You should also feel free to use it with whatever modifications work for you.

Wikipedia in the Classroom

by

I have, in the past, used class assignments involving Wikipedia.  These usually involved students identifying weaknesses in entries dealing with the subject of the class, making the changes in Wikipedia to remedy these weaknesses, and then tracking the entry to see if anybody else modifies or deletes their changes.  I always found these assignments to be useful and illuminating, especially watching students change their stance toward Wikipedia from one of deference to incredulity.  Over the last couple of years it has, for various unimportant reasons, fallen off my list of preferred classroom techniques, but now seeing this post on the Profhacker blog, with links to a wealth of resources, is inspiring me to integrate it again into one of my classes.  Keep your eyes on the “Adam” and “Eve” entries – you never know what might happen by the end of the semester.

Conference Announcement: Jewish Attitudes Toward Wealth and Poverty

by

I am delighted to announce a conference that I am organizing on “Jewish Attitudes toward Wealth and Poverty.”  We are now in the “call for proposals” phase; please consider submitting a proposal and spread the word.  A short description is below and more information can be found here.

The Program in Judaic Studies at Brown University will host a conference entitled “Jewish Attitudes toward Wealth and Poverty” on November 1-3, 2015.

Traditional Jewish texts present different approaches to wealth, poverty, and money. The purpose of this conference is both to identify these texts and to explore the diversity of their ideas. Accordingly, the conference will be organized around particular texts dealing with specific issues. Conference time will be spent primarily in study of and conversation about these texts. Our ultimate goal is to produce a volume that includes the texts (in original translations) with short commentaries.

We invite proposals for presentations. Presenters will select a text (or short collection of texts) and provide an original translation prior to the conference. At the conference, presenters will very briefly introduce their texts and then lead discussions about them. The texts should be relatively short (no more than a few pages in most cases, except perhaps for literary passages) and drawn from almost any Jewish source from any time period. We particularly encourage submissions dealing with texts that have not been previously translated (e.g., responsa; commentaries; Hasidut).

We are particularly interested in proposals that deal with one of the following themes:

  • Ownership: Is there a concept of “private property,” or does all property ultimately belong to God and/or the community? What can acquire the status of “property”?
  • The Moral Value of Wealth and Poverty: Is being wealthy a sign of divine favor? Is poverty ultimately a “better” state in which to live?
  • The Acquisition of Wealth: Are there better or worse ways to acquire wealth? Can one make money off the labor of others? How is the biblical prohibition against charging interest treated, and what are its ramifications?
  • Spending: What are good and bad ways of disposing of wealth? Do the poor have rights to the wealth of others?

American Historical Association

by

I will be participating in a roundtable on “Jewish History/General History: Rethinking the Divide” at the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, Monday, January 5, 11 AM – 1 PM.  In this paper I will reflect on historical turn in the study of Jews in antiquity from history to “rabbinics” (some thoughts about that category here) and its contemporary implications, particularly since the rise of the concept of “Late Antiquity.”  Mostly, though, I am looking forward to learning from the other members of the panel.

Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine Presentation

by

This is an exciting time for the “Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine” project.  This online project seeks to collect and make accessible all of the published inscriptions from the region from the Persian period through the early seventh century CE.  We have been spending much time changing our data to make it “EpiDoc conformant” (a data standard used by many projects, especially in the EAGLE consortium), and in the next few weeks we will transition that new data – along with many new inscriptions – to the site.  Having just received a major grant from the Goldhirsh-Yellin Foundation, we have many great things in store.

I will be making an informal presentation on the project on Thursday, December 18, at 7:00 PM at the National Library of Israel at the Giva’at Ram campus of Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  The announcement of the event can be found here.  All are welcome!