I recently had an essay published at theTorah.com. It is connected to last week’s Torah reading, Re’eh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17), focusing on Deuteronomy 12, which allows for the consumption of domestic animals that were slaughtered … [Continue reading] about Is All Animal Slaughter in Antiquity Sacred?
The Land of Israel in the Religious Imagination
This fall I will be teaching the course "The Land of Israel in the Religious Imagination: From Antiquity to the Present" as a continuing education course. It is open to all and will have a hybrid format. You can attend in person in Providence or … [Continue reading] about The Land of Israel in the Religious Imagination
My New Book: Forthcoming in February
Dear friends, I’ve spent much of my career exploring the ancient religious imagination—how people understood the divine, lived with the sacred, and interacted with each other across boundaries of belief. And how they acted on those … [Continue reading] about My New Book: Forthcoming in February
Relaunching “From Israelite to Jew”
In 2009-2010, I created a podcast, “From Israelite to Jew,” that traced the evolution of the Israelites and their religion to Jews and Judaism. The podcast covers the time period from around the seventh century BCE to the third century CE, the time … [Continue reading] about Relaunching “From Israelite to Jew”
Word Similarity in the Talmud
At the beginning of the semester I assembled a team of students (Gabriel Burstyn and Songkai Zhao) to explore ways in which AI and machine learning can contribute to the academic study of early rabbinic literature. This is a burgeoning field and … [Continue reading] about Word Similarity in the Talmud