I will be giving four talks in Baltimore on April 1-2 on the holiness of the Bible. I am grateful to the Hoffberger Foundation for Torah Study and the consortium of Baltimore area synagogues for the opportunity to do this. The details are located … [Continue reading] about Speaking in Baltimore
Toward a New Model for Academic Publishing
I had a letter published in the New York Times the other day - it can be found on the Times website here and a I reproduce it below. While this letter was in response to an article that dealt specifically with the high cost of academic journals, I … [Continue reading] about Toward a New Model for Academic Publishing
On Jewish Betrothal
I recently wrote an essay for thegemara.com on the origins of Jewish betrothal. The primary but not only context for this essay is to provide a new, historical lens for those who, working through the "daf yomi" cycle of reading a page of Talmud each … [Continue reading] about On Jewish Betrothal
Who Read the Bible in Antiquity?
A video of the lecture that I gave at Trinity University on "Who Read the Bible in Antiquity" to kick off their Lennox Seminar. Meeting faculty colleagues there and interacting with the students in the seminar were both a lot of fun for me, although … [Continue reading] about Who Read the Bible in Antiquity?
Ezra: Role Play Exercise
Each time I teach "How the Bible Became Holy" I spend a day role-playing the response to Ezra's return to Jerusalem in 458 BCE. We focus on the aftermath of Nehemiah 8 but students have read all of Ezra and Nehemiah. This year we had to break the … [Continue reading] about Ezra: Role Play Exercise