Then and Now
In the year between graduating from college and beginning graduate school, I stumbled on a book that profoundly changed the way that I thought. Gerd Theissen's Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity (Fortress, 1978) presented a way of reading … [Continue reading] about The New Testament in its German Context
Translations are intriguing. To translate a text - especially a large and complex one - is no small undertaking. A translation project originates as a potentially idiosyncratic perception by somebody (or a group) that their target … [Continue reading] about Mishnah in the mama lashon?
Think you have trouble? (Let me add, for the benefit of my wonderful wife and mother-in-law, that I do not!) In-law relations were just as complex and occasionally fraught in antiquity. Here is a recently published essay of mine (in … [Continue reading] about In-Law Troubles?
I recently wrote a reaction to two essays on the contemporary state of "rabbinics" for The Talmud Blog that can be found here. Below is a copy, although I urge readers to carry on any discussion at The Talmud Blog. In our line of work, the word … [Continue reading] about Rabbinics Must Die
The last time I bought a sukkah in the U.S., I went online, selected my model, and clicked the button. UPS brought it the next week. It was a snap-together model, and while not very difficult to figure out how to put together, the … [Continue reading] about On Buying a Sukkah in Israel