Then and Now
Over the past few months, as noted earlier, with the help of research assistants I have been compiling a spreadsheet that records each occurrence of a biblical verse cited in the Bavli. The purpose of this data is not so much to ask qualitative … [Continue reading] about The Bible in the Bavli: Some First Numbers
The twitter updates will begin shortly, and can be followed at #armt. … [Continue reading] about Ancient Religion, Modern Technology Workshop on Twitter
In his book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman returns several times to a formative experience he had in the Israeli army. Assigned to a unit responsible for assigning fresh recruits to approriate units, he soon discovered that the interviews … [Continue reading] about Thinking, Fast or Slow? Or, “On Academic Hiring”
Ever wonder how many times the Babylonian Talmud cites the Bible? Me neither, until I compiled the data. The answer is 13,219 times, give or take a little. For those who are interested, the Vilna edition of the Talmud has 5894 folio pages … [Continue reading] about Fun Talmud Fact
In the Babylonian Talmud, authority comes in variety of flavors. Sometimes a tradition, heard from and cited in the name of a teacher, carries the day. At other times, logic wins. The behavior of a rabbi, the opinion of an expert, or the common … [Continue reading] about One pesuk, two pesuk, three pesukim more…