In a recent issue of The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik discusses the modern dessert. His investigation soon took him to Spain, where he talked with with some of the most widely admired pastry chefs in the world. While Gopnik doesn't quite frame his own … [Continue reading] about Perfection
What I Learned in Prison
I recently finished teaching a four-class course on the Book of Psalms to medium security inmates of our state ACI (Adult Correctional Institute). The course was organized through a student group at Brown. The reasons I choose to do this are too … [Continue reading] about What I Learned in Prison
Fooling Around with Digital Humanities
I have long been interested in ways in which modern technology can enhance what I do, as a scholar and a teacher. In the classroom I have used podcasts and wikis, and I continue to work on a digital collection of inscriptions from Israel/Palestine … [Continue reading] about Fooling Around with Digital Humanities
A Usable Past
I just finished Albert Baumgarten's engaging biography of Elias Bickerman, Elias Bickerman as Historian of the Jews: A Twentieth Century Tale, which was also recently reviewed by Anthony Grafton in The Jewish Review of Books. In Baumgarten's … [Continue reading] about A Usable Past
Death, and the Modern American Synagogue
I had the pleasure this last week of listening to a lecture by Professor Carlos Eire, of Yale University. (Full dislosure: I was a colleague of Carlos's at University of Virginia, and in addition to finding him a supportive senior colleague, have … [Continue reading] about Death, and the Modern American Synagogue