Just in advance of the shloshim for David Ellenson, the former president of Hebrew Union College, Jonathan D. Sarna pays tribute to a man whose life, work, and friendships spanned the Jewish denominational divide. thelehrhaus.com/timely-thought…

You can find my own A Talmud in Exile (2005; 2020) here, among many other Jewish Studies must-reads. Free downloads!

This article: nypost.com/2024/01/26/lif… made me think of this talmudic source (bBer 6b): רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן וְרַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר דְאָמְרִי תַּרְוַיְיהוּ: כֵּיוָן שֶׁנִּצְטָרֵךְ אָדָם לַבְּרִיּוֹת, פָּנָיו מִשְׁתַּנּוֹת כִּכְרוּם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״כְּרֻם זֻלּוּת לִבְנֵי אָדָם״.

I'm also saddened by this. Prof. Chazan's works have been key to my own understanding of medieval Jewish history. He was a gracious colleague and lovely person; I was also honored that he accepted my essay "Jewish Law" into v. 6 of The Cambridge History of Judaism. ברוך דיין אמת

This is a sort of subtweet. Yitzhak Isaac Halevy writes amusingly (to me) against arguments that Yerushalmi didn't come to Bavel earlier than Sa'adyah: "it's as if the land of Israel is a region on the moon, from which it's impossible to bring all the learning of EY. . . ."

I'm happy to announce the publication of Making History: Studies in Rabbinic History, Literature, and Culture in Honor of Richard L. Kalmin (Brown Judaic Studies, 2024), which I edited together with my friend and colleague Prof. Carol Bakhos. press.sbl-site.org/product/making…

To me, this is bigger news than the NYC earthquake and Monday’s eclipse.

I had a great time the other day learning the parsha with Mia Raskin. Mia has a terrific podcast called "The Relatable Parsha." Check out our conversation and others! podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mia-r…

That’s just how it feels.

When they ask “Have you read it?” about the Talmud, they haven’t read it. They haven’t even seen a page of it. You don’t “read” the Talmud. It isn’t a book. It’s the infinitely hypertexted minutes of 800 years of debates - some of them debates that literally lasted centuries and

New article of mine: The Literary Artistry of Jewish Law - Read on degruyter.com/document/doi/1… De Gruyter Brill ➡️ @degruyterbrill.bsky.social or please DM me for a PDF.

Looking forward to this. No better scholar to write it.

Daf Yomi Shakespeare (or more like Rambam Yomi on the one-year plan). Oh brave new world that has such people in it! Great idea.

I'm all in. Alex Joffe

I remember 9/11/2001 too well. Among the day's images that move me still is this Daily News' photo of the firefighters of Ladder 118 (Bklyn) bravely heading into Lower Manhattan. They did not go home--on earth. "I weep for this beauty that disintegrates into the dust" (Talmud).

Yes.

Just published: Cambridge History of Rights, volume 1. Chapters covering the various bases, including one by me on rabbinic Judaism (land of Israel compilations).

Live from inside my home. . . 😁

And, in my experience, there are plenty of students who are relieved (some silently, some openly) to learn from physical books and printed-out readings.

Cairo, Provence, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Jerusalem: A long and winding journey was taken by the extraordinarily beautiful manuscript now displayed in the National Library of Israel’s permanent exhibition in Jerusalem. This is the story of one of the rarest, and likely the