With “Sacred Techs” we wanted to bring together information focused upon using technology in the real of biblical and ancient studies. It will be periodically updated, on a monthly basis at the least, with articles and interviews on various topics around this general theme. We are very hopeful that others will be willing to contribute to the site, there are many within the world of online ancient studies who are very (and more) adept in these areas, many who are creating the very technology that we will be reviewing, citing, and discussing. This is particularly true if you use something other than Apple products and MacOS, iOS, or Android software. It is not that we are prejudiced against other platforms, but the reality is that Robert and I both tend to use those products and platforms. If you are interested in contributing please drop us a line or leave a comment!

The goal is to build a kind of command center that keeps up with new trends in the field, reviews recent research, covers conferences, meetings, and symposia, looks at nifty new tools, and occasionally, considers the broader implications of the scholarship. If we have learned that the internet is the collective brain of mankind, and that the Talmud is a epitome of rabbinic culture, then this site expresses but the will of the people! So comments are appreciated, and advice is golden. Take a look around. The sidebar is catered especially for your research needs – particularly students of the Bavli. But what’s missing, and what’s extraneous…

Topics of this blog will vary. For starters: (1) What does it mean to affirm God in our vision of reality? (Answering the Apikoros); (2) What have the Hebrew and Greek traditions contributed to our mental tool-kit that we take for granted in digesting reality? (Synoptic View of Western Thought, from a Jewish viewpoint); (3) What is strangely attractive about the Talmud, as indispensable rubric of the Jewish mind? (4) What does Jewish wisdom have to say about Tzedakah, the open-handed giving that is still so important in helping to supply today’s needs in the world?

Among his numerous scholarly pursuits, Leonard has either translated himself or contributed to the translation of a number of classic works in Jewish studies such as Heschel’s Heavenly Torah: As Refracted Through the Generations
and Isaac Heinemann’s The Reasons for the Commandments in Jewish Thought: From the Bible to the Renaissance.