Many people have been talking about the news report on Israel Channel Two about Jewish texts, reported to be from the 10th century, that were found in Afghanistan. This report in the Jerusalem Post provides the main points of the news report. Below is the video of the Channel Two news report. (Hebrew)
A two-volume memorial volume has just been published for Prof. I.M. Ta-Shma. (hat tip) The book can be ordered from EliezerBrodt-at-gmail.com. It is nine hundred pages of research into liturgy, Jewish law, customs, history, etc.
Ynet has an article (Hebrew) about Roni Weinstein’s new book, Shavru et ha-Keilim (“They Broke the Vessels”). Weinstein’s book is subtitled “The Kabbalah and Jewish Modernity.” In this book Weinstein claims that modern religious Judaism cannot be understand without reference to the Kabbalah. He is quoted as saying: The Kabbalah is like a bomb that [...]
The following question was published in today’s New York Times. (here) Q. I recently overheard a conversation about food in which someone mentioned “Jewish Champagne.” What is that? A. We’re going to assume the speaker was not referring to the French region, centered on Troyes, whose rabbinical scholars led an intellectual flowering in the 12th [...]
Lawrence Schiffman has published a new book, Qumran and Jerusalem: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Judaism. Major changes are occurring in our understanding of the fascinating texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their significance for the study of the history of Judaism and Christianity. One of the most significant [...]
At Oneg Shabbat, David Assaf has a post (Hebrew) about the relationships between the Yiddish writer Chaim Grade and Gedolei Yisrael, especially the Hazon Ish.
Last week we visited the National Museum of American Jewish History. I highly recommend this relatively new museum. For July 4th, I thought that the follow object from the collection was very appropriate. It is a Hebrew prayer for the United State government that includes the word “Washington” in an acrostic format. It was composed [...]
Rebecca Lesses has posted some nice pictures of her recent trip to the Galilee on her blog Mystical Politics. They include good ones of Beit Shearim and Sepphoris (Tzippori).
The article Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany has been posted at SSRN. (hat tip) Here is the abstract: How persistent are cultural traits? This paper uses data on anti-Semitism in Germany and finds continuity at the local level over more than half a millennium. When the Black Death hit [...]
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