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Insiders vs. Outsiders

Malcolm Gladwell has another one of his eye opening articles at the New Yorker. He writes about insides vs. outsiders, focusing on the figure of Sidney Weinberg, a former head of Goldman Sachs. While reading his article, I kind of thought about the Jewish people as the perpetual outsiders. I am sure [...]

Materia giudaica XII/1-2 and Yom Kippur

Not that I read Italian, but I wonder if there were any articles in English in the newest volume of Materia giudaica, edited by Mauro Perani. Not only are there a number of articles in English, but they are also available online here. This volume includes in English, in addition to what seem like [...]

New Issue of Meorot-7:1

Hirhurim has a list of the articles that appear in the new issue of Meorot. I just wanted to comment on one of them. R. Yaakov Love wrote on “Inviting a Gentile on Yom Tov.” For those interested in the question, I recommend his article, and I wanted to add something to [...]

Popular Halakhic Literature in 14th c. Spain

Yehudah D. Galinsky has an article in the new JQR, 98/3, Summer 2008, “On Popular Halakhic Literature and the Jewish Reading Audience in Fourteenth-Century Spain.” From the abstract,
The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was not an auspicious period for the Jews of Europe. In contrast, the Jewish communities of Christian Spain seem to have been [...]

Academic Studies Press

This past year Academic Studies Press has published a number of new books in the field of Jewish Studies. They consist both of translations into English of already published works, and new books. Among the translations that they have published is Isaac Heinemann’s The Reasons for the Commandments in Jewish Thought, a translation [...]

Denominationalism in the Reconstructionist

The most recent issue of the Reconstructionist is devoted to denominationalism. It includes articles by David Ellenson and Arnold Eisen. You can download the issue here.

If the sun has risen on him, Ex. 22:2

In Exodus 22:1-2 we read,
‏אִם־בַּמַּחְתֶּרֶת יִמָּצֵא הַגַּנָּב וְהֻכָּה וָמֵת אֵין לוֹ דָּמִים׃
‎:‏ אִם־זָרְחָה הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ עָלָיו דָּמִים לוֹ שַׁלֵּם יְשַׁלֵּם אִם־אֵין לוֹ וְנִמְכַּר בִּגְנֵבָתוֹ׃

“If the thief is seized while tunneling, and he is beaten to death, there is no bloodguilt in his case.
If the sun has risen on him, there is bloodguilt in that case. — [...]

Moshe Idel on the Besht

Moshe Idel has a new article on the Besht. The following is from the Hartman Institute,
Idel reports the hasidic legend that the Besht’s father was taken away to a far country by bandits where, in parallels to the biblical Joseph, he became a viceroy and was given a wife he did not touch. Then, [...]

Introducing Glossator

A new online journal which may be of interest:

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Glossator: Practice and Theory of the Commentary
Glossator publishes original commentaries, editions and translations of commentaries, and essays and articles relating to the theory and history of commentary, glossing, and marginalia. The journal aims to encourage the practice of commentary as a creative form of intellectual work [...]

Nextbook

I recently received the new issue of Nextbook, a semiannual with discussions of Jewish literature and culture. The web site features a number of interesting articles and a large amount of podcasts on numerous topics. As I write this, I am listening to a podcast about the rebirth of Hebrew featuring interviews with [...]