Tag Archives: talmud-midrash

(Talmud & Art) Cats at Seder Behold I Bite the Mouse (Illuminated Haggadah)

Posted on April 14, 2020 by zjb

Pesach is almost done with this year but I wanted to share with my Talmud, art, and animal friends this charming little post from the amazing blogsite here at the Bodleian. These medieval illuminated images from the Haggadah are the … Continue reading →

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(Foucault) Inside (Mishkan)

Posted on March 26, 2020 by zjb

Deep inside a chapter on the Beit Ha’Mikdash in the Bavli, I found this little gem on a Coronavirus detour through Foucault’s The Birth of the Clinic. It speaks as well to the rabbinic gaze, to “powers of truth” in a … Continue reading →

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Pikuach Nefesh Is/Is Not An Overriding Halakhic Value

Posted on March 19, 2020 by zjb

I’ll might take this post down because maybe I’m getting it terribly wrong. But I’m going to give it a shot. The principle of Pikuch Nefesh (saving life) is a well-known and a cardinal principle of Jewish law. The notion … Continue reading →

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The Unsearchable Human Heart Of Government (Shabbat 11a)

Posted on March 18, 2020 by zjb

In line with the Book of Proverbs and the vast scope of responsibility, the rabbis about government and the political heart were Weberian in their practical realism and bleak view of things. Michael Satlow posted on FB this beautiful gemara, … Continue reading →

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Plague in the City (Bava Kamma 60b)

Posted on March 12, 2020 by zjb

[[Michel Serre, Vue de la Cours pendant la peste de 1720]] What to do during the time of plague? “A person should always.” “The Sages taught.” “What is the reason?” “And if you should say.” “The sages taught.” “The sages … Continue reading →

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(The Social Good) Principles of Rabbinic Political Theory

Posted on March 9, 2020 by zjb

In the middle of an election year, I’m trying to sketch out a “Jewish political theory” based on rabbinic sources. It is neither radical-messianic-revolutionary (i.e. committed to radical ends, the radical end of things) nor liberal (i.e. predicated on the … Continue reading →

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Women & Talmud & Daf Yomi (כדור של בנות)

Posted on January 6, 2020 by zjb

c I’m sharing two articles, here and here, about women completing the seven and a half year cycle completing, one page a day, the entire Babylonian Talmud. Neither articles does the heavy lifting that concern “the problem” of Talmud and … Continue reading →

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(Antique Foodways) Idle Talk (Ecclesiastes Rabbah)

Posted on October 20, 2019 by zjb

“All things toil to weariness, [a person] cannot utter it” (Eccles. 1;8). Idle talk wearies [a person]: “The partridge today is pickled with garlic.” The side of the [animal] is like lead.””Cut thin slices.” “Roasted with mustard.” “Portions which deserve … Continue reading →

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Talmud & The Casuistic Style (Shlomo Deshen & the Jews of Morocco)

Posted on August 18, 2019 by zjb

Working through 18th and 19th century halakhic sources (in this case, responsa) to get a bead on traditional Moroccan Jewish life prior to formal colonial period (prior to the establishment of the French protectorate in 1912), Shlomo Deshen said something … Continue reading →

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Tisha B’Av Lament (Reading Lamentations Rabbah)

Posted on August 12, 2019 by zjb

No political hot take, Lamentations Rabbah, the rabbinic commentary to the biblical book, is an ambiguous lament. This is more true of the main body of the text as opposed to the by-and-large more “orthodox” proems, focused as these are upon … Continue reading →

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