ancient Judaism
From an island garrison in the Nile to a Moscow museum.
Searching for the secret of time.
The Isle of Elephantine.
Midrash as literary revolt against Hellenism.
If the Mishnah isn’t theology, history, or law, what is it?
In a Greek colony on the Black Sea coast.
Emperor Julian’s unfulfilled promise.
Even in the years of decline, the Land of Israel remained a center of Jewish creativity.
And an ancient sect’s version of all-night study.
How not to read the text through a modern lens.
What their gravestones tell us.
Forgotten Babylonian artifacts at the Hermitage.
And why the Dead Sea Scrolls are overrated.
A new book called The Origins of Judaism places the momentous occurrence much later in time than that proposed by most scholars. Is it right?