Our Purpose: The Desire for Meaning is our Strength and Weakness
This originally appeared in my Substack. Do humans have a unique purpose?The Bible wrestles with this question. In the first creation account (Genesis 1:1-2:4), God first states the intention to […]
View ArticleWhat Should I Take?
This originally appeared on my Substack.Over the years, I have offered scores of first-year college students advice. I have encouraged them to clarify their goals; to create long term plans; […]
View ArticleAntisemitism: A History
A course that I’m teaching in Fall, 2024, to undergraduates at Brown University:Antisemitism is sometimes called the “longest hatred,” and today it is on the rise. This class examines both […]
View ArticleThe Talmud
In addition to teaching my course on antisemitism this fall, I’ll also be teaching a course on the Talmud (in English). The description is below, and the full downloadable syllabus, […]
View ArticleAgainst Divestment at Brown University
In April, 2024, as at a few (mostly highly-selective) universities, student protesters encamped at Brown University. The encampments were set up on our main green, and while peaceful, they violated […]
View ArticleCan ChatGPT Read Ancient Texts?
This was originally published on my Substack, available here. For many years, I have been directing a project to make available the inscriptions that date from around 520 BCE – […]
View ArticleWhat is “Late Antiquity”?
This was originally published in my Substack, available here. I sometimes call myself a scholar of “Late Antiquity.” But what does that mean?There is nothing obvious or natural about how […]
View ArticleWhat Really Happened on Hanukkah?
Hanukkah is the only Jewish holiday not mentioned in the Jewish Bible. About four hundred years after the events that gave rise to the holiday, the rabbis were still uneasily […]
View ArticleAI and Ancient Inscriptions
Strange image generated by DALL-E for this postFirst published on my Substack. In an earlier post, I discussed a very simple and quick experiment that I did on a photograph of […]
View ArticleWord Similarity in the Talmud
At the beginning of the semester I assembled a team of students (Gabriel Burstyn and Songkai Zhao) to explore ways in which AI and machine learning can contribute to the […]
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