Shai Secunda
@ssecunda.bsky.social
Semi-nomadic Talmudist
Professor at Bard College
Contributing editor at @jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social
Professor at Bard College
Contributing editor at @jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social
Reposted by Shai Secunda
"Now, life."
This week's #SundaySentence comes from Eli Sharabi's HOSTAGE (trans. Eylon Levy), as quoted in a @jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social review by @ssecunda.bsky.social that I've #JustRead.
www.erikadreifus.com/2025/10/sund...
This week's #SundaySentence comes from Eli Sharabi's HOSTAGE (trans. Eylon Levy), as quoted in a @jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social review by @ssecunda.bsky.social that I've #JustRead.
www.erikadreifus.com/2025/10/sund...
#SundaySentence - Erika Dreifus
The best sentence I've read during the past week.
www.erikadreifus.com
October 5, 2025 at 4:10 PM
"Now, life."
This week's #SundaySentence comes from Eli Sharabi's HOSTAGE (trans. Eylon Levy), as quoted in a @jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social review by @ssecunda.bsky.social that I've #JustRead.
www.erikadreifus.com/2025/10/sund...
This week's #SundaySentence comes from Eli Sharabi's HOSTAGE (trans. Eylon Levy), as quoted in a @jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social review by @ssecunda.bsky.social that I've #JustRead.
www.erikadreifus.com/2025/10/sund...
Reposted by Shai Secunda
Our Fall issue is now online!
September 29, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Our Fall issue is now online!
My recent romp through the history of the Jewish cult of saints, is out with @jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo... Visiting the Graves of the Righteous: Inns of Molten Blue - Jewish Review of Books
Visiting the Graves of the Righteous: Inns of Molten Blue - Jewish Review of Books
Graves of Tzaddikim hold many things—hopes, prayers, and sometimes even the deceased's body.
jewishreviewofbooks.com
July 15, 2025 at 3:46 PM
My recent romp through the history of the Jewish cult of saints, is out with @jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo... Visiting the Graves of the Righteous: Inns of Molten Blue - Jewish Review of Books
Reposted by Shai Secunda
Ever wonder about the strange Aramaic invitation at the beginning of the Passover Haggadah?
Check out my piece in last year's issue of
@jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social
Many thanks to @ssecunda.bsky.social for his friendship and editorial wizardry!
jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo...
Check out my piece in last year's issue of
@jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social
Many thanks to @ssecunda.bsky.social for his friendship and editorial wizardry!
jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo...
"Whoever Is Hungry, Come and Eat"? From the Babylonian Poor to the Ashkenazi Elijah - Jewish Review of Books
Whydowebegin the seder by inviting “whoever is hungry” to come and eat? Aren’t the guests already at the table? And why do we do it in Aramaic? It has something to do with Babylonian magic bowls . . .
jewishreviewofbooks.com
April 10, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Ever wonder about the strange Aramaic invitation at the beginning of the Passover Haggadah?
Check out my piece in last year's issue of
@jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social
Many thanks to @ssecunda.bsky.social for his friendship and editorial wizardry!
jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo...
Check out my piece in last year's issue of
@jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social
Many thanks to @ssecunda.bsky.social for his friendship and editorial wizardry!
jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo...
Reposted by Shai Secunda
Happy to announce the Spring issue, timely Passover- and other-wise, with discussion of war in Gaza and dissent against oppressive government, while also keeping our heads in the clouds, or at least in poetry about the strange air above a librarian’s ladder. jewishreviewofbooks.com/issue/spring...
Spring 2025 - Jewish Review of Books
jewishreviewofbooks.com
April 9, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Happy to announce the Spring issue, timely Passover- and other-wise, with discussion of war in Gaza and dissent against oppressive government, while also keeping our heads in the clouds, or at least in poetry about the strange air above a librarian’s ladder. jewishreviewofbooks.com/issue/spring...
Reposted by Shai Secunda
What a cover!!!
April 8, 2025 at 7:23 PM
What a cover!!!
Reposted by Shai Secunda
Winter issue just dropped, with a book review by Adam Kirsch, movie review by Emil Stern, an essay by Malka Simkovitch, a necrology by Ben Balint, soccer hooligan memories by Mark Glanville, and much much more! jewishreviewofbooks.com/issue/winter...
Winter 2025 - Jewish Review of Books
jewishreviewofbooks.com
January 15, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Winter issue just dropped, with a book review by Adam Kirsch, movie review by Emil Stern, an essay by Malka Simkovitch, a necrology by Ben Balint, soccer hooligan memories by Mark Glanville, and much much more! jewishreviewofbooks.com/issue/winter...
This book, a clear-eyed, terrifying collection of field notes by a skilled anthropologist writing from the field and fog of war in Gaza, has left me shaking.
January 12, 2025 at 3:59 PM
This book, a clear-eyed, terrifying collection of field notes by a skilled anthropologist writing from the field and fog of war in Gaza, has left me shaking.
Elegant response by @elirubin.bsky.social to Reviel Netz's piece on the Lubavitcher Rebbe's menorah. jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo...
The Menorah, the Rebbe and the Aesthetics of Transcendence: A Response to Reviel Netz - Jewish Review of Books
The Lubavitcher Rebbe had great artistic taste—and that included his choice of menorah.
jewishreviewofbooks.com
December 27, 2024 at 1:15 PM
Elegant response by @elirubin.bsky.social to Reviel Netz's piece on the Lubavitcher Rebbe's menorah. jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo...
There’s hardly anyone saying anything fresh, new, interesting and weird about Israel and Palestine. Actually, I think there’s only one: Ammon (Nono) Raz-Krakotzkin. If you know Hebrew, can do meandering podcasts, and have patience for a long runway, this is a must. open.spotify.com/episode/7dRT...
אפגב252- אמנון רז-קרקוצקין
ברדיו עם קלצ’קין · Episode
open.spotify.com
December 12, 2024 at 10:48 PM
There’s hardly anyone saying anything fresh, new, interesting and weird about Israel and Palestine. Actually, I think there’s only one: Ammon (Nono) Raz-Krakotzkin. If you know Hebrew, can do meandering podcasts, and have patience for a long runway, this is a must. open.spotify.com/episode/7dRT...
Reposted by Shai Secunda
Incunabula in the news
December 9, 2024 at 11:19 PM
Incunabula in the news
Excited to participate in this event celebrating Galit Hasan-Rokem’s book.
December 9, 2024 at 1:19 PM
Excited to participate in this event celebrating Galit Hasan-Rokem’s book.
Reposted by Shai Secunda
In spending a life pondering why talmudic arguments often turned on unlikely interpretations, Halivni was not merely asking what motivated talmudic passages; he was trying to explain the literary character of the bedrock text of rabbinic Judaism, and his life. jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo...
Like a Surgeon with a Scalpel, an Archaeologist with a Spade - Jewish Review of Books
David Weiss Halivni once rescued a scrap from a page of the Shulchan Arukh from the sandwich paper of a Nazi guard. His whole life turned out to be about rescuing texts.
jewishreviewofbooks.com
December 2, 2024 at 6:26 PM
In spending a life pondering why talmudic arguments often turned on unlikely interpretations, Halivni was not merely asking what motivated talmudic passages; he was trying to explain the literary character of the bedrock text of rabbinic Judaism, and his life. jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo...
Reposted by Shai Secunda
New position at The Jewish Theological Seminary: The inaugural Robert S. Rifkind Chair in American Jewish history (open-rank, tenure track) 🗃️
www.h-net.org/jobs/job_dis...
www.h-net.org/jobs/job_dis...
H-Net Job Guide
www.h-net.org
November 27, 2024 at 5:37 PM
New position at The Jewish Theological Seminary: The inaugural Robert S. Rifkind Chair in American Jewish history (open-rank, tenure track) 🗃️
www.h-net.org/jobs/job_dis...
www.h-net.org/jobs/job_dis...
Reposted by Shai Secunda
When Bellow met Agnon in Jerusalem, "[Agnon] asked me if any of my books had been translated into Hebrew. If they had not been, I had better see to it immediately, because, he said, they would survive only in the Holy Tongue." They were speaking in Yiddish. jewishreviewofbooks.com/american-jew...
A Good Golus - Jewish Review of Books
“Well,” he said, “this is a good little golus you’ve got here.”
jewishreviewofbooks.com
November 25, 2024 at 1:59 PM
When Bellow met Agnon in Jerusalem, "[Agnon] asked me if any of my books had been translated into Hebrew. If they had not been, I had better see to it immediately, because, he said, they would survive only in the Holy Tongue." They were speaking in Yiddish. jewishreviewofbooks.com/american-jew...
Truly beautiful, short history of the Kibbutz by the rabbinicist (!) Mira Balberg. escholarship.org/uc/item/8316....
Here on Earth: A History of the Kibbutz
Author(s): Balberg, Mira | Abstract: Here on Earth tells the story of the kibbutz, a daring social experiment in collectivized living, from its inception in the beginning of the twentieth century to t...
escholarship.org
November 25, 2024 at 7:34 AM
Truly beautiful, short history of the Kibbutz by the rabbinicist (!) Mira Balberg. escholarship.org/uc/item/8316....
One of the few toys about which I still remember the details of play.
Raise your hand if you played with this (“medieval”-castle) classic toy as a child
(Rediscovered cleaning out our Christmas decorations closet)
(Rediscovered cleaning out our Christmas decorations closet)
November 25, 2024 at 5:31 AM
One of the few toys about which I still remember the details of play.
Reposted by Shai Secunda
Did Bendahan write a modernist novel, an ethnographic portrait of Tetouani Sephardi life, or maybe, a brilliant and ambivalent piece of feminist fiction repurposing the old (antisemitic and antifeminist) trope of the beautiful Jewess?
J Kornberg on "Mazaltob" jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo...
J Kornberg on "Mazaltob" jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo...
The Jewess Mystique - Jewish Review of Books
An early feminist novel about a North African Jewish damsel in (Jewish) distress.
jewishreviewofbooks.com
November 24, 2024 at 2:24 PM
Did Bendahan write a modernist novel, an ethnographic portrait of Tetouani Sephardi life, or maybe, a brilliant and ambivalent piece of feminist fiction repurposing the old (antisemitic and antifeminist) trope of the beautiful Jewess?
J Kornberg on "Mazaltob" jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo...
J Kornberg on "Mazaltob" jewishreviewofbooks.com/jewish-histo...
Significant auction of mainly rabbinic manuscripts at Sotheby's. There are real treasures here: Volumes of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, a couple of Sefer ha-Arukhs, etc. Some prices are high, but there is a certain reasonableness, lacking from some heimishe a. houses.
www.sothebys.com/en/buy/aucti...
www.sothebys.com/en/buy/aucti...
Important Judaica | 2024 | Sotheby's
Sotheby’s is pleased to announce the 18 December sale of Important Judaica. Highlights include an exceptional group of manuscripts from the celebrated Montefiore and Sassoon collections. Among these a...
www.sothebys.com
November 24, 2024 at 7:49 AM
Significant auction of mainly rabbinic manuscripts at Sotheby's. There are real treasures here: Volumes of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, a couple of Sefer ha-Arukhs, etc. Some prices are high, but there is a certain reasonableness, lacking from some heimishe a. houses.
www.sothebys.com/en/buy/aucti...
www.sothebys.com/en/buy/aucti...
Reposted by Shai Secunda
Sit in on a meeting of the board of any Jewish organization or watch the Knesset Channel...and you will find ample confirmation that Jewish politics is messy. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
Prof. Elisheva Carlebach on the Jewish Political Tradition. jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/601...
Prof. Elisheva Carlebach on the Jewish Political Tradition. jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/601...
Tradition and Invention - Jewish Review of Books
If Jews were included in early 20th-century discussions of political communities, it was generally concerning their right to preserve their language and culture, along with other minorities, at a time when empires were being dismantled.
jewishreviewofbooks.com
November 22, 2024 at 11:10 AM
Sit in on a meeting of the board of any Jewish organization or watch the Knesset Channel...and you will find ample confirmation that Jewish politics is messy. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
Prof. Elisheva Carlebach on the Jewish Political Tradition. jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/601...
Prof. Elisheva Carlebach on the Jewish Political Tradition. jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/601...
You know how in time-travel movies, images of people who no longer exist fade from photographs? Well, the rabbis imagined the ink, which had inscribed your name in the record books, flying off of the papyrus.
"[Korah's family] and everything that belonged to them descended alive into the pit"—Rabbi Berakhiah in the name of Rabbe Helbo:
Even their names flew off the papyrus rolls!
(ySan 10:1; 28a)
וירדו הם וכל אשר להם חיים שאולה רבי ברכיה בשם רבי חלבו אף שמותיהם
פרחו מתוך טמסותיהם
Even their names flew off the papyrus rolls!
(ySan 10:1; 28a)
וירדו הם וכל אשר להם חיים שאולה רבי ברכיה בשם רבי חלבו אף שמותיהם
פרחו מתוך טמסותיהם
November 20, 2024 at 10:29 AM
You know how in time-travel movies, images of people who no longer exist fade from photographs? Well, the rabbis imagined the ink, which had inscribed your name in the record books, flying off of the papyrus.
"[Korah's family] and everything that belonged to them descended alive into the pit"—Rabbi Berakhiah in the name of Rabbe Helbo:
Even their names flew off the papyrus rolls!
(ySan 10:1; 28a)
וירדו הם וכל אשר להם חיים שאולה רבי ברכיה בשם רבי חלבו אף שמותיהם
פרחו מתוך טמסותיהם
Even their names flew off the papyrus rolls!
(ySan 10:1; 28a)
וירדו הם וכל אשר להם חיים שאולה רבי ברכיה בשם רבי חלבו אף שמותיהם
פרחו מתוך טמסותיהם
November 20, 2024 at 10:07 AM
"[Korah's family] and everything that belonged to them descended alive into the pit"—Rabbi Berakhiah in the name of Rabbe Helbo:
Even their names flew off the papyrus rolls!
(ySan 10:1; 28a)
וירדו הם וכל אשר להם חיים שאולה רבי ברכיה בשם רבי חלבו אף שמותיהם
פרחו מתוך טמסותיהם
Even their names flew off the papyrus rolls!
(ySan 10:1; 28a)
וירדו הם וכל אשר להם חיים שאולה רבי ברכיה בשם רבי חלבו אף שמותיהם
פרחו מתוך טמסותיהם
www.brepols.net/products/IS-...
A great day for scholars / יומא טבא לרבנן
A great day for scholars / יומא טבא לרבנן
Brepols - Mani’s Living Gospel and the Ewangelyōnīg Hymns
Brepols is an international academic publisher of works in the humanities, with a particular focus in history, archaeology, history of the arts, language and literature, and critical editions of histo...
www.brepols.net
November 20, 2024 at 9:14 AM
www.brepols.net/products/IS-...
A great day for scholars / יומא טבא לרבנן
A great day for scholars / יומא טבא לרבנן
For all you Jewish Review of Books readers, fans and haters alike, I draw your attention to JRB's first steps on Bluesky. It will be a worthwhile feed, so follow the magazine at @jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social !
November 19, 2024 at 4:59 PM
For all you Jewish Review of Books readers, fans and haters alike, I draw your attention to JRB's first steps on Bluesky. It will be a worthwhile feed, so follow the magazine at @jewishreviewbooks.bsky.social !