My first book review for The Jewish Press is of the thought-provoking Talmud Reclaimed by Rabbi Shmuli Phillips. You can read the review here: https://www.jewishpress.com/sections/books/book-reviews/where-does-the-oral-torah-come-from-and-can-it-change/2024/10/02/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFw9itleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRWrNFVkvTxVSMpG6O-FdJmKKMi4f0fU3KsiHndzg5O6dXUabhhV23PzxQ_aem_pH7NSDTsGMPBeO0kMCj_kw

Last week on Tisha B’av, I spoke at the end of Torah in Motion’s program. My class was on the emotions of Tisha B’av–particularly, that throughout the kinot (lamentations) of the day, we discuss not only feelings of sadness and grief, but also anger and hope.

You can watch the recording here:

Last week, I taught a parsha class for Torah in Motion about the troubling episode of the the Sotah. You can view it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpJXUs2JIj8&t=2997s&ab_channel=TorahinMotion

Last year, right before Shavuot, my wife had a traumatic second-trimester miscarriage.

I debated whether to write about the experience for quite some time, but decided that I would share my thoughts–from a not often heard father’s perspective–in the hope that it might bring those who share this all too common loss a measure of nechama (comfort).

Here is the article I wrote, published at Tablet Magazine.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/belief/articles/mourning-miscarriage-shavuot

On March 20 at 12 pm, I will be giving a lecture at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, on “Esther in the Movies.” This class is based on the article I wrote for the book Esther in America a few years ago. We’ll look at the ways in which Hollywood has interpreted and misinterpreted Megillat Esther, particularly the way in which the movies tend to make it into a love story.

You can attend in person if you happen to be at the museum, or you can also attend online for free if interested. See here to register for online attendance: https://www.museumofthebible.org/events/lunch-learn-esther-in-the-movies.

I appeared on a podcast for the first time!

Thank you to Rabbi Moshe Kurtz for inviting me to speak about the history of the Haggadah (and Jewish prayer and Karaites) on his podcast, Shu”T First, Ask Questions Later. It was a great deal of fun and hopefully will be informative as well.

You can listen here as well as other places podcasts can be found:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Zx7Yhr6p7hbF2yJusgMpE?si=z5sXjlUKTiin4zgOw7Wi7w&fbclid=IwAR1tmL_gposxL9MZbZBdUaCUHCSsMe6bcngCmfbylAwXkRsyhkasNahj0X8&nd=1&dlsi=1ebb4828547c49f0

My 5-part lecture series on the Hertz Chumash, the Living Torah, the Adler Machzor, the Birnbaum Siddur, and three iterations of the RCA Siddur is now available on YouTube, courtesy of Torah in Motion.

Click here to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL6g0lC7vbk&list=PLGQrWlI7O–7UBUXISJJvrbuLaDfyS-A2

I have a new article in the Winter issue of Jewish Review of Books. In an issue rightfully devoted to Israel, my article is a diversion from the main event, but hopefully a worthwhile one.

I consider the life and literary legacy of Avram Davidson, Jewish, and perhaps one of the most unusual science fiction and fantasy writers of the 20th century, shortly after what would have been his 100th birthday.

As the editors write: “Gods in fishbowls, men who are apes, and a Jewish dentist abducted by aliens: the fantastic fiction of Avram Davidson was almost as strange as his life.”

Read on to find out more.

https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/american-jewry/15542/leapsniffing-through-the-vimveil-avram-davidsons-fantastic-fiction/

You can download a PDF of all 4 parts of my series at this link: https://18forty.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Who-Wrote-the-Siddur-Series.pdf

The final articles in my siddur series are now available at 18Forty:

https://18forty.org/articles/the-siddur-has-a-lot-of-prayers-where-did-they-come-from/

https://18forty.org/articles/how-did-modernity-change-jewish-prayer/

The second article in my siddur series for 18Forty is up! It discusses prayer traditions in the Land of Israel and how the poetry composed there became an important part of our prayers, even as it was marginalized by some:

https://18forty.org/articles/did-all-jews-pray-the-same-in-ancient-times

I wrote a series of articles on a topic I’ve been fascinated with for years: how did the Jewish prayer book, or siddur, come to be?

My first article is available here at 18Forty: https://18forty.org/articles/who-wrote-the-siddur/.

There will be a total of 4 articles that will be released over the next few weeks.

For anyone interested in watching/listening to my series for Torah in Motion on the Origins of the Oral Torah, all four classes are available on their website here: https://torahinmotion.org/programs/e-tim-the-origins-of-the-oral-torah.

And, of course, the articles I wrote on the topic are available at 18Forty: https://18forty.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Lindell-Origins-of-Judaism-Full-Series-1.pdf.

Mention of the korban pesach (the paschal sacrifice) seems largely absent from the Haggadah. Why might this be the case? And perhaps it’s more present than it might seem at first. Read on at the Lehrhaus:

Passover’s Rupture and Reconstruction