Jeffrey Spitzer Articles By Jeffrey Spitzer
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Did Israel Deserve Redemption?
Jewish texts have much to say on this subject.
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Drinking on Purim
A lighthearted look at the source of the obligation to get drunk on the holiday.
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The Innovative Spirit and Jewish Tradition
Although the rabbis propagated the belief that rabbinic teaching went back to Moses on Mt. Sinai, many classical texts clearly demonstrate that the rabbis understood the innovative nature of their work.
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Traditional Commentaries on the Shema
Commentaries on the three paragraphs of the Shema read Jewish concepts both out of and into the text.
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Surrendering to the Romans
The remarkable parallels in the stories of Josephus' and Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai's surrenders to the Romans reveal more about Jewish memory than Jewish history.
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A Timeline of Jewish Texts
How did the different genres of Jewish texts develop chronologically?
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Pe'ah: The Corners of Our Fields
Rabbinic commentators interpreted the law of leaving the corners of one's field for those in need in light of their own concerns about the poor.
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The Rabbinic Conversion Ceremony
The different layers of the rabbinic discussion of conversion reveal the beginnings of a transformation from a citizenship ritual to a theological initiation rite.
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Every Person is a Tree
The Biblical law protecting fruit trees during war provides an opportunity for Jewish exegetes to reflect on ecology and the wanton destruction of life.
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The Way of the Gentiles
The prohibition against non-Jewish practices, might relate to the practices of ancient Egypt, Canaan or the social and philosophical ways of non-Jews today.
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