Areas of Research/Interest: Rabbinic literature, ancient Judaism, Jewish law, Jewish ethics, history of religions.
External Affiliations: Society of Biblical Literature; American Academy of Religion; Association of Jewish Studies.
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Select Publications:
The Culture of The Babylonian Talmud. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003.
Rabbinic Stories. Classics in Western Spirituality Series: Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press. 2002.
Talmudic Stories: Narrative Art, Composition, and Culture. Johns Hopkins University Press. 1999. (Finalist in 1999 National Jewish Book Awards, Scholarship Division).
The History of Sukkot in the Second Temple and Rabbinic Periods. Atlanta: Scholars Press. 1995.
The Bavli's Ethic of Shame
Bavli Gittin 55B-56B: An Aggadic Narrative in Its Halakhik Context
Context and Genre: Elements of a Literary Approach to the Rabbinic Narrative
Criteria of Stammaitic Intervention in AggadaCultic Themes in Sukkot Piyyutim
Elisha ben Abuya: Torah and the Sinful SageAn Eschatological Drama: Bavli Avoda Zarah 2a-3b
Ethics and the Liturgy of Conservative JudaismFrom Mythic Motifs to Sustained Myth: The Revision of Rabbinic Traditions in Medieval MidrashimThe Laws of Heaven in Sefer HasidimMythic Time and The Festival CycleNominalism and Realism in Qumranic and Rabbinic Law: A ReassessmentPurim, Liminality, and CommunitasThe Sadducees and the Water LibationSiddur Sim Shalom and Developing Conservative TheologySocial and Institutional Settings of Rabbinic LiteratureSome Structural Patterns of Yerushalmi SugyotThe Sukka as Temporary or Permanent Dwelling: A Study in the Development of Talmudic ThoughtSukkot, Eschatology and Zechariah 14The Sukkot Wine LibationThe Symbolism of the SukkahThe Symbolism of the Sukka (Part 2)The Talmud Expression "Rabbi X, following his reasoning said"The Thematization of Dialectics in Bavli Aggada