Tuesday, May 22, 2012

PaleoJudaica miscellanea

SORRY FOR THE LIGHT POSTING. Extremely busy here, and likely to stay that way the rest of the week. But here are some recent headlines, on which I don't have time for much comment.

In Jerusalem: Cabinet Advances Bible Museum (Arutz Sheva)

A harbinger of the higher education bubble in Israel? Budget-pinched women’s Talmud program to close. Program was first course to provide stipends to women scholars in order to facilitate long-term study of Talmudic texts (Jerusalem Post).

More on the Arabic Talmud, with some commentary from an Israel National Library curator: Introducing: Talmud in Arabic. Over 90 Jordanian researchers spend six years translating Babylonian Talmud into Arabic; demand across Arab world said to be strong (ynetnews.com).

Meawhile, the ADL has had a look at the introduction to the translation and what they found is not encouraging: New Arabic Translation of Talmud Promotes Anti-Semitic Narratives (via the Talmud Blog FB page).

Background on the Arabic Talmud is here and links.