The Talmud Walks Into a Bar: What Beverages Teach Us About Rabbinic Literature with Jordan Rosenblum

Online event. Register here to receive the Zoom link.

Though classical rabbinic texts are fundamental to understanding the history and evolution of Judaism, they are also quite complex and daunting for the novice to read. Rabbinic literature presumes tremendous prior knowledge, and its fascinating twists and turns in logic are disorienting for even those well-versed in the literature. In order to help readers to navigate this brilliant but bewildering terrain, this talk focuses on rabbinic conversations about beverages, especially related to beer and wine. Rabbinic debates about what, when, how, and with whom one should drink allow readers to set sail on what is often called “the sea of the Talmud.”

Jordan D. Rosenblum is the Belzer Professor of Classical Judaism and the Max and Frieda Weinstein-Bascom Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on the literature, law, and social history of the rabbinic movement in general and, in particular, on rabbinic food regulations. He is the author of Rabbinic Drinking: What Beverages Teach Us About Rabbinic Literature (University of California Press); The Jewish Dietary Laws in the Ancient World (Cambridge University Press); and Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism (Cambridge University Press), as well as the co-editor of two books, most recently Feasting and Fasting: The History and Ethics of Jewish Food (New York University Press).

Presented by the Department of Jewish Studies as part of the Fall 2020 Lectures in Jewish Studies. Sponsored by the Department of Classics and the Jewish Community Library.

Free and open to the public.