Notes from Limmud 2011: Religious Belief and Make-Believe

( (Genuine Limmud notes, not Purim Torah—though not completely inapplicable!) The speaker wishes to rebut a standard approach to Jewish narrative, which he calls the historiographical approach. This views Biblical narratives (and most of the narratives of the Talmud) as attempts at history. It follows from that that if you can prove there were no Jews in Egypt, for example, then the Bible loses its validity. The reason people feel the pressure to defend the Bible in the face of historical data is because they follow this historiographical approach. The speaker, however, thinks this is baloney. )

Purim

Excellent Purim party last night at Moishe House:

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Lots more piccies

(though no others involving me) chez Jo Cohen at Facebook.

And my home-made Homontashen went down a treat too!

Homontashen

Etymology of homontashen^*. Haman not involved, nor ears or hats.

* Obligatory rant.

Vashti's revenge—the part you don't learn about in the Bible

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