A coffee mug with imperial official Aramaic script on it.
I got a new mug today with my favorite quote from an Aramaic letter:
חי ליהה נפשׁך אלקח
"I swear to God I will kill you."
I'm happy to get any feedback or questions. DM me if you don't have access but would like to read it.
Screenshot of the title and abstract of an academic article: "Becoming Jews? Literary Reversal and Identity Expansion in Esther 8:17" by Tyler Jarvis. Abstract: "This article challenges dominant interpretations of mityahadim (“making themselves into Jews”) in Esth 8:17, which often read the phrase as anachronistic religious conversion, mere political allegiance, or fear-induced pretense. Instead, I argue for mityahadim as a literary portrayal of sincere communal and social affiliation, where Persian subjects adopt Jewish identity as part of the narrative ironies within the book of Esther. This view is supported by linguistic analysis of the hithpael verb, narrative coherence with Esther’s theme of reversal, parallels in Jewish literary tradition, Achaemenid imperial policies, and early Jewish interpretations of the book of Esther. The article thus reinterprets Esth 8:17 to show Jewish identity as dynamically capable of integrating outsiders amid cultural exchange."
Excited to share that my first article, "Becoming Jews?" is now out in Vetus Testamentum!
It's got it all:
- Persian court politics
- Questions of identity in diaspora
- And (the real crowd-pleaser) a *lengthy* discussion of the semantic range of the Hithpael verbal stem
brill.com/view/journal...
Oh good I got sick at SBL.
Coffee shop called Jaho Cofee Roaster and Wine Bar
There aren’t as many Judeo-Elephantine panels/papers as I would like there to be at #SBLAAR25 this year, but the hotel is across the street from the בית יהו, so it all evens out.
Haha ¿por qué no los dos?
Me: *Arf Arf Arf*
ASOR Panel: (Shocked Silence)
Me: Wait, was that not what you meant by seal impressions?
My application packet for one of the Asst. Professor jobs I’m applying to is 70 pages.
That just feels like too many pages for an initial application.
איתי אנשין שגיאין די אמרין דנה
In 1650 CE, the Bishop James Ussher released a chronology which added up the years in the biblical text to determine the age of the world. He determined that the Earth was created on October 23rd, 4004 BCE.
Happy 6,029th birthday, Earth! You don’t look a day over 4.5 billion!
Also proposed: At the time that you hear the sound of The Stars and Stripes Forever, you will fall down and worship the statue. Anyone who does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.
Idk, I've got a pretty sweet tap routine that really captures the Song of the Sea the way it was meant to be experienced.
I also do Hebrew Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, Aramaic dialects, and competitive tap dance.
(One of those is pure CV padding, but I won’t say which one)
Any non-US schools hiring a Jewish studies scholar who specializes in the Achaemenid diaspora and its echoes in the Hellenistic and Roman periods? Asking for a me.
They’re really gonna make me root for Jimmy Kimmel.
Hebrew phrase rendered in English as “whither thou goest, I will go”
Hebrew Textbook glossing a phrase in the most archaic way possible. I think the gloss needs a gloss.
If a university near the woods would hire me, this is my whole life’s ambition.
TruthSocial post with an AI generated image of Donald Trump overseeing a helicopter assault on the city of Chicago. The text reads “I love the smell of deportations in the morning… Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR 🚁🚁🚁”
The president of the United States just threatened to go to war against one of his own cities.
As usual, nobody will do anything about this.
Screen shot of the NYT crossword games page showing a 999-day crossword completion streak.
About to hit a milestone in my nerdiest hobby. @nytimes.com
Just received word my first article has been accepted for publication!
Coming soon to a Vetus Testamentum near you: “Becoming Jews? Literary Reversal and Identity Expansion in Esther 8:17.”
Thank you!
Submitted an article today. I feel relieved to get it out there and off my plate. Now to not think about it for 2-12 months.
I'm really annoyed that this journal wants me to pay $42 to access a 2-page article published in 1915.
The US is operating a concentration camp. The president is using the military to occupy cities with political dissidents. The Defense Secretary believes women shouldn’t have the right to vote.
The United States is not on a path towards fascism. We’re neck deep in it.
In that phase of writing where I can’t tell if I’m on to something or just on something.
I’m so sick of the sanewashing. “Extraordinary move” is such a weak-ass description of the dramatic erosion of democratic norms.
This is an authoritarian move. It’s a fascist move. It’s a naked power grab by a wannabe dictator. Call this what it is and stop being complicit. @reuters.com
the intensity of my anger at those who would criminalize the homeless — a population literally created by the greed and callousness of the ruling class — is very hard to contain. it was you who dismantled the safety net. if you don’t like the results, put it back
Meme format depicting Milton Waddams from the movie Office Space. Text reads: “I was told there would be checks and balances”
So uh… how many cities is Trump going to have to claim jurisdiction over before the media starts calling him a fascist. Cause I thought one should have been plenty.
The monotheism/polytheism labels don't actually tell us anything about how a group functioned, religiously. Each term carries assumptions that, when applied to any particular individual or community (particularly in the ancient world), confuses more than it explains.
