David Brodsky
Associate Professor
Judaic Studies
Location: 3111 James Hall
Phone: 718.951.5229
Fax: 718.951.4703
Email:
Prior to coming to Brooklyn College, David Brodsky taught at New York University, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of A Bride without a Blessing: A Study in the Redaction and Content of Massekhet Kallah and Its Gemara (Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2006) and various articles. Born and raised in Cleveland, Brodsky studied gemara with various "hevrusas" at the famed Telshe Yeshiva before heading off to New York University for graduate school. He also studied at Yeshivat Or Etzion in Merkaz Shapira, Mekhon Meir and the Pardes Institute. He has had the pleasure of studying with such eminent scholars as Lawrence Schiffman, Jeffrey Rubenstein, Elliot Wolfson, Yaakov Elman, Mahnaz Moazami, Ben Zion Wacholder and David Weiss Halivni.
Education:
Ph.D., New York University - 2003 (Hebrew and Judaic Studies)
M.A., New York University - 2002 (Hebrew and Judaic Studies)
B.A., Wesleyan University - 1993 (Classics)
Areas of Expertise:
David Brodsky's research focuses on rabbinic literature (especially the Babylonian Talmud) in its Zoroastrian-Persian, Christian-Syriac and Greco-Roman contexts. He teaches Jewish history and literature in the First Temple, Second Temple, Rabbinic, Geonic and Medieval periods.
Books and Publications
"Tractate Gittin" in The Oxford Annotated Mishnah: A New Translation of the Mishnah With Introductions and Notes, ed. S. Cohen, R. Goldenberg, and H. Lapin (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022), 2:259-303. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2022
"Resistance and Appropriation: The Zoroastrian Context of the Book of Tobit," in From Scrolls to Traditions: A Festchrift Honoring Lawrence H. Schiffman, ed. by S. Miller, M. Swartz, S. Fine, N. Grunhaus, and A. Jassen (Leiden: Brill, 2020), 38-65. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2020
"'Thought Is Akin to Action': The Importance of Thought in Zoroastrianism and the Development of a Babylonian Rabbinic Motif." Irano-Judaica 7:145-96. Ed. Sh. Shaked. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2019
"Jesus, Mary, and Akiva ben Joseph: Reading Massekhet Kallah in Its Fourth Century Christian Context" in Journal of Ancient Judaism 9 (2018): 100-40. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2018
"Mourner's Kaddish, The Prequel: The Sassanian Period Backstory that Gave Birth to the Medieval Prayer for the Dead," in The Aggada of the Bavli and Its Cultural World, ed. by Jeffrey Rubenstein and Geoffrey Herman (Providence, Brown Judaic Studies, 2018), 335-69. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2018
"The Democratic Principle Underlying Jewish Law: Moving Beyond Whether It Is So to How and Why It
Is So," in Is Judaism Democratic? Reflections from Theory and Practice Throughout the Ages, ed. by Leonard Greenspoon (Proceedings of the Twenty-ninth Annual Symposium of the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization-Harris Center for Judaic Studies-Schwalb Center for Israel and Jewish Studies, October 30-31, 2016; East Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2018), 51-71.
(Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2018
"Homosexuality: Judaism: Rabbinic Judaism" in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, Vol. 12 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"Lo que nos enseña Kalá Rabati sobre la redacción del Talmud," Miscelánea de Estudios Árabes y
Hebraicos. Sección Hebreo 65 (2016): 33-58.
(Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2016
"Mishnah Gittin: Family Relations as Metaphor for National Relations," in Mishpachah: The Jewish
Family in Tradition and in Transition, ed. L. Greenspoon (Studies in Jewish Civilization 27: Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Symposium of the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization-Harris Center for Judaic Studies, October 26-27, 2014; East Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2016), 15-32. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2016
"From Disagreement to Talmudic Discourse: Progymnasmata and the Evolution of a Rabbinic Genre." Rabbinic Traditions between Palestine and Babylonia. Eds. T. Ilan and R. Nikolsky. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2014
"Same-Sex Relations: Early Judaism" in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2:280-85. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"Fooling the Tax Collector: Why the Rabbis Once Approved" in Sh?ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility (March) (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2013
"Why Did the Widow Have a Goat in Her Bed? Midrash and the Making of Jewish Humor." Jews and Humor (Studies in Jewish Civilization 22, Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual Symposium of the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization, Harris Center for Judaic Studies, Oct. 25-26, 2009. West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press. 13-32. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2011
"Biblical Sex: Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43)." Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible. Eds. D. Shneer, J. Lesser and G. Drinkwater. New York: New York University Press. 47-52. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2009
"Sex in the Talmud: How to Understand Leviticus 18 and 20: Parashat Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1-20:27)." Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible. Eds. D. Shneer, J. Lesser and G. Drinkwater. New York: New York University Press. 157-69. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2009
A Bride without a Blessing: A Study in the Redaction and Content of Massekhet Kallah and Its Gemara. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2006
The Sinner and the Amnesiac: the Rabbinic Invention of Elisha ben Abuya and Eleazar ben Arach, by Alon Goshen-Gottstein. Hebrew Studies, 43 (2002): 317-20. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2002
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Imperfect God, Perfect Torah: Putting Rabbinic Theology Back in Dialogue with Plato," at the Fifty-Third Annual Conference of the Association of Jewish Studies, Chicago, December 21, 2021. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2021
Invited Respondent for session "Reading #MeToo in Classical Texts and Contemporary Discourses" at the annual conference of the Society for Jewish Ethics, Louisville, KY, January 4, 2019. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
"The Democratic Principle Underlying Jewish Law: Moving Beyond Whether It Is So to Why It Is So," at the Klutznick-Harris Symposium "Is Judaism Democratic?" hosted by Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, October 30-31, 2016. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
Respondent to Yaakov Elman, "The Legal World of the Bavli?s Redactors in Context" at the Conference on Law and History at The Center for Jewish Law at Cardozo Law School, New York, September 26, 2016 (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
"Midrashic Modes of Historiography" at the conference on " at The Aggada of the Bablyonian Talmud and its Cultural World, New York University, June 1-2, (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"Resistance and Appropriation: The Zoroastrian Context of the Book of Tobit" at the Forty-Seventh Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies, Boston, December 14. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
"Engendering the Politics of Peoplehood in Mishnah Gittin." Symposium for the Feminist Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud. Stanford University. Stanford, Calif., May 18-20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"Mishnah Gittin: Family Relations as Metaphor for National Relations" at the Klutznick-Harris Symposium on the Jewish Family, hosted by Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, October 26-27 (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2014
"Getting Away With Murder: Xenophobic Laws in Rabbinic and Zoroastrian Texts From Late Sasanian Babylonia." Sixteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies. Jerusalem, August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
"Rabbinic Legal Discourse in Its Greco-Roman Pedagogical Context." Shaping Legal Cultures From Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages: Institutions, Genres, and Theories in Roman, Jewish, Sassanian, Christian, and Islamic Law Conference. University of Pennsylvania. April 7. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Rabbinic Literature and Its Dis-Contents: Situating the Genres of Talmud and Midrash in Their Civilizational Context," a four-part lecture series sponsored by Drisha and the Talmud Blog. Oct. 30 - Nov. 20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Roman Schools of Law and Rhetoric and the Origins of the Talmud." Villanova University. Villanova, Pa., Nov. 11. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Writing and the Art of Talmudic Maintenance: How the Shift From Orality to Writing Concretized Talmud as Text Rather Than Process." Forty-fifth Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies. Boston, December. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
"How the Mourner's Kaddish Developed Out of a Persian Mythos." Forty-fourth Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies. Chicago, Dec. 17. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
"From Disagreement to Talmudic Discourse: Greco-Roman School Primers and the Origins of the Sugya." Annual Conference of the Society of Biblical Literature. San Francisco, Nov. 20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
"The Rules of Redundancy: How Changes in Rabbinic Rules of Exegesis Contributed to the Growing Complexity of Sugyot." Forty-third Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies. Washington, D.C., December. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
"Jesus, Mary, and Akiva ben Joseph: A Fourth-century Jewish/Christian Polemic in Massekhet Kallah." Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. Nov. 22. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
"The 'Treyf' Pot: How Utensils Came to Require Kashering." Annual Conference of the British Association for Jewish Studies. Durham, England, July 13. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
