why do i tell stories that invite you to judge me?

[schmerica]

This afternoon I had my first class for Medieval and Early Modern Judaism. After we went over the syllabus, the lecture was about a very quick overview of background information on Jewish history, all the stuff happening before we come into the era we're going to cover in the course -- destruction of the temples, Babylonian exile, diaspora, the rise of rabbinic Judaism, etc. As the professor talked about the latter, she covered the rabbinic literature being produced in the first few centuries BCE. Mishnah is the code of Jewish law; Gemara is the commentary written to accompany it; Talmud is the two of them together.

"Oh," said my brain. "It's like -- the Mishnah is the canon, and the Gemara would be the meta and fiction and other fan activity, and the Talmud is the fandom as a whole!"

I refrained from writing this analogy down in my notes.

Comments

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

You are the cutest thing *ever*.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

...Even cuter than fox1013?

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

Well...*no* one is as cute as Miss Foxlet. She has a category all to herself, so as not to overshadow the rest of us with her adorableness.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*nod* That's fair.

[farwing.livejournal.com]

That is brilliant!

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Brilliant ... is not the word I would have chosen.

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

Politics pinged as a fandom for me a couple months ago, oddly enough . . .

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Heh. When you spend enough time concentrating on one thing, the analogies become inevitable, I think.

[lynnmonster.livejournal.com]

Ah -- that's fabulous!!!

(Oh, and are you going to be studying Jews in Reconquista and/or pre-Reconquista Spain? There was a really interesting mix of cultures there...)

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Yep! Basically, the first half of the quarter is going to be focusing on judaism in muslim areas, and the second half on judaism in christian areas during the time period -- so, yeah, Spain gets it both ways.

[brooklinegirl.livejournal.com]

"Oh," said my brain. "It's like -- the Mishnah is the canon, and the Gemara would be the meta and fiction and other fan activity, and the Talmud is the fandom as a whole!"

*loves your mind a whole lot*

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

My mind loves you back!

[the-star-fish.livejournal.com]

Your brain is so fucking cool ...

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

HA. Try living with it and see if you still think that.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

::loves you even more, if that's possible::
Gonna go tell that to one of the rabbis I work for. Probably the young female one who's into Star Trek.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*covers face in embarrassment*

*grins*

[raucousraven.livejournal.com]

No, no. Write it down, write it allllllll down in the notes, perhaps with an accompanying labelled diagram and/or flow chart. Then keep tabs as the course progesses: does it support or disprove your initial hypothesis? Make checkmarks and frown a lot, it helps.

You should have plenty of time to flee the outraged mobs between your submission for publication and the first interview requests. No, really.