Jacob Neusner, prolific and influential scholar on rabbinic Judaism, dies at 84
Respected US magazine ‘Atlantic’ names Jeffery Goldberg top editor
Jeffrey Goldberg, a longtime correspondent for The Atlantic who has written frequently about Middle East affairs, is the 159-year-old magazine’s new editor in chief.
Goldberg was chosen following a comprehensive search involving dozens of candidates, Atlantic Media announced Tuesday in a memo to employees obtained by The New York Times.
“It is fair to say that, together, we met a great deal of the nation’s top editorial talent,” Atlantic Media chairman David Bradley wrote in the memo. “But, at least for us, Jeff is something set apart.”
Goldberg, 51, succeeds James Bennet, who left in April to become editorial page editor of the Times.
Goldberg has written for the magazine since 2007. His 11 Atlantic cover stories and other foreign policy reporting have earned him numerous awards. He often writes on Israel, including its relationship with the United States and its Middle Eastern neighbors.
Among his most talked about and provocative recent pieces are “Is It Time for the Jews to Leave Europe?” from 2015 and “The Obama Doctrine,” a 2016 article that delves into President Barack Obama’s opinions on the Middle East.
Before writing for the Atlantic, Goldberg worked at The Jerusalem Post and The Forward, and has written for outlets such as the Times and The New Yorker.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in the 1980s, he moved to Israel, where he served in the IDF. Goldberg detailed his experiences working at the Ketziot military camp, where he befriended a Palestinian prisoner and PLO leader named Rafiq Hijazi, in the 2006 book Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide.
Goldberg eventually hopes to write in his new position, but said that he probably would not have time in “the first year or two at least.” (JTA)
Jacob Neusner, one of the most influential voices in American Jewish intellectual life in the past half-century, has died.
Neusner was one of the most published authors in history, having written or edited more than 950 books. He died on Saturday at his home in New York at the age of 84.
The funeral took place at Blithewood Manor on the campus of Bard College in upstate New York, where he has taught theology since 1994. Neusner also taught at Columbia University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Brandeis University, Dartmouth College, Brown University and the University of South Florida.
Earlier this summer, the NYU Press released an extensive biography of Neusner titled Jacob Neusner: An American Jewish Iconoclast, by Aaron W. Hughes.
“In the ‘50s, there took place an explosion of Jewish studies on campus, and Neusner had a very significant role in training a new generation of scholars to occupy these new positions,” wrote Jack Riemer, a rabbi and author, in a review of Hughes’s book in the Connecticut Jewish Ledger, which Neusner’s father co-founded in 1929. “Toward that end, Neusner produced a gigantic library of classic Jewish sources in translation. The entire Babylonian Talmud, the entire Palestinian Talmud, most of the Midrash, and many other indispensable books were made available to the general reader by Neusner.”
Neusner’s influence also extended to the study of other religions in books he wrote and conferences he held exploring how Judaism influenced and was influenced by Islam and Christianity.
A fierce defender of his own work, Neusner often tussled publicly with rivals and critics. But even those who disagreed with him acknowledged the depth and breadth of his scholarship.
Prior to entering Harvard University as an undergraduate, Neusner, who was raised by American Jewish parents in West Hartford, Connecticut, had no formal Jewish education.
Neusner graduated from Harvard and spent a year at Oxford University before enrolling in the Jewish Theological Seminary’s rabbinical school.
His area of expertise was rabbinic Judaism and rabbinical Jewish writings. Two of his best-known textbooks for general audiences are The Way of Torah: An Introduction to Judaism and Judaism: An Introduction.
“In his final days, he was able to say goodbye to his dearest friends. And his family was with him right to the end, just as he wished,” wrote his son, Noam Neusner, a former speechwriter for president George W. Bush, in announcing his father’s death. (JTA)