Footnote Page #2

What he's trying to do

is to extract Anthropology

out of Hermeneutics.

You totally misunderstood the artice...

All of his articles are the same...

- Historically speaking...

The entire oeuvre of Boyarin... - Historically speaking,

the Orthodox Christianity,

the entire discourse over gender and sexuality

is metaphorical,

it's not concrete.

- But what's the relation

between body techniques

and analytical practices?

It's like this new de-feminizing of the Jewish man

during the Hazal period.

Yes, but that's an anti-colonial argument.

- What're you talking about?

He's trying to de-feminize the Jewish man

during the Hazal period,

to say that this sissy man, as opposed

to the virile Roman man

with this metal helmet

and spiked leather shoes...

Actually, he says that

what the Zionist movement did

was to turn the Jewish man

from a feminine man

to a machoistic man, which

destroyed the Jewish history.

So if that's what you're saying...

Could you get a bit closer?

A little bit more, please.

And smile, please.

I can do it on my own!

Kids, do you have enough space?

Shall I move forward?

Everything's fine, don't worry.

Dad, are you coming?

I'll walk.

No way. There's enough place.

Yosh, make room for grandpa.

I'd rather walk.

Are you serious? You're not coming?

I need the exercise after

sitting for so long.

I'll walk. - Do you have the keys?

- Yes.

Yosh, close the door.

Why isn't grandpa a member of the

National Academy of Sciences?

Eliezer...

Congratulations.

Your son is doing great.

- Some things you should know

about Eliezer Shkolnik -

- 1. His Research -

Eliezer Shkolnik made a

revolutionary claim:

That there was another version

of the Jerusalem Talmud

in Europe during the early Renaissance,

which is different to the version

we have today.

He arrived to that conclusion because he

found slight differences in the texts

between our version and the quotes

from the Jerusalem version

done by the scholars of that time.

There are hundreds,

maybe even thousands of these books,

and for each book there are

various manuscript versions.

And Eliezer Shkolnik went over all of them,

during nearly 30 years...

It's an incredible project. Incredible!

And a very presumptuous one as well.

But then, a month before he was going to publish

the first volume

of this monumental work,

his life work,

another researcher, Prof. Yehuda Grossman,

totally by accident, has found

inside the bindings of some books

in an Italian monastery

a manuscript of that version

of the Jerusalem Talmud.

He found a complete original copy

the scholars in Europe had at the time.

Thus making Shkolnik's work obsolete.

That actually proved Shkolnik's thesis,

but Grossman published it before him.

- 2. For 40 years, each day, -

- he walks from his home in Rechavia

to the National Library,

always in the same route. -

- In any weather. -

A momentary lapse of concentration by the copier,

who jumps from one word to another,

is called "Haplography".

- 3. He refused to cancel his annual course. -

And sometime it's those degenerated manuscripts

- Even though only 1 student registered. -

are those that preserve the missing sentence, such as...

Does that mean that hospitality is more important

than observing the Sabbath?

- 4. His favourite sentence is: -

That's a very good idea... very good...

but wrong!

My father says it corresponds with

what Levinas says.

- His second most favorite sentence is: -

- Yes... "The word of fools is no proof."

The truth is, that in reality,

there are no beautiful things.

- 5. For 16 years straight -

- he has been mentioned

for the Israel Prize -

- Others have always won. -

- 6. His most proud achievement

is the footnote

- dedicated to him by Y.N. Feinstein -

- in his monumental book -

- "Introduction to the Literature

of the Tana'im" -

"... and my dear friend, student and acquittance,

E. Shkolnik commented to me..."

Haven't I told you that story?

- No. - It was really extreme.

He forced me to write down "teacher".

He grabbed my hand

and smashed it against the paper.

I had blue marks for a week.

Haven't I told you about it?

Why didn't he want you to write

"Talmud scholar" or "Researcher"?

He felt disrespected to be questioned

by a school teacher.

He's a mess about it. He's a philologist,

but who knows what that is?

In my mind,

he was someone important,

an international expert.

I kept hearing that there are

maybe four people in the world

who understand what he's doing,

and when he'll complete his research

the entire world will know

what a great researcher he is.

But in meantime no one understood him,

but me.

I cried all the way to school.

I didn't hand that form in, finally.

And that's the story you choose to tell?

- I made him look good. Modest, no?

It's like if Yosh would have

told all of your friends

about what a dedicated father you are,

because you "encouraged" him to take

the SAT's while in high-school.

I did encourage him.

- Yeah, just like they do in the Shin-Bet.

If I hadn't done what I did,

he would have had no options.

At least now he can choose

not to do anything with his life.

Whatever.

- Some things you should know

about Uriel Shkolnik -

- 1. On Shavuot Eve he gives

Here's an interesting anecdote

about Gdalyahu Alon.

He changed his name to Alon

because in Greek...

What is it similar to?

A person who...

I heard once a nice idea...

I think that if you neutralize

the classic interpretation of the text...

The deep core...

I'm moving now to the end

of the paragraph...

"May all of your offshoots

will be like you..."

I'll tell you something

that my father told me once:

- 2. An amazing lecturer -

There are a lot of true things

in your work,

and a lot of new things.

- Challenging and fun :-) -

Thank you very much.

The problem is that the new things

are not true, and the true things are not new.

That isn't necessarily bad.

- Perfect! -

- 3. The birth of their youngest daughter -

I love to hear you talk, no matter about what.

You always help me make sense of things.

All kinds of subjects I didn't

have an opinion about,

the moment you talk about them,

I immediately agree with you.

- 4. Things said about him behind his back -

A relationship is like a tree,

it needs strong, yet invisible, roots,

firmly planted... - Let's say it this way:

You want to be on his good side.

He won't harass you or anything

like that, but...

If you disagree with him, even

on the smallest of subjects,

you'll be out of the department

within a couple of years.

He expects you to be in a

constant state of mild admiration.

Congratulations to the young couple!

- Congratulations!

A new home in Israel!

Quiet... Your father discovered

something very important today,

he can't be disturbed now.

- 5. The moment he decided to become

a Talmud scholar. -

- The happiest day in the life

of Prof. Shkolnik -

- In Memoriam Prof. Menahem Stern,

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