U.C. Davis makes Talmud appointment

U.C. DAVIS MAKES TALMUD APPOINTMENT:

U.C. Davis snags dynamic, young Talmud scholar

by dan pine, staff writer (JWeekly.com)

As a Tel Aviv University undergrad, Moulie Vidas had no trouble befriending the other students in the Talmud department.

There was only one.

Apparently, not many secular Israelis chose to study the Talmud there, and eventually the department was closed, and folded into a larger one.

But Vidas’ passion for the great compendium of Jewish law never waned, and today, at just 26, he is a young lion in the realm of academic Talmud scholarship.

With his doctorate from Princeton fresh in hand, Vidas is also the latest addition to the Jewish studies faculty at U.C. Davis. His title: assistant professor in religious studies.

“Getting Moulie was quite a coup,” said Diane Wolf, director of the U.C. Davis Jewish studies program. “He had many interviews all over the country last year and several job offers. That he chose U.C. Davis speaks to the quality of our religious studies faculty and burgeoning Jewish studies program. He brings a new perspective that enriches us all.”

The Jewish studies interdisciplinary program at U.C. Davis is a offered as a minor, and includes courses on everything from the Holocaust to the Bible on film.

This quarter, Vidas teaches a class on the Dead Sea Scrolls, with one on rabbinic literature next quarter. Soon, he hopes to add classes in his specialty: how the sages redacted and edited the Babylonian Talmud, as well as the surprisingly vibrant interaction among Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians in late ancient Mesopotamia.

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Congratulations to Professor Vidas - and to U.C. Davis.