Hebrew Voices #154 – Reaping the Benefits of the Medieval Aviv Calendar: Part 1

Transcript

Hebrew Voices #154 – Reaping the Benefits of the Medieval Aviv Calendar: Part 1

You are listening to Hebrew Voices with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Nehemia: Just like I would write something in English, I can write in Hebrew. I famously… well not famously, it's famous for me. I wrote my master’s thesis in Hebrew, and I wanted to write it in English, and they said, “Well, this is the Hebrew University.” And it took me longer to write it in Hebrew than it would have been in English. And then when it came to my PhD dissertation, I said, “Okay, am I going to write it in Hebrew?” They said, “We prefer you write it in English.” And that's because, over those…

Nadia: It changed!

Nehemia: It changed to where they're like, “Look, you can write it in Hebrew, but no one will read it. And the people who are going to read it, they should know English anyway.” But there's a famous joke at Hebrew University about why God never got tenure, and one of the reasons is because all of His works were in Hebrew.

Nadia: That’s funny!

Nehemia: Anyway!

Nehemia: Shalom, and welcome to Hebrew Voices. I’m here today with Dr. Nadia Vidro of University College London. And you’re one of the most fascinating guests for me that I’ve ever interviewed, because you spent years reading medieval Karaite Jewish literature on the calendar.

Nadia: Shalom, Nehemia. Thank you for having me here. Indeed, I had a three-year project at University College London that was all about the Karaite and Rabbanite calendars, and my job was to read Karaite literature on the calendar.