Raunchy, Sarcastic TikTok Talmud Commentary Isn’t Profane. It’s Torah.

Is it appropriate to call an ancient rabbi a “legendary hottie”? To use “thirst” in the online sense?

January 28, 2022

January 28, 2022

Dr. David Zvi Kalman is a research fellow in the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Kogod Research Center. He is a scholar, writer, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of technology, religion, and art. In addition to his work at the Shalom Hartman Institute, he has held research and consulting roles at Sinai and Synapses and the Sapir Institute. He is the owner of Print-O-Craft Press, an independent publishing house that has released books including Jessica Deutsch’s

Talmud, Torah, Orthodoxy, Diaspora, Judaism and Modernity

“Is it appropriate to call an ancient rabbi a “legendary hottie”? To use “thirst” in the online sense? To translate one Talmudic voice replying to another as, “Oh my God, what the actual f–k is wrong with you, you misogynistic ageist dips–t”?

Miriam Anzovin, an ex-Orthodox artist in Boston, ignited debate over these questions after making headlines in both North America and Israel for her series of TikTok videos responding to passages in the Talmud, the central text of rabbinic Judaism.”

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