Daniel Frim | Harvard University (original) (raw)
Papers by Daniel Frim
Indigenous and African Diaspora Religions in the Americas, 2023
Journal of Semitic Studies, 2021
Babylonian Jewish communities possessed a Hebrew vocalization tradition in parallel to the better... more Babylonian Jewish communities possessed a Hebrew vocalization tradition in parallel to the better-known Tiberian and Palestinian traditions. Most of the available evidence regarding Babylonian Hebrew comes from vocalized manuscripts, which were produced during a late period in the history of the dialect. This article examines Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls as earlier sources of information regarding the Babylonian Hebrew vocalization tradition. Plene spellings of Hebrew words in these texts, along with other orthographic details, attest to characteristically Babylonian features, such as the preservation of short u, o, e, and i in phonological environments that trigger lowering to ɔ and ɛ in the Tiberian tradition; the correspondence between Babylonian a-vowels and Tiberian sĕgōl; and nonsystematic differences between the Babylonian and Tiberian traditions.
Jewish Quarterly Review, 2017
This article examines bBaba Batra 73a–74b, a collection of first-person narratives describing rab... more This article examines bBaba Batra 73a–74b, a collection of first-person narratives describing rabbis’ fantastical journeys at sea and in the desert. The author adduces parallels between three of the sea stories in the sugya and maritime tall tales preserved in other Near Eastern texts. He argues that the folkloric motifs present in the talmudic narratives under discussion represent shared cultural material, which the rabbinic authors and early audiences of the sugya would not have attributed to any specific non-Jewish tradition. The present paper also calls attention to the mythological dimensions of these talmudic narratives, arguing that some textual variants of the stories contain allusive vocabulary evoking eschatological and cosmological myths of the Leviathan. The possibility is suggested that these allusive features may have entered bBB 73a–74b after the Talmudic era owing to attempts by tradents and readers of the text to identify religious themes in the sugya.
Papers for the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages 50, 2015
This paper provides a morphemically glossed excerpt from a Kwak'wala text. It is intended as an i... more This paper provides a morphemically glossed excerpt from a Kwak'wala text. It is intended as an instructional tool for linguists and others who are interested in accessing and analyzing the narratives in the Boas-Hunt corpus.
Studies in Popular Culture, 2014
South Park, an animated television show that has aired since 1997, presents the literary critic w... more South Park, an animated television show that has aired since 1997, presents the literary critic with a unique set of problems. Owing to the show's apparent crudeness and the satirical orientation of other televised cartoons, it is tempting to search for a simplistic socio-political or ideological niche in which to place South Park and to reduce the show to an expression of the views associated with this camp. Nevertheless, careful examination of South Park (created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker) reveals its resistance to any such reduction. The surprising obstacles hindering interpretations of South Park as a medium for satirical social commentary have generated a small but growing body of debate regarding the ways in which the show does or does not make ideological assertions. Some scholars argue that South Park comments on social reality using the same satirical strategies as other cartoons, particularly The Simpsons and Family Guy. 1 Lindsay Coleman, for example, argues that South Park's inclusion of offensive material functions as a means of satirically criticizing the real-life phenomena that this material signifi es. She points to the show's pervasive use of racial epithets and suggests that South Park's creators "satirize the racism that still pervades American social life" (132). Brian Anderson also reads social criticism into South Park when he argues that the show represents a media trend that he labels "the new anti-liberalism" (75), which, as the term suggests, is a set of reactionary socio-political sentiments. Anderson argues, furthermore, that South Park "exemplifi es the essence of satire," using this representational technique to express "a fi rm moral standpoint" and to target a particular "object of attack" (87-88). Although Anderson's approach grants South Park a unique position among similar cartoons as the only one without a predominantly liberal StudiesInPopularCulture--Spring36.2 Issue.indd 149 StudiesInPopularCulture--Spring36.
Folklore: An Electronic Journal of Folklore, 2013
This paper discusses Jarold Ramsey's classic article, The Wife Who Goes Out Like a Man, Comes Bac... more This paper discusses Jarold Ramsey's classic article, The Wife Who Goes Out Like a Man, Comes Back as a Hero: The Art of Two Oregon Indian Narratives. It analyzes Ramsey's arguments against the backdrop of Alan Dundes's work in scholars, such as Dundes, have attempted to vindicate Native American folklore on the other hand, brings to light the distinctive aesthetic qualities of two tales
The Review of Rabbinic Judaism, 2015
Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls frequently refer to the notion of exorcising demons b... more Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls frequently refer to the notion of exorcising demons by divorcing them. These texts sometimes purport to be anti-demonic divorce writs, borrowing passages directly from the traditional rabbinic certificate of divorce (geṭ). Here I ask how the authors of these texts perceived the bowl amulets to operate and how they understood the concept of divorcing a demon. Some scholars have argued that late antique Jewish magical practitioners regarded divorce bowls as legal devices with the immediate power to expel demons from houses. Other scholars interpret the anti-demonic divorce motif in more metaphoric terms. I argue that divorce bowls were not seen as legally binding documents and that Jewish magical practitioners did not believe themselves capable of applying the rabbinic laws of divorce to demons. Instead, incanta-tion bowls refer to the anti-demonic geṭ in order to allude to a mythological narrative in which Rabbi Joshua bar Peraḥiah exorcises Lilith by divorcing her. I explain the function of this mythological allusion through close analysis of several incantation bowls. I also draw on folkloristic scholarship regarding narrative devices in magical texts. Keywords Incantation bowls – historiola – Joshua bar Peraḥiah – exorcism – myth – rabbi-magician The past several decades have seen substantial progress in the study of late antique Jewish incantation bowls.1 The small but growing body of secondary
Indigenous and African Diaspora Religions in the Americas, 2023
Journal of Semitic Studies, 2021
Babylonian Jewish communities possessed a Hebrew vocalization tradition in parallel to the better... more Babylonian Jewish communities possessed a Hebrew vocalization tradition in parallel to the better-known Tiberian and Palestinian traditions. Most of the available evidence regarding Babylonian Hebrew comes from vocalized manuscripts, which were produced during a late period in the history of the dialect. This article examines Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls as earlier sources of information regarding the Babylonian Hebrew vocalization tradition. Plene spellings of Hebrew words in these texts, along with other orthographic details, attest to characteristically Babylonian features, such as the preservation of short u, o, e, and i in phonological environments that trigger lowering to ɔ and ɛ in the Tiberian tradition; the correspondence between Babylonian a-vowels and Tiberian sĕgōl; and nonsystematic differences between the Babylonian and Tiberian traditions.
Jewish Quarterly Review, 2017
This article examines bBaba Batra 73a–74b, a collection of first-person narratives describing rab... more This article examines bBaba Batra 73a–74b, a collection of first-person narratives describing rabbis’ fantastical journeys at sea and in the desert. The author adduces parallels between three of the sea stories in the sugya and maritime tall tales preserved in other Near Eastern texts. He argues that the folkloric motifs present in the talmudic narratives under discussion represent shared cultural material, which the rabbinic authors and early audiences of the sugya would not have attributed to any specific non-Jewish tradition. The present paper also calls attention to the mythological dimensions of these talmudic narratives, arguing that some textual variants of the stories contain allusive vocabulary evoking eschatological and cosmological myths of the Leviathan. The possibility is suggested that these allusive features may have entered bBB 73a–74b after the Talmudic era owing to attempts by tradents and readers of the text to identify religious themes in the sugya.
Papers for the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages 50, 2015
This paper provides a morphemically glossed excerpt from a Kwak'wala text. It is intended as an i... more This paper provides a morphemically glossed excerpt from a Kwak'wala text. It is intended as an instructional tool for linguists and others who are interested in accessing and analyzing the narratives in the Boas-Hunt corpus.
Studies in Popular Culture, 2014
South Park, an animated television show that has aired since 1997, presents the literary critic w... more South Park, an animated television show that has aired since 1997, presents the literary critic with a unique set of problems. Owing to the show's apparent crudeness and the satirical orientation of other televised cartoons, it is tempting to search for a simplistic socio-political or ideological niche in which to place South Park and to reduce the show to an expression of the views associated with this camp. Nevertheless, careful examination of South Park (created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker) reveals its resistance to any such reduction. The surprising obstacles hindering interpretations of South Park as a medium for satirical social commentary have generated a small but growing body of debate regarding the ways in which the show does or does not make ideological assertions. Some scholars argue that South Park comments on social reality using the same satirical strategies as other cartoons, particularly The Simpsons and Family Guy. 1 Lindsay Coleman, for example, argues that South Park's inclusion of offensive material functions as a means of satirically criticizing the real-life phenomena that this material signifi es. She points to the show's pervasive use of racial epithets and suggests that South Park's creators "satirize the racism that still pervades American social life" (132). Brian Anderson also reads social criticism into South Park when he argues that the show represents a media trend that he labels "the new anti-liberalism" (75), which, as the term suggests, is a set of reactionary socio-political sentiments. Anderson argues, furthermore, that South Park "exemplifi es the essence of satire," using this representational technique to express "a fi rm moral standpoint" and to target a particular "object of attack" (87-88). Although Anderson's approach grants South Park a unique position among similar cartoons as the only one without a predominantly liberal StudiesInPopularCulture--Spring36.2 Issue.indd 149 StudiesInPopularCulture--Spring36.
Folklore: An Electronic Journal of Folklore, 2013
This paper discusses Jarold Ramsey's classic article, The Wife Who Goes Out Like a Man, Comes Bac... more This paper discusses Jarold Ramsey's classic article, The Wife Who Goes Out Like a Man, Comes Back as a Hero: The Art of Two Oregon Indian Narratives. It analyzes Ramsey's arguments against the backdrop of Alan Dundes's work in scholars, such as Dundes, have attempted to vindicate Native American folklore on the other hand, brings to light the distinctive aesthetic qualities of two tales
The Review of Rabbinic Judaism, 2015
Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls frequently refer to the notion of exorcising demons b... more Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls frequently refer to the notion of exorcising demons by divorcing them. These texts sometimes purport to be anti-demonic divorce writs, borrowing passages directly from the traditional rabbinic certificate of divorce (geṭ). Here I ask how the authors of these texts perceived the bowl amulets to operate and how they understood the concept of divorcing a demon. Some scholars have argued that late antique Jewish magical practitioners regarded divorce bowls as legal devices with the immediate power to expel demons from houses. Other scholars interpret the anti-demonic divorce motif in more metaphoric terms. I argue that divorce bowls were not seen as legally binding documents and that Jewish magical practitioners did not believe themselves capable of applying the rabbinic laws of divorce to demons. Instead, incanta-tion bowls refer to the anti-demonic geṭ in order to allude to a mythological narrative in which Rabbi Joshua bar Peraḥiah exorcises Lilith by divorcing her. I explain the function of this mythological allusion through close analysis of several incantation bowls. I also draw on folkloristic scholarship regarding narrative devices in magical texts. Keywords Incantation bowls – historiola – Joshua bar Peraḥiah – exorcism – myth – rabbi-magician The past several decades have seen substantial progress in the study of late antique Jewish incantation bowls.1 The small but growing body of secondary