H-Judaic is deeply saddened to learn of the passing, after a courageous battle with cancer, of Prof. Robert Goldenberg (1942-2021), emeritus professor of Judaic Studies at Stony Brook University, where he taught for 33 years (1979-2012). Prof. Goldenberg was an undergraduate at Brown and an ordinee of the Jewish Theological Seminary. His oral history, focused on his association with the havurah movement, may be found here: https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=0&article=1026&context=jcchp_oralhistories&type=additional
Prof. Goldenberg began his academic career with the publication of The Sabbath-Law of Rabbi Meir (1978), based on his dissertation at Brown University under Jacob Neusner. Subsequently, he published The Nations that Know Thee Not: Ancient Jewish Attitudes Towards Other Religions (1998), and The Origins of Judaism: From Canaan to the Rise of Islam (2007), as well as significant popular and scholarly articles, including his study of “The Destruction of the Jerusalem Temple: Its Meaning and Its Consequences,” in vol. IV of The Cambridge History of Judaism; and a podcast on Jewish rituals 2000 years ago (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/podcast-2-6-2017).
In recent years, Prof. Goldenberg has worked with Prof. Shaye Cohen on the Oxford Mishnah Project. “I was able to carry my share of the project right along,” he wrote to me in May, “in fact it kept me sane.”
We extend deepest condolences to Bob’s wife, Nina (Wacholder), and to the entire family, as well as to his many colleagues, friends and former students.
Jonathan D. Sarna
Chair, H-Judaic
0 Replies