Returning from Exile

How did books once excluded from the Jewish bookshelf make their way back in? This seminar explores the surprising afterlife of Second Temple literature—such as Tobit, Judith, and Ben Sira—within medieval Jewish manuscripts. We will examine the forms in which these texts reemerged and ask why they were reabsorbed centuries after being marginalized by Rabbinic authorities. Dr. Moshe Lavee argues that these textual returns were not spontaneous but often linked to Jewish–Christian intellectual encounters. The lecture concludes with an open reflection on the creative and defensive roles of literary boundaries—then and now.