BARview: Neusner Joins Ranks of Superman - The BAS Library
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BARview: Neusner Joins Ranks of Superman

By Hershel Shanks

In “The Hebrew Origins of Superman,” BAR 05:03, we published an article illustrated with a picture of Superman emerging into the air from an excavation beside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. On the emblem on his chest we placed, instead of the customary “S,” a tenth-century B.C. Hebrew shin. Shortly thereafter, Superman—or rather his owner, D.C. Comics, Inc.—threatened BAR with a legal suit. Not since then have we been threatened with a court action for something we published—until we received the following letter from Professor Jacob Neusner of Brown University: “This is to inform you that my attorney, Mr. […]

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Footnotes

1.

“BARview: Annual Meetings Offer Intellectual Bazaar and Moments of High Drama,” BAR 11:02.

2.

Our understanding of Professor Lieberman’s comment was apparently an error in Professor Neusner’s favor. See Morton Smith’s letter in Queries & Comments, in this issue.

3.

In an interview in Publisher’s Weekly, Neusner stated that he wanted to get only about 80% of the text accurately translated in his preliminary translation: “I call it preliminary because I felt that if I could get into English an accurate picture of something like 80% of what I had in front of me, it would be a step forward. Some reviewers are angry because they’ve found errors. I say, ‘You’re right, let’s correct it. At least we have something to work from.’”

4.

Professor Neusner recently sent us the text of a powerful defense to his critics to be published in the June 1985 issue of Midstream. The article is entitled, “The Mishnah and the Smudgepot—Or Why, Where There’s Smoke, There Isn’t Always Fire.”