Prof. Rabbi Phil Lieberman is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Law, Classical and Mediterranean Studies, and Islamic Studies at Vanderbilt University. He holds an MA in Talmud and Rabbinic Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University, a DMin from Lipscomb University, and Rabbinic Ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He served as editor (with Rakefet J. Zalashik) of A Jew's Best Friend: The Image of the Dog throughout Jewish History (Sussex Academic Press, 2013), and The Cambridge History of Judaism, volume 5 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), and is the author of The Business of Identity: Jews, Muslims and Economic Life in Medieval Egypt (Stanford University Press, 2014). Phil also serves the United States Navy Reserve as a chaplain, currently holding the rank of commander. In 2021-2022, he will serve as command chaplain at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti.
Last Updated
February 15, 2021
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The Torah’s prohibition against loaning money with interest addresses a culture of subsistence farmers. Later Jews devised halakhic loopholes to enable them to make use of credit instruments such as the suftaja and to participate in market economies.
The Torah’s prohibition against loaning money with interest addresses a culture of subsistence farmers. Later Jews devised halakhic loopholes to enable them to make use of credit instruments such as the suftaja and to participate in market economies.