“The Ritual Environment” Lecture by Dr. Naphtali MESHEL - 東京カレッジ

“The Ritual Environment” Lecture by Dr. Naphtali MESHEL

When:
2022.08.29 @ 06:02 – 07:02
2022-08-29T06:02:00+09:00
2022-08-29T07:02:00+09:00
"The Ritual Environment" Lecture by Dr. Naphtali MESHEL

Finished
Zoom Webinar
Date(s) Thursday, 6 October 2022 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm JST
Venue

Zoom Webinar (Register here)

Registration Pre-registration required
Language English (English-Japanese simultaneous translation available)
Abstract

This study examines sacred rituals as models for largescale environmental dilemmas, bridging ancient and modern worlds.

Sacrificial rituals create waste, as sanctuaries become filled with residues and byproducts of unused animal and vegetable materia sacra. Three distinct attitudes towards such leftovers are indicative of three distinct ritual-environmental conceptions.

On the one hand, such materials can be viewed as invested with sacrality that must be exhausted, as every particle of holiness must be recycled within the ritual arena, allowing no material to go to waste. On the other hand, sacred leftovers can be viewed as dangerous, powerful waste that must be excluded from the sacred domain, shipped off and stowed away at a great distance from human habitation. A third possibility is to reconceptualize such materials as neutralized, non-sacred and non-dangerous, whereby they can become freely available for public use.

The example of the treatment of ritual byproducts and residues demonstrates the potential of an exploration of the intellectual space between two ancient “sciences of ritual”: early Jewish discourse on sacrificial texts in rabbinic literature, and the South Asian Mīmāṃsā tradition dedicated to the hermeneutics of Vedic sacrificial texts.

Program

Lecture:Naphtali MESHEL(Senior Lecturer, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Faculty of Humanities, the Department of the Bible and the Department of Comparative Religion)

Comments:
FUKUNAGA Mayumi (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo)
NAKAMURA Sae (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo)

Q&A 

Speaker Profile

Dr. Naphtali Meshel joined the Department of Bible and the Department of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2016. His research focuses on the Hebrew Bible in its ancient Near Eastern contexts, and on its early interpreters. Within the broader study of religion, he has a particular interest in Sanskrit literature. His first book, The Grammar of Sacrifice, examines the ancient intuition that sacrificial rituals, like languages, are governed by “grammars.” His research interests include ancient models for the “science of ritual”; systems of pollution and purification; and mechanisms of double entendre in Wisdom Literature. He previously taught at the Moscow State University for the Humanities and at Princeton University.

Organized by Tokyo College, The University of Tokyo
Contact tokyo.college.event@tc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Upcoming Events

Equal Rights, Unequal Reality: Law and Gender Equality in Japan (Lecture by Prof. Frank UPHAM)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Wednesday, May 7, 2025 10:30-12:00 JST

Japan outlaws gender discrimination in virtually the same terms as every equivalent country and yet it ranks 118th out of 146 countries, 111 notches below Germany, 103 below the US. Why? Is it that Japanese culture demands women remain meekly at home? If so, why do women graduate from universities at a higher rate than men? Why do they participate in the work force at a high rate? Why do they bring – and win - employment discrimination suits? This lecture will explore these questions and offer tentative – extremely tentative – observations on the reasons.

Beyond World Literature (Lecture by Prof. Wiliam MARX)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Thursday, 8 May, 10:30–12:00 JST

World literature has been a reality since at least the nineteenth century. Texts travel across continents and cultures, translated from every language, taught in universities worldwide, and forming an emerging global canon. Never before have we been so free to read whatever we wish, from anywhere. Or so it seems. But is this true freedom, or merely a comforting illusion? What are the boundaries of this seemingly limitless literary exchange? This talk aims to explore those limits and propose a new approach to literature—a different way of reading texts, one that is either entirely new or, perhaps, simply old and forgotten. Welcome to the world library!

Discourses about Environment and Nature in the Hebrew Bible (Lecture by Prof. Thomas RÖMER)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Thursday, 22 May, 13:00–14:30 JST

This lecture will argue that the Hebrew Bible contains different views on nature and the environment, especially in relation to the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and its capital Jerusalem in 587 BCE. This event triggered different discourses of crisis management that will be analyzed with the help of a German sociologist Armin Steil who distinguishes three attitudes toward crisis also found in the Hebrew Bible: 1) The prophetic attitude: belief that crisis will lead to a new creation with harmony between humans, nature, and animals; 2) The mandarin attitude: view of disasters as divine punishment without much interest in the environment; and 3) The priestly attitude: construction of a mythic past that offers rituals for the present with interest in the place of humans in their environment. The last discourse offers an important reflection about a possible harmony between all beings.

Previous Events

Designing and Scaling up Nature-based Markets (Lecture by Prof. Beatrice WEDER DI MAURO)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Wednesday, April 23, 2025 15:00-16:30 JST

Carbon and nature markets are struggling with low trust, high costs, and limited scale—falling far short of what’s needed. In this lecture, Professor Weder di Mauro presents a new market design co-developed with Estelle Cantillon and Eric F. Lambin. Jurisdictions offer large-scale projects; investors buy shares that yield carbon and biodiversity “dividends” without conferring land ownership. Market prices reveal demand and support liquidity. Compared to credit-based systems, this approach cuts costs, boosts credibility, and supports long-term commitments. It tackles the core problems holding back today’s markets—and offers a credible path to scale with real environmental impact.

The Meaning and Implications of Being a “Visitor-Centered” Museum (Lecture by Prof. Leslie BEDFORD)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Tuesday, 22 April, 14:30–16:00 JST

From "Being about Something to Being for Somebody" is the memorable title of Stephen Weil's contribution to the 1999 Daedalus volume on American Museums. Though decades old and not without challenges, the phrase continues to resonate within the museum field. In many ways it encapsulates the ways in which institutions have changed from privileging curator-defined information and institution-defined goals to promoting the visitor's experience and the broader community.
In her talk, Leslie Bedford, a longtime museum practitioner and professor of museum studies, will explore the meaning of Weil's phrase and how it has been implemented by museums, including those she has visited in Japan. Her talk will include a discussion of the online conversations she is facilitating with Japanese museum professionals and academics. And finally, she will raise the question of what "visitor centered" can mean today and in the future.

The worlds of the Black Death: new approaches (Lecture by Prof. Patrick BOUCHERON)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Wednesday, 16 April, 10:00–11:30 JST

The “Black Death” refers to the peak of the second plague pandemic, which spread across Europe from 1347. It remains the greatest demographic catastrophe in history. Today, interdisciplinary research—combining funerary archaeology, anthropology, microbiology, and environmental sciences—has transformed our approaches to it. Advances from DNA analysis to climate studies have contributed to a new understanding. Yet, the challenge remains: how to write a global history of a long-term event on a global scale? Though its precise geography is unclear, the plague’s routes trace the lines of force of connected worlds, mapping out a space that is discontinuous and global, like an archipelago.

What is the Purpose of Machines that Serve no Purpose? (Lecture by Prof. Dominique LESTEL)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Wednesday, 9 April, 2025 JST 15:00-16:30 JST

Despite the enthusiasm they generate, it is difficult to satisfactorily identify what humanoid robots could do that a human or a non-humanoid robot could not do better and more cheaply, and this observation constitutes a major challenge for the philosopher. Using the example of Sophia, the first humanoid robot to be granted citizenship in 2017, I will suggest that these strange machines occupy a sensitive place in our societies by taking on the role of messianic machines (machines that announce the coming of other machines), metaphysical machines (machines that force us to ask fundamental metaphysical questions such as knowing who is human or who is alive) and conjuring machines (machines that help to fight against the fear of dangerous machines).

Collaborations in Language: from Documentation to Resurgence (Lecture by Prof. Mark TURIN)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Friday, 4 April, 13:00–14:30 JST

In this richly-illustrated lecture, I discuss two collaborative partnerships in which I have been involved with historically marginalized, Indigenous communities in both the Himalayan region and in Native North America who are working to preserve and revitalize their languages. Through the presentation, I explore these three words: Collect, Protect, Connect.

Dealing with the Brussels Effect: How should Japanese companies prepare for the EU-AI Act? 3

イベント予定パネルディスカッション/Panel discussion講演会/Lecture

Wednesday, 19 March 2025, 12:00-13:00 JST

At the University of Tokyo, a webinar was held on December 11, 2024 and January 15, 2025, to explain the EU AI Act and the first draft of the CoP. In this webinar, we will provide an overview of the third draft released at the end of February and highlight important points that Japanese companies should particularly pay attention to.


TOP