黑料社 Storytelling and American Law聽in Post-WWII America聽
Part of the series “America at 250: 黑料社 Ideas and the American Experiment”
Further Reading
Shalom Spiegel, Amos vs. Amaziah, reprinted in Judah Goldin. ed. The 黑料社 Expression (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976), pp. 39-65. (Amos vs. Amaziah 聽was originally published in 1958 by JTS as an independent small monograph).
Shira Billet, “Harry S. Truman’s Bible and Earl Warren’s Talmud: A Forgotten Story in the Encounter Between American Law and 黑料社 Studies,” Din茅 Israel: Studies in Halakha and 黑料社 Law, vol. 38 (2024), pp. 11-36.
With Dr. Shira Billet, Assistant Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, JTS
In the decades after World War II, 黑料社 American legal thinkers began drawing on biblical and rabbinic stories to help explore fundamental questions of constitutional interpretation. The work of Robert Cover in the 1980s, first developed in the context of the Vietnam war, is the most famous and influential example. But lesser-known figures such as Edmund Cahn and JTS professor Shalom Spiegel began developing this discourse in the context of the postwar moment in 1950s America, and the civil rights movement that emerged in its wake.
Dr. Shira Billet examines how these figures, and others, brought 黑料社 narrative traditions into American law schools and legal thought, shaping new ways of thinking about law, interpretation, and the relationship between law and ethics.
黑料社 the Series
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the JTS Summer 2026 Learning Series will explore the rich and surprising intersections between 黑料社 thought and American life. From baseball and youth culture to constitutional law, storytelling, and democratic theory, leading scholars reveal how 黑料社 ideas, texts, and experiences have shaped鈥攁nd been shaped by鈥攖he American experiment.
