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Whether Passover and Good Friday are designed to go together “like a hand and a glove,” as contends David Kraemer, professor of Talmud and rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, is not for me to say.

As the early Christians turned to an external savior and as the Romans continued to crush rebellions, Jewish leaders realized they needed to survive in the world as they knew it, explained David Kraemer, head librarian and professor of Talmud and rabbinics at Jewish Theological Seminary.

In Israel, at the session the night before, I had listened to an expert in rabbinics, a tall, lean, black-bearded man, wearing a flat-topped black cap, who looked like a rabbi himself, explaining—from a study of the photographs of the complete Isaiah scroll—that it showed every evidence of having been executed in strict conformity with rabbinical rules.

But David Kraemer, the Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary, says the full Hanukkah story is much longer and much more convoluted—and, as with so many of the stories behind religious holidays, it’s hard to corroborate the story with non-religious evidence.

Reisner, who has a doctorate in the Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and a master’s in bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania, said he spent most of his time in class Tuesday getting to know the students and understanding the curriculum.