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The mystery of Satoshi’s identity has long obsessed crypto experts, who analyze every record of his communications with the reverence of Talmudic scholars.

But he realized that the life of a Talmudic scholar was not for him, and he started evening classes at Brooklyn College.

One Talmudic story describes a certain Hasmonean king murdering every rabbi in the kingdom, and then desperately seeking someone who could recite the blessing after meals for himself and his wife.

The Talmudic transformation of Chanukah’s story from one focused on a military victory to one based on a divine miracle reflects the rabbis’ antipathy toward the regime that the Maccabees’ victory established: a ruling group known as the Hasmoneans.

For modern progressive Jews, the Talmudic story of the miraculous flask of oil sits more comfortably than the story of zealots exercising military strength.