Yonatan Adler responds to Malka Simkovich's review of his book, "The Origins of Judaism," emphasizing his focus on when ordinary Jews began following Torah as authoritative law rather than exploring intellectual history.

Malka Simkovich reviewed Yonatan Adler's book "The Origins of Judaism: An Archeological-Historical Reappraisal" in which Adler argues that Judaism, as we currently understand it, did not exist until the Hasmonean era.

Yonatan Adler's book, "The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological-Historical Reappraisal," challenges the traditional Jewish origin story by arguing that Jews did not begin to treat the Torah as an authoritative text until the Hasmonean era around 140 BCE.

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, Dr. Yonatan Adler, a professor of archaeology, discusses the relationship between halacha (Jewish law) and archaeology.