Postscript : Reflections after Twenty Years

Abstract

This Holy Place was a step in a journey that began in my teen years and has continued ever since. It reflects learning that commenced even before I entered the university and that continued as I—then a nice third-generation American Jewish boy from a San Diego suburb—trekked through the history of religions, art history, and Jewish history, stopping off, by and by, at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the University of Southern California, UCLA, various yeshivot, and (more than once) the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Like many dissertation books, it is a palimpsest, reflecting the breadth of my academic experiences to that point. It also contains within it themes, issues, and subjects that I have continued to think about since. This trek reflects both my abiding curiosity as a historian and my personal search for meaning in the texts, artifacts, and approaches that I have encountered along the way. It is fair to say that This Holy Place has been with me from project to project, and from book to book. (from beginning of new postscript)