CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT:
Professor Lawrence H. Schiffman

DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES:
Professor Daniel E. Fleming

The Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies offers programs leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. Doctoral students earn a master’s degree in the course of their studies. Students may also complete a specific series of courses in Hebrew and Judaic studies and museum studies, qualifying for a master’s degree with concentration in museum studies. A dual degree program offered jointly with the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service provides opportunities for students to earn an M.P.A. in public and nonprofit management policy and a master’s degree in Hebrew and Judaic studies. A joint program in Hebrew and Judaic studies and history enables outstanding students to pursue a doctoral degree in the two departments simultaneously. The Skirball Department cooperates in the Program in Education and Jewish Studies of the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.

The department’s primary purpose is to train scholars in the areas of Jewish literature, religion, history, and thought who have mastered both a body of knowledge relating specifically to Jewish studies and the canons and practices of a general academic discipline. Courses are offered in biblical studies; postbiblical and Talmudic literature; medieval and modern Hebrew literature; history of the Jews in the ancient, medieval, and modern periods; Jewish philosophy, religious expression, and mysticism; and related fields. Many courses involve the reading of Hebrew texts, and some are conducted in Hebrew. Students are also required to take courses in at least one general disciplinary department. Students structure individual programs according to their areas of interest.

The department sponsors lectures and colloquia on current research in Jewish civilization, often in collaboration with the Departments of History, English, and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies; the Programs in Religious Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and Near Eastern Studies; and the Center for Ancient Studies. The Taub Center for Israel Studies and the Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History are also housed in the Skirball Department. Course offerings are frequently augmented by outstanding visiting scholars from Israel.

The department benefits from the extensive Hebraica and Judaica holdings of the New York University libraries and from cooperative arrangements with Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. In addition, the Center for Jewish History, housing the libraries and archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the Leo Baeck Institute, and the American Jewish Historical Society, is located near the NYU campus.

The city of New York is an ideal setting for Judaic studies, with a range of academic and cultural resources.

Faculty

Robert Chazan, S. H. and Helen R. Scheuer Professor of Modern Jewish History; Professor, Hebrew and Judaic Studies, History. Ph.D. 1967 (history), M.A. 1963 (history), B.A. 1958 (philosophy), Columbia. Honorary doctorates: 1994, Hebrew Union College; 1989, Gratz College; 1987, Jewish Theological Seminary.
Medieval Jewish history; medieval polemics.

Hasia R. Diner, Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History; Professor, Hebrew and Judaic Studies, History. Ph.D. 1975 (history), Illinois; M.A.T. 1970 (history), Chicago; B.A. 1968 (history), Wisconsin.
American Jewish history; American immigration history; women’s history.

David Engel, Maurice R. Greenberg Professor of Holocaust Studies; Professor, Hebrew and Judaic Studies, History. Ph.D. 1979 (history), B.A. 1972 (history), California (Los Angeles).
History of the Jews in Eastern Europe; Holocaust; Zionism and Israel.

Yael S. Feldman, Abraham I. Katsh Professor of Hebrew Culture and Education. Ph.D. 1981, M.Phil. 1980 (Hebrew literature, Russian fiction, and literary theory), Columbia; M.A. 1976 (medieval Hebrew literature), Hebrew College; B.A. 1967 (Hebrew and English literature), Tel Aviv.
Modern Hebrew literature; literary theory; gender and cultural studies.

Daniel E. Fleming, Professor. Ph.D. 1990 (Near Eastern languages and civilizations), Harvard; M.Div. 1985 (Bible), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; B.S. 1979 (geology), Stanford.
Assyriology; Hebrew Bible interpretation and cultural history; ancient Syria.

Michah Gottlieb, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2003, (philosophy), Indiana; M.A. 1997 (Hebrew and Judaic studies), New York; B.A. 1995 (philosophy), McGill.
Modern Jewish thought and history of philosophy.

Rosalie Kamelhar, Senior Language Lecturer; Coordinator, Hebrew Language Program. Ph.D. 1986 (modern Hebrew literature), New York; M.A. 1975 (Hebrew), Hunter College (CUNY); B.A. 1973 (psychology), Queens College (CUNY).
Hebrew language.

Marion Kaplan, Skirball Professor of Modern Jewish History. Ph.D. 1977 (history), M.A. 1969 (history), Columbia; B.A. 1967 (history), Rutgers.
Modern European history.

Adina Marom, Language Lecturer. M.A. 1980 (Hebrew literature), Hebrew College; M.A. 1977 (education), Boston; Certificate 1977 (pedagogy), B.A. 1971 (Hebrew literature and history), Tel Aviv.

Ann Macy Roth, Clinical Associate Professor, Hebrew and Judaic Studies, Art History. Ph.D. 1985 (Egyptology), B.A. 1975 (Egyptology), Chicago.
Egyptology; archaeology; ancient Near Eastern studies; Egyptian art; Egyptian mortuary traditions.

Jeffrey L. Rubenstein, Professor. Ph.D. 1992 (religion), Columbia; M.A. 1987 (Talmud and Rabbinics), Jewish Theological Seminary; B.A. 1985 (religion), Oberlin College.
Rabbinic literature; ancient Judaism; Jewish law.

Lawrence H. Schiffman, Ethel and Irwin A. Edelman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies; Chair, Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. Ph.D. 1974 (Near Eastern and Judaic studies), M.A. 1970, B.A. 1970 (Near Eastern and Judaic studies), Brandeis.
Dead Sea Scrolls; Jewish religious, political, and social history in late antiquity; history of Jewish law and Talmudic literature.

Mark S. Smith, Skirball Professor of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Ph.D. 1985, M.Phil. 1983, M.A. 1982 (Near Eastern languages), Yale; M.T.S. 1980 (Old Testament), Harvard; M.A. 1979 (theology), Catholic; B.A. 1976 (English), Johns Hopkins.
Ancient Israelite religion and culture; the Hebrew Bible; Hebrew grammar; the Dead Sea Scrolls; the Ugaritic texts.

Elliot R. Wolfson, Judge Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. Ph.D. 1986 (Jewish mysticism and philosophy), M.A. 1983 (Jewish mysticism and philosophy), Brandeis; B.A. and M.A. 1979 (philosophy), Queens College (CUNY).
Jewish mysticism and philosophy; gender construction and the history of religion; symbolism and myth.

Ronald W. Zweig, Marilyn and Henry Taub Professor of Israel Studies. Ph.D. 1978 (modern history), Cambridge; B.A. 1971, Sydney.
History of the Jews; Holocaust; Zionism and Israel.

AFFILIATED FACULTY IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Performance Studies; Francis E. Peters, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies.

FACULTY EMERITUS

Alfred L. Ivry, Baruch A. Levine.