Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
My life before BGU:
I was born in Gush Etzion and spent my childhood between what was then a small quiet village and Jerusalem, the big city, where I studied at Hartman High School and the Yellow Submarine's music program. All three of my degrees are from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: the first two in the departments of Bible Studies and of Jewish Thought, as well as the Revivim teacher training program. My doctoral studies and thesis combined bible study and Jewish philosophy. During my university studies, I also taught these two subjects at the Jerusalem Art School and, later, at various academic institutions. I was also involved in teacher training and curriculum development.
After completing my PhD, I was postdoctoral fellow in a Hebrew University research group that attempted to understand biblical rituals through a comparison with ancient Indian literature. Last year, I was a postdoctoral fellow here at BGU, at the Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter-Religious Encounters. Additionally, as a research fellow at the Hartman Institute, I deal with various public and intellectual issues related to my fields of research.
My research:
My research combines Bible studies and Jewish philosophy. As a biblical scholar, I belong to the broad field called “biblical criticism" – which studies the bible critically, as a collection of texts written and compiled by multiple people and different religious groups, through a long and complex process, during the first millennium BCE.
As a scholar of Jewish philosophy, my main goal is to understand and reveal the multiple religious and philosophical perspectives reflected in the Bible. What did people of those times think about questions such as: who is God and what makes him that? Does He have a body? And if so, where is He? Does God have emotions, and are they different from human emotions?
I am surprised and moved to discover, again and again, complex and deep perceptions regarding these questions – perceptions that are often quite different from those we hold today and ascribe to the Bible. Sometimes they are more similar than we expect, and they are often disputed within the Bible itself.
Why BGU?
It is a great privilege to become a member of BGU’s Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought, one of the world’s leading centers of Jewish studies and also a warm, supportive and inviting environment. I was warmly welcomed at BGU, both by the academic faculty and the administrative staff, and the students I have encountered thus far are excellent.
An insight from my research:
To me, humanities research is an attempt to closely examine a specific aspect of the human experience that is grounded in respect, empathy, and even love. It is precisely the critical approach in Bible studies, which interprets the Bible as “merely” a human creation rather than divine truth, that enables new empathetic perspectives on the human experiences embedded in it.
Something that doesn't appear on my CV:
My family not only makes possible everything that appears on my CV; it is more important to me than anything on it. I wish I could include on my CV all the crises, failures, moments of despair and letters of rejection, not just the things that ultimately succeeded. In this sense too, the CV reflects just a small portion of one's life story.
A source of inspiration:
I was privileged to study with some great teachers. I also learned from and was inspired no less by colleagues and students. The teacher who shaped my world view and ways of thinking more than anyone else, however, is my father.
When I grow up:
I used to want to teach high school literature, and things didn’t turn out so differently (I did teach high school for a few years, but not literature). Today I would still say that I want to read texts in depth and ponder them together with teachers, friends, students, and anyone else who is interested.
If I wasn’t a researcher, I would...
Be an educator. In a sense, I am as much an educator as a researcher.
In Brief:
» Fauda or Big Brother? I haven't seen either, I rarely watch television
» Yoga or CrossFit? I'd love to try yoga and I'd love to find out what CrossFit is
» Hapoel or Maccabi? Beitar Jerusalem
» Steak or tofu? I prefer lasagna
» Trekking or the spa? An armchair, cup of coffee, and a book
» Car or train? Train. It's the closest you can get to an armchair, cup of coffee and a book
» Ocean or pool? Ocean. It's an exotic attraction for a Jerusalemite, and I hate the smell of swimming pools
» Night or morning? Night. Duvet, scarves, hot soup, and allergy medicine
» City or country? I grew up in the suburbs, but after many years in the city it would be hard to leave
» Film or play? Live music. It brings back the musician I used to be
» Phone call or text message? Texts are better than calls, but nothing beats a face-to-face meeting
» Savory or sweet? Sweet, with bitter coffee
» Android or iPhone? Android. iPhone and everything related make me nervous
» Cat or dog? I would rather adopt a dog. I would rather be a cat
» Facebook or Twitter? Facebook, because there's no way I could condense my thoughts so much
