Dr. Richard Kalmin, an expert on the interpretation of Jewish stories, ancient history, and the development of rabbinic literature, holds the Theodore R. Racoosin Chair of Rabbinic Literature at The Jewish Theological Seminary, where he has taught since 1982. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on the interpretation of rabbinic stories, ancient Jewish history, and the development of rabbinic literature, and has lectured on these topics throughout Europe, Israel, and the United States.
Dr. Kalmin's award-winning book, Jewish Babylonia Between Persia and Roman Palestine, was published in 2006 by Oxford University Press. The book was recently honored by the Jordan Schnitzer Book Award Committee of the Association of Jewish Studies as a 2009 Notable Selection in the category of Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Archaeology.
He has been a visiting professor at Yale University, Hebrew Union College, and Union Theological Seminary, and a faculty fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Hebrew University. In 2011, Dr. Kalmin was a faculty fellow and a visiting professor of Rabbinic Literature at the Frankel Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Michigan.
Previous Solotkin lecturerers include Rabbi Dow Marmur, Professor Noah Lucas, filmmakers Yoel Kaminsky & Ilan Avisar, Professor Arnold Eisen, Professor Jeffrey Wolin, archeologist Zvi Lederman, Professor Jeffrey Veidlinger, author Melissa Mueller, Professor Robert Jan van Pelt, Rabbi David Dalin, USHMM Staff Director Jerry Fowler, award-winning photographer Zion Ozeri, and Professor Barbara Kirsenblatt-Gimblett.
