My teaching focuses on Kabbala, Hasidism and medieval and modern Jewish philosophy. Areas of interest and research include 16th century Kabbala, early Hasidism, 19th century Polish Hasidism, medieval pietism, gender and religion, Jewish ethics, and contemporary conceptions of Jewish religiosity, renewal and fundamentalism. I was the editor of God's Voice from the Void: Old and New Essays on Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav (Suny Press, 2001), co-editor of Beginning Again: Toward a Hermeneutic of Jewish Texts (Seven Bridges Press, 2002) and author of Hasidism on the Margin: Reconciliation, Antinomianism, and Messianism in Izbica and Radzin Hasidism (University of Wisconsin Press, 2003). My current book project is entitled From Theosophy to Midrash: Late Kabbala and the Interpretation of Scripture on scriptural hermeneutics in the mystical school of Rabbi Isaac Luria. I am the co-editor of the on-line Journal of Textual Reasoning and a member of the steering committee for the Study of Judaism for the American Academy of Religion. I serve as a member of the board of The Society for Scriptural Reasoning and CHAI (The Children of Abraham Institute) dedicated to the pursuit of inter-faith dialogue between Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Education
- Ph.D. at Brandeis University, 1994
Research Interests
- Kabbala
- Medieval and modern Jewish philosophy
- Hasidism
- Gender and religion
- Jewish ethics and contemporary Jewish religiosity
- Renewal and fundamentalism
Courses Recently Taught
- Introduction to Judaism
- Contemporary Issues in Judaism
- Religions of the West
- Hasidism & Existentialism
Publication Highlights
Articles
"The Politics of (un) Conversion: The 'Mixed Multitude' (erev rav) as Conversos in Rabbi Hayyim Vital's Etz Ha-Da'at Tov, Jewish Quarterly Review (2005)
"Rainbow Hasidism in America-The Maturation of Jewish Renewal-A Review Essay," The Reconstructionist (Spring, 2004): 34-60
"Is Egalitarianism Heresy: Re-Thinking Gender on the Margins of Judaism" Nashim 8 (Fall, 2004); "Judaism and Reconciliation" Concilium: Reconciliation in a World of Conflicts, 2003-5 (forthcoming)
"Lurianic Kabbala and Original Sin," [Hebrew] Hafatzat Ha-Kabbalah (The Influence of Kabbala), Moseh Idel ed. Jerusalem, 2005
"Ethics Disentangled from the Law: Hasidism and Dispositional Ethics," A Companion to Religious Ethics, Charley Hallisey, William Schweiker eds., (Blackwell Press: England, 2004)
