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Assistant Professor, Jewish Studies |
Ithaca College |
| Ithaca, NY 14850 | (607) 274-3556 |
| rlesses@ithaca.edu |
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Ph.D. |
Harvard University |
Study of Religion |
1995 |
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Visiting Research Fellow |
Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
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1992-93 |
|
A.M |
Harvard University |
Study of Religion |
1991 |
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Visiting Research Student |
Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
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1987-1989 |
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A.B., summa cum laude |
Harvard University |
Study of Religion |
1985 |
Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Raymond and Janine Ballag Fund Fellowship, 1998-99.
Society of Fellows in the Humanities, Columbia University, Mellon Fellowship,
1996-98.
Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard, Dissertation Fellowship, 1993-94.
Fulbright-Hays Training Grant (Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad), 1992-93.
Summa Cum Laude for Undergraduate Honors Thesis, "Gnostic Exegesis of
the Garden of Eden Story," 1985.
Phi Beta Kappa, l985.
Assistant Professor, Jewish Studies, Ithaca College, 2001- ; Coordinator of Jewish Studies, 2002-2003
courses taught: Hebrew Scriptures; Gender and Sexuality in Judaism; Jews in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds; Jews in the Modern World; Judaism; Jewish Mysticism.
other responsibilities: member of Jewish Studies Steering Committee; member of Jewish Studies fundraising committee (organized with Development Office); member of Board of Trustees of Ithaca College Hillel.
Visiting Assistant Professor,
Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence in Jewish Studies,Bucknell University:
courses taught: Introduction to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; Jewish Peoples and Civilizations; Gender and Judaism
other responsibilities: organized faculty Talmud seminar; gave campus-wide lectures on Jewish studies; organized invited lecture series on Women and Gender Issues in Judaism.
Visiting Assistant Professor,
Vassar College, Department of Religion, 1999-2000:
courses taught: Introduction to Jewish Studies; Western Religious Traditions; Hebrew Bible; Kabbalah.
other responsibilities: supervised senior theses; member, advisory board, Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.
Lecturer, Columbia University, Department of Religion, 1996-98:
course taught: Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West.
Visiting Assistant Professor, Cornell University, Near Eastern Studies Department, 1995-96
courses taught: Introduction to Classical Jewish History, Gender and Judaism, Introduction to Modern Jewish History, and Jewish Mysticism.
Lecturer, Bates College, Religion and Philosophy Department, Spring 1995.
course taught: Judaism in the Modern World: Gender Issues in Judaism.
Lecturer, Boston University, Religious Studies Department, Spring 1992.
course taught: Themes in Classical Jewish Thought.
Teaching Fellow and Tutor,
Harvard University, Committee on the Study of Religion, 1989-1995.
courses taught: World Religions: Diversity and Dialogue, Scriptures and Classics; The History of Jewish Women in Late Antiquity.
Teaching Fellow, Harvard Divinity School, Fall 1994.
course taught: Jewish Feminism in Theological Perspective.
Prepared to teach: Jewish history, thought, and culture from late antiquity to the modern era; modern Jewish thought; issues in contemporary Jewish identity; Judaism in the Greco-Roman world; rabbinic culture; rabbinic texts (in translation and in original languages); Jewish magic and mysticism; gender and Judaism; Jewish women’s history; methods in the study of religion; survey of world religions; theories of magic and religion; comparative mysticism; survey of western thought.
Research Interests: Early Jewish mysticism (Hekhalot literature); theories of ritual; literary theory and ritual texts; Jewish women’s history in late antiquity; gender analysis of ancient Judaism; interaction between Judaism and its environment in late antiquity (Greco-Roman, Christian, Muslim); late antique Judaism in relation to religions of the ancient Near East; comparative study of magic in late antiquity.
Book Project: Angels' Tongues and Witches' Curses: Jewish Women and Ritual Power in Late Antiquity
Baraita de-Masekhet Niddah and women’s ritual impurity
Messianic aspects of the Hekhalot literature
Ritual Practices to Gain Power: Angels, Incantations, and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism. Harvard Theological Studies 44. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1998.
"Exe(o)rcising Power: Women as Sorceresses, Exorcists, and Demonesses in Late Antique Judaism." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 69 (June 2001), 343-375.
“Jewish Magic and Multiculturalism in the Ancient World,” Association for Jewish Studies Perspectives, Fall 2000.
"Dream-Revelation Adjurations in the Hekhalot Literature." Proceedings, International Conference on Magic and Magic in Judaism, Tel Aviv-Jerusalem. Groningen: Styx, forthcoming.
"Amulets." In The Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions. New York: Macmillan, 1998.
"Speaking with Angels: Jewish and Greco-Egyptian Revelatory Adjurations." Harvard Theological Review 89 (1996) 41-60.
"The Adjuration of the Sar ha-Panim: 'Performative Utterance' in a Jewish Ritual," pp. 185-206. In Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki, eds. Ancient Magic and Ritual Power. Leiden: Brill, 1995.
"Commentary on The Testament of Job," pp. 139-149. In Elisabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, ed., Searching the Scriptures: A Feminist-Ecumenical Commentary. New York: Crossroad/Continuum, 1994.
Editorial Assistant, Harvard Theological Review, February-August 1995.
Research Assistant for Professor Diana Eck, on the Jews of New England, for her course, "World Religions in New England," Summer 1990.
Research Assistant for Professor Chava Weissler, sources in the history of Ashkenazic Jewish women in early modern Europe, Spring-Summer 1987.
"Amulets and Angels: Visionary experience in the Testament of Job and the Hekhalot literature," Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, November 2002.
"Women and Gender Issues in the Contemporary American Jewish Community," Bucknell University, April, 2001.
"Lilith and Other Demons," Berman Center for Jewish Studies, Lehigh University, April 2001. For a report on the talk, see the Berman Center's Fall 2001 newsletter (in PDF format--requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).
“Women in Early Jewish Magic,” Faculty Colloquium, Bucknell University, March 2001.
"Ascetic Piety and Angelic Revelation in Jewish Incantations of Late Antiquity," American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Boston, November 1999.
"Sorcery in 1 Enoch," Orion Center for Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, May, 1999.
"Metatron as Messiah in the Hekhalot Literature," 1998-1999 Seminar on Messianism, Hartman Institute, Jerusalem, April, 1999.
"They Revealed Secrets to their Wives: The Fallen Angels as Teachers of Occult Arts to Women," Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, November, 1998
"Women, Liliths, and Other Demonesses: Images of the Demonic Female in Early Jewish Magic," Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference, December, 1997.
"Magic and Mysticism in Early Judaism," given at "Symposium on Mysticism, Cross-cultural Perspectives," Tulane University, New Orleans, March 1997.
"'May the spirit be bound and kept away from her': Jewish women and magic in late antiquity," Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, New Orleans, November, 1996.
"Adjurations in the Hekhalot Literature: The Role of the Senses in Ritual Performance," American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, November 1995.
"Dream-Revelation Adjurations in the Hekhalot Literature," International Conference on Magic and Magic in Judaism, Jerusalem-Tel Aviv, October 29-November 2, 1995.
"Speaking with Angels: Jewish and Greco-Egyptian Revelatory Adjurations," Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Chicago, November 1994.
"Heavenly Descents: A Speech-Act Analysis of Adjurations from the Heikhalot Literature," Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference, Boston, December 1993.
"The Adjuration of the Sar ha-Panim: 'Performative Utterance' in a Jewish Ritual," Conference on Magic in the Ancient World, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, August 1992.
"Hekhalot Literature and the Babylonian Magical Bowls," American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, New Orleans, November 1990.
American Academy of Religion
Society of Biblical Literature
Association for Jewish Studies
Hebrew (classical and modern), Aramaic, classical Greek, German, French.
Professor Bernadette Brooten, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts.
Professor Rachel Elior, Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel.
Professor Barbara Johnson, Department of Anthropology, Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York.
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maintained by: Rebecca Lesses
Last revised January 23, 2003