CURRENT EMPLOYMENT
Independent scholar
EDUCATION
PhD: Dept. of Comparative Religion, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Thesis: “The Provenance of The Journey of Zosimos (also known as The History of the Rechabites). Supervisor: Prof. Michael Stone, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
MA: Dept. of Comparative Religion, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, majoring in Zoroastrianism. MA thesis (cum laude): “Manichean Liturgy in Middle Iranian Languages”. Supervisor: Prof. Shaul Shaked, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Double Major BA (cum laude) in the department of “Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah” and the department of “Armenian, Persian and Indian Studies”, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
SOME EARLIER POSITIONS AND OCCUPATIONS
2022-2024. Coordinator of the University Minor “Culture and Cognition”, University of Groningen
2010-2024. Member of the research group Art, Culture, and Cognition, University of Groningen
2004-2024. Staff member in Middle East Studies, and Culture and Cognition, University of Groningen
2000-2001. Teaching Assistant in the Department of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
2000-2001. Scientific editing in Carmel Publishing, Jerusalem
1989-2004. Partner and manager of DAATZ COMPUTERS: Computerized Solutions for the Humanities, and Desk Top Publishing
1987-1990. Programmer in the CATSS project (Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint/Scriptural Study, headed by Prof. Emanuel Tov, the Hebrew University and Prof. Robert Kraft, Penn University
MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS)
Society of Biblical Literature (SBL)
European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS)
International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion (IACSR)
Cultural Evolution Society (CES)
Nederlands Genootschap voor Joodse Studiën (NGJS)
ORGANIZING ACADEMIC CONFERENCES, SESSIONS, AND MEETINGS
‘Cultural Evolution and the Biblical World’ in the EABS 2018 until the present (with Nina Nikki, Helsinki University).
‘Emotions and the Biblical World’ in the EABS. 2020 until present
‘Rabbinic Literature’, in the Xth Congress of the EAJS, 2014 (with Arnon Atzmon)
‘Palestine and Babylon: Two Jewish Late Antique Cultures and Their Interrelation’ in the ISBL 2009-2012
‘Early Judaism and Rabbinics: Continuity Change and Canonicity’, in the annual Conference of the EABS, 2007 (with Moshe Lavee)
LECTURES IN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AND MEETINGS (RECENT)
Women in Tanchuma-Yelammedenu Halakhic Proems, in The annual British Association for Jewish Studies Conference, Oriel College, the University of Oxford, 21-24.7.2019.
Stratification and the Onion: Verses in Tanchuma Parables, in the international conference ‘The Power of Parables: Narrating Religion in Late Antiquity’ of the NWO project ‘Parables and the Parting of the Ways’, Utrecht, University of Utrecht 24-26.6.2019.
Who Cries in the Tanchuma and Why, in ‘׳מדור לדור׳: מסירת הנוסח והתפתחותו בספרות חז”ל’ (From Generation to Generation: Transmission and Development of Rabbinic Literature Versions), an international conference of the Naphtali-Yoffe Department of Talmud and Oral Torah, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, 12.6.2019 (Hebrew)
Text and Story Now and Then”, in the panel “Why Do We Need Cultural Evolution to Study the Bible?” in the session ‘The Biblical World and Cultural Evolution’ EABS, Warsaw,
11–14.08.2019
Panel Discussion on Francoise Mirguet, An Early History of Compassion, in the session ‘Emotions and the Biblical World’ EABS, Warsaw, 11–14.08.2019
The Predictive Brain, the Exogram, and Cultural Evolution, in ‘Worlding the Brain 2018’ in the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus 27–29.11.2018
The cultural evolution of the word ‘love’ in the Hebrew Bible, in the session ‘Cultural Evolution and the Biblical World’ in the ISBL-EABS, Helsinki, 30.07–3.08.2018
“Emotional Translation in Tanhuma”, in the session ‘Emotions and the Biblical World’ ISBL-EABS, Helsinki, 30.07–3.08.2018
The Tanhuma Emotional Community: Some aspects, in the session: ‘The Relation Between Form and Content in Aggadic Midrash’, The XIth Congress of the European Association for Jewish Studies, Krakow 15–19.07.2018
“How to Deal with Emotions without Being Abusive?”, in the workshop ‘Personal and Social Emotions in Rabbinic Literature: Methods and Approaches’, supported by the EAJS Conference Grant Program, Groningen 24–25.05.2018
UNIVERSITY COURSES (A SELECTION)
Culture of the Middle East in the Cinema
Narratives We Live By
Literature and Identity in the Middle East
Religions in the Middle East before the Islam
Religions and Modernity the Middle East
