I am a scholar of the cultural, intellectual, and religious history of the Jews in the Mediterranean and Near East. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at Harvard College (AB, 1999) and the University of Cambridge (M.Phil, 2001) before coming to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where I completed my PhD in 2007. In my research and teaching, I focus on medieval Judeo-Arabic literature and interreligious relations among Jews, Christians and Muslims in the medieval Arabic-speaking world.
I’ve written about tenth- and eleventh-century Karaite Bible exegesis (Karaite Exegesis in Medieval Jerusalem, Tübingen 2011) as well as numerous articles on Arabic and Judeo-Arabic literature. Books I’ve edited on various aspects of interreligious relations in the medieval Near East include Beyond Religious Borders: Interaction and Intellectual Exchange in the Medieval Islamic World (Philadelphia 2011) and Authorship in Mediaeval Arabic and Persian Literatures (with Julia Rubanovich, Jerusalem 2019). In recent years I have been researching and writing about the parody on the life of Jesus written by Jews and known as Toledot Yeshu, in its varied Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew versions that circulated in the Near East.
I am thoroughly inspired by working on the two projects represented here with our team, and look forward to sharing the results of our work as well as our findings, with the world!
I am committed to minimalist and earth-friendly living, and commute to the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University by bicycle. I have a great love for the music of the Middle East as well as for the current-day liturgy and musical gatherings of the Jewish communities whose medieval roots I study. I live in Jerusalem with my spouse Misha and our children.