PhD - Alumni

Supervisor: Steven E. Fassberg

Abstract: The focus of my PhD thesis is the morpho-syntax of the Aramaic dialect used by the Jews of Palestine in the Byzantine period, as attested in writing. Following the Mishnaic period, i.e. from the 3rd century CE onward, we witness a shift from Hebrew to Aramaic in rabbinic literature reflecting, it would seem, a drastic decline in the use of Hebrew as a living language in the area. A distinct Aramaic dialect, referred to as Jewish Palestinian- or Galilean Aramaic, begins to appear in important rabbinic works from Byzantine Palestine: The Palestinian Talmud, Bible translations and Aggadic Midrash such as Genesis Rabbah. Morpho-syntax relates to the dependence of morphological forms on syntactic structure. The thesis will attempt to describe and explain the choice of morphological forms of categories such as the noun, verb, pronoun among others in connection with the syntactic structures they appear in. Understanding this aspect of linguistic function is essential to the general understanding of the language and has a bearing upon many areas. It will contribute to better understanding the texts themselves, and to characterizing texts of uncertain provenance, and will also aid in understanding linguistic development in Mishnaic Hebrew, contemporary Aramaic dialects and even the spoken Arabic dialects that replaced Aramaic.

Presidential Stipend 2013/14

Rotenstreich 2015/16

Supervisor: Dr. Eitan Grossman, Prof. Willem Adelaar

Abstract: The goal of classical ‘Greenbergian’ typology is to identify language universals, and to answer the question: what is a possible language? However, since the groundbreaking work of Nichols (1992), the field of linguistic typology has slowly shifted. Today, the main focus of typology is linguistic diversity as a problem in its own right. Bickel (2007) goes so far as to write that the goal of modern day typology is “to explain why linguistic diversity is the way it is.” This recent development, which can be called the ‘Nichols-Bickel transform,’ has raised a new set of questions and problems, and have supplemented classical structural and functional explanations with the need to address historical contingency as a causal factor in explanatory theories of language structures. The study aims both to describe diversity within Quechuan but also to explain it, based on ‘emerging’ linguistic features. It also aims to better our understanding of linguistic diversity by means of linking it to what we know of language change. It will try to tackle such questions as: What are emergent features? Why are they more prone to change, i.e., less stable? Why do renewed features not stabilize or if they do stabilize, what makes them do so? What leads one language variety to follow a certain pathway whereas another follows a different one? This last question has been called the ‘actuation’ problem by Weinreich et al. (1968), and it is considered one of the most recalcitrant problems of language change.

Bio: Rammie Cahlon is a PhD candidate enrolled in a joint program with Leiden University. His research focuses on linguistic diversity and language change and his doctorate research deals with the role of variance in the stabilization process of unstable features. His research interests include areal typology, language typology, language change pathways, transitivity and argument structure, Creoles, Andean and Scandinavian languages.

Presidential Stipend 2014/15

Subject: How mathematical astronomy was developed in Assyrya and Babylone

Supervisor: Prof. Wayne Horowitz

Abstract: The astral bodies were of central interest throughout the entire Mesopotamian civilization history. We found tablets of Persian and Seleucid periods with numbers and procedures that allow us an insight into their purely mathematical theory of astronomical phenomena. I try to understand how a mathematical theory of the moon’s behavior was conceived and developed in the first millennium B.C, why they found mathematisation appropriate for better understanding it, and what principals led to this scientific achievement.

Bio: I am an Assyriology PhD candidate, beginning my third year. The topic of my research is trying to understand how mathematical astronomy was developed in Assyrya and Babylone.

Presidential Stipend 2017/18

Subject:  Ontological studies of the laws of halakhah and morality

Supervisor: Dr. Aaron Segal; Prof. David Enoch 

Abstract: Pre-theoretically, we attribute different degrees of moral values to different acts. This attribution of degrees has various implications for cases of deliberation, uncertainty and additional contexts.
In my research I want to give a theoretical account abuot the phenomenon of wrongness and rightness coming in degrees: the question of whether the phenomenon exists, the relation of such degrees to the binary features of rightness and wrongness, the correct metaphysical account of the phenomenon, and an investigation of a number of questions it raises in normative ethics and in Jewish legal contexts.

Bio: I am interested in metaphysics, meta-ethics, philosophy of halakhah and the connections between these fields. My research topics are the concepts of halakhic law and moral law.

President Stipend 2018/19

Supervisor: Dr. Shimon Gesundheit

Abstract: In my dissertation, I investigate biblical redaction from a material perspective. What did the editors’ desks look like? How did they go about compiling some of history’s most formative texts? It is often presumed that these works were invariably created by scribes who integrated and supplemented earlier sources. Contrary to the prevailing opinion, I contend that various biblical passages were created through a process of literal “cut and paste.” Proto-biblical papyrus scrolls were disassembled and even dissected into small snippets. These patches and sheets were then spliced and pasted together. Other times, texts were expanded by affixing scraps of old papyrus onto fresh sheets and writing new material in the gaps. That these unusual methods were practiced by biblical editors can be established through a systematic investigation of extant redactional errors, finding surprising support in texts ranging from ancient Egypt to nascent America.

Publications:

• Idan Dershowitz, “MORDECAI, SON OF JAIR (HEBREW BIBLE/OLD TESTAMENT),” Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR) 18, De Gruyter (2017; forthcoming) 
• Idan Dershowitz, “NAOMI (HEBREW BIBLE/OLD TESTAMENT),” Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR) 18, De Gruyter (2017; forthcoming)
• Idan Dershowitz, “Revealing Nakedness and Concealing Homosexual Intercourse: Legal and Lexical Evolution in Leviticus 18,” Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel (HeBAI; forthcoming)
• Idan Dershowitz, “Darius II Delays the Festival of Matzot in 418 BCE,” TheTorah.com: A Historical and Contextual Approach (2017): http://thetorah.com/darius-ii-delays-the-festival-of-matzot-in-418-bce/
• Idan Dershowitz, “KENATH,” Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR) 15, De Gruyter (2016 [online], 2017 [print]) 
• Idan Dershowitz, “KENAZ, BROTHER OF CALEB,” Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR) 15, De Gruyter (2016 [online], 2017 [print])
• Idan Dershowitz, “KENAZ, SON OF ELAH,” Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR) 15, De Gruyter (2016 [online], 2017 [print])
• Idan Dershowitz, “KENAZ, SON OF ELIPHAZ,” Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR) 15, De Gruyter (2016 [online], 2017 [print]) 
• Idan Dershowitz, “Man of the Land: Unearthing the Original Noah,” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (ZAW) 128:3 (2016), 357–373
• Idan Dershowitz, “The Guilt of the Slanderer and the Sotah: Between Certainty and Uncertainty” TheTorah.com: A Historical and Contextual Approach (2015): http://thetorah.com/the-guilt-of-the-slanderer-and-the-sotah/
• Idan Dershowitz, Moshe Koppel, Navot Akiva, and Nachum Dershowitz, “Computerized Source-Criticism of Biblical Texts,” Journal of Biblical Studies (JBL) 134:2 (2015), 253–271
• Idan Dershowitz, “Flowing with Fat and (Bee) Honey: Evidence from Ancient Egypt,” Vetus Testamentum (VT) 64:4 (2014), 665–667
• Idan Dershowitz, Nachum Dershowitz, Tomer Hasid, and Amnon Ta-Shma, “Orthography and Biblical Criticism,” Proceedings of Digital Humanities (DH 2014), Lausanne, Switzerland, 451–453
• Idan Dershowitz, “Computerized Bible Criticism,” Bible and Interpretation (2011): http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/der358009.shtml
• Moshe Koppel, Navot Akiva, Idan Dershowitz, and Nachum Dershowitz, “Unsupervised Decomposition of a Document into Authorial Components,” Proceedings of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (2011), 1356–1364
• Navot Akiva, Idan Dershowitz, and Moshe Koppel,“Exploiting Synonym Choice to Identify Components of a Document” (abstract), Israeli Seminar on Computational Linguistics (2010)
• Idan Dershowitz, “A Land Flowing with Fat and Honey,” Vetus Testamentum (VT) 60:2 (2010), 172–176
• Idan Dershowitz, “Simeon and Levi are Brothers,” Megadim 44 (2006), 25–31 (Hebrew)

Presidential Stipend 2014/15

Rothenstreich Stipend 2015/16

Subject: Social History of the Western Galilee 1936-76

Supervisors: Prof. Hillel Cohen-Bar and Prof. Liat Kozma

Abstract: My doctorate thesis will focus on the history of inter-communal relations between the varied groups that lived in the western galilee during the British mandate and in the decades that followed. For the first time, this project will put the western galilee on central stage relying on multiple and diverse academic fields and using primary resources and methodology that will bring forth the voices of the different communities that lived in the area.

Bio: I completed my BA in Middle Eastern studies in the Hebrew University and then proceeded to an Mphil in Middle Eastern studies at Oxford University, St. Antony's college. My MA thesis dealt with the history of sectarianism in Israel/Palestine through a work of micro history of an Arab village in the Galilee. My doctorate thesis will focus on the history of inter-communal relations between the varied groups that lived in the western galilee during the British mandate and in the decades that followed. For the first time, this project will put the western galilee on central stage relying on multiple and diverse academic fields and using primary resources and methodology that will bring forth the voices of the different communities that lived in the area.

Presidential stipend 2017/18

Supervisors: Prof. Dror Wahrman (History) and Prof. Ruth HaCohen (Musicology)

Abstract: My research aims to illuminate cultural perceptions and structures of thought in British society of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, by tracing the changes in the public image of opera singers. My premise is that the rich and largely vitriolic discourse concerning these singers can reveal deep-seated and dominant cultural notions in British society, in relation to the underlying categories of body, gender and nationality which shaped this discourse and the overarching question of representation on stage as a key cultural site.

In contrast to the myth of the “land without music”, 18^th century Britain saw the rise of a variety of musical genres of different types, most importantly the oratorios of G. F. Händel, which quickly became the musical canon of British national identity. On the other hand, opera, originally an Italian theatrical-musical medium, was continuously attacked as a form of foreign and senseless luxury. I focus on the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, since during this time fundamental changes in the political climate and in cultural sensibilities opened up new possibilities for the operatic medium in Britain, whether as a vehicle for national sentiment or as part of a romantic-cosmopolitan ideal. However, this process was continually undermined by deep-seated suspicions towards the singer and his craft – as a distorter of language and common sense, as a “scandalous” corporeality whose vocalizing is pathological, or as a privileged member of society who employs his status in a destructive manner. All of these attributes pointed towards the singer's false essence, frustrating opera's claims to higher truths. In this respect, I would argue that British society's vexed relations with the operatic medium were predicated, to a large degree, on its difficulty in negotiating the image of the singer. This realization, in turn, will help shed new light on British society’s inner codes and sensibilities in that era.

Publications:

Erman, Uri. “The Operatic Voice of Leoni the Jew: Between the Synagogue and the Theater in Late Georgian Britain.” Journal of British Studies 56, no. 2 (2017): 295–321. doi:10.1017/jbr.2017.3.

Rotenstreich Stipend 2015/16

Polonsky Stipend 2012/13

Subject: Everyday Life, Identity, and Communal Relations: A Comparison of Kehilot Shum and Aragon, c.1200 – 1347

Supervisor: Prof. Elisheva Baumgarten

Abstract: Using case studies, my research into medieval Jewish communal identity challenges contemporary academic use of the category of “community" as an analytical tool. Using Hebrew, Latin and vernacular sources, I explore how communal identity was built and developed through complex social processes and sets of interactions. By comparing and contrasting Jewish communities in the lands of the Crown of Aragon and in Ashkenaz, I hope to propose a new framework for how we can think of medieval Jewish communities in a theoretically nuanced way. 

Bio: Miri is writing her PhD in Medieval history, comparing and contrasting Jewish community life in the Crown of Aragon and Ashkenaz, 1100-1347. She uses social history and social theory to investigate the realities of Jewish communal life and investigate how communities were constituted by the everyday interactions and relationships. Miri holds a BA in history, and an MPhil in philosophy of religion, from the University of Cambridge. She was the Henry Fellow at Yale Graduate School 2011-12, and has spent two years learning in egalitarian yeshivot in New York and Jerusalem. She also edits academic texts in English. Under the supervision of Prof. Elisheva Baumgarten, her thesis is entitled “Everyday Life, Identity, and Communal Relations: A Comparison of Kehilot Shum and Aragon, 1100-1347.”

Publications:

“The Lives of the Dead in Medieval Ashkenaz,” in In, Out and In Between: Jewish Daily Life in medieval Europe, eds. Elisheva Baumgarten and Ido Noy (2021)

“Moving Bodies: Corpses and Communal Space in Medieval Ashkenaz,” Jewish Studies Quarterly (forthcoming, 2021).

“Absent Husbands and Lonely Wives”; Clearing Refuse in Medieval Cologne”; “Instructions to my Sons and Daughters: The Ethical Will of Eleazar, an 'Average Jew'”; “Piety Even in Death: Rabbeinu Bahya Commenting on Ashkenazi Custom”; R. Yom Tov’s Suicide”; “Remembering Pietism in Ashkenaz from Spain”; “The Attack on the Jews of York in 1190 Reported in Christian Sources”; “The Sweetness of Learning Torah”; “Using Your Wife’s Money to Pay Your Bills: Meir of Rothenburg Responsa,” in Jewish Daily Life in Medieval Northern Europe, 1000-1350: A Sourcebook (Medieval Institute, Michigan State University Press, forthcoming 2021)

Book Review, Javier Castaño, Talya Fishman, and Ephraim Kanarfogel, eds. Regional Identities and Cultures of Medieval Jews. Oxford: Liverpool University Press, 2018. 362 pp. Chiddushim, no. 21 (2019) [Hebrew].

“Hasdai Crescas, Grounds for assertions about God and the philosophical use of scripture,” Journal of Scriptural Reasoning 15 (2016).

“A dedicatory letter and its context: Beinecke MS 115,” Yale Law School Library Journal (2012).
 

Rotenstreich Stipend 2018/19