REBECCA LESSES. Associate Professor, Jewish Studies EDUCATION

Transcription

1 REBECCA LESSES Associate Professor, Jewish Studies Ithaca College 902 North Cayuga St. Ithaca, NY Ithaca, NY (607) (607) EDUCATION Ph.D. Harvard University Study of Religion 1995 Visiting Research Fellow Hebrew University of Jerusalem A.M Harvard University Study of Religion 1991 Visiting Research Student Hebrew University of Jerusalem A.B., summa cum laude Harvard University Study of Religion 1985 FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, and HONORS Ruhr Universität-Bochum, Käte Hamburger Kolleg, Research Fellow, Summer Faculty Research Grant, Ithaca College, 2008 and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Raymond and Janine Ballag Fund Fellowship, Society of Fellows in the Humanities, Columbia University, Mellon Fellowship, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard, Dissertation Fellowship, Fulbright-Hays Training Grant (Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad), Summa Cum Laude for Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Gnostic Exegesis of the Garden of Eden Story, Phi Beta Kappa, l985. CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECT Book Project: Angels Tongues and Witches Curses: Jewish Women and Ritual Power in Late Antiquity. Advance contract from SUNY Press. BOOK PUBLICATIONS Ritual Practices to Gain Power: Angels, Incantations, and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism. Harvard Theological Studies 44. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International,

2 ARTICLES Submitted for peer review (January, 2018) The Dangers of the Body in Early Jewish Mysticism, for Body Trouble: Religious Boundaries for Sex, Gender, and Corporeality, edited by Alexandra Cuffel, Ana Echevarria, and Georgios Halkias (Routledge). Published Supernatural Beings, in The Jewish Annotated New Testament (eds., Marc Brettler and Amy- Jill Levine). 2 nd edition; New York, Oxford, Women, Ritual Power, and Mysticism in the Testament of Job, Societas Magica Newsletter 32 (Spring 2015): 1-6 (invited article). Amulets to Protect Mother and Child Against Demons, in Journal of the Jewish Museum of Berlin 13 (2015): (invited article). The Most Worthy of Women is a Mistress of Magic : Women as Witches and Ritual Practitioners in 1 Enoch and Rabbinic Sources, pp in Kimberley B. Stratton and Dayna Kalleres, eds., Daughters of Hecate: Women and Magic in the Ancient World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014). Women and Gender in the Hekhalot Literature, pp in Hekhalot Literature in Context (eds., Ra'anan Boustan, Martha Himmelfarb and Peter Schäfer). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, Image and Word: Performative Ritual and Material Culture in the Aramaic Incantation Bowls, pp in Practicing Gnosis: Ritual, Magic, Theurgy and Liturgy in Nag Hammadi, Manichaean and Other Ancient Literatures, in honor of Birger Pearson (eds., April DeConick, Gregory Shaw, and John D Turner). Leiden/Boston: Brill, Divine Beings, pp in The Jewish Annotated New Testament (eds., Marc Brettler and Amy-Jill Levine). New York: Oxford, They Revealed Secrets to Their Wives : The Transmission of Magical Knowledge in 1 Enoch, pp in With Letters of Light: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Early Jewish Apocalypticism, Magic, and Mysticism, in honor of Rachel Elior (eds., Daphna Arbel and Andrei Orlov). Berlin: de Gruyter, He Shall Not Look at a Woman : Gender in the Hekhalot Literature, pp , in Mapping Gender in Ancient Religious Discourse (eds., Caroline Vander Stichele and Todd Penner). Leiden: Brill, Amulets and Angels: Visionary experience in the Testament of Job and the Hekhalot literature, pp in Heavenly Tablets: Rewriting Tradition in Ancient Judaism (eds., Lynn LiDonnici and Andrea Lieber). Leiden: Brill,

3 Eschatological Sorrow, Divine Weeping and God s Right Arm, pp in Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism (ed. April DeConick). Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, Exe(o)rcising Power: Women as Sorceresses, Exorcists, and Demonesses in Late Antique Judaism. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 69 (June 2001), Jewish Magic and Multiculturalism in the Ancient World. Association for Jewish Studies Perspectives, Fall Speaking with Angels: Jewish and Greco-Egyptian Revelatory Adjurations. Harvard Theological Review 89 (1996) The Adjuration of the Sar ha-panim: Performative Utterance in a Jewish Ritual, pp in Ancient Magic and Ritual Power (eds., Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki), Leiden: Brill, Commentary on The Testament of Job, pp in Searching the Scriptures: A Feminist- Ecumenical Commentary (ed., Elisabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza), New York: Crossroad/ Continuum, ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES Lilith. In The Encyclopedia of Religion. Thomson/Gale, Lilith. In Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. Jerusalem: Shalvi, Now also available at the Jewish Women's Archive: Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. < (accessed November 30, 2010). Amulets. In The Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions. New York: Macmillan, ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT Associate Professor, Jewish Studies, Ithaca College, 2010-present; Assistant Professor, ; Interim Coordinator of Jewish Studies, and Spring 2006, Coordinator of Jewish Studies, Fall 2007-present. Courses taught: Hebrew Scriptures; Gender and Sexuality in Judaism; Jews in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds; Jews in the Modern World; Jews in the Contemporary World; Judaism; Jewish Mysticism; Jewish Folk Religion: Magic and Ritual Power, Biblical Interpretation in Judaism and Christianity; Contemporary Jewish Identities: Gender, Race, and Power: Ithaca Seminar: Jerusalem, City of Faith, City of Strife. College service: member of Jewish Studies Steering Committee (2001 to present); Humanities and Sciences Curriculum Committee (fall 2007-fall 2010); Medieval and Renaissance Studies Steering Committee; Ithaca College Hillel Board of Trustees (2001 to present); Humanities and Sciences Faculty Senate ( ); Diversity Awareness -3-

4 Committee ( ); General Education Committee (2014); and Faculty Council (Spring 2013; Fall 2016 to present). 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, 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, Course taught: Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West. Visiting Assistant Professor, Cornell University, Near Eastern Studies Department, 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 Course taught: Judaism in the Modern World: Gender Issues in Judaism. Lecturer, Boston University, Religious Studies Department, Spring Course taught: Themes in Classical Jewish Thought. Teaching Fellow and Tutor, Harvard University, Committee on the Study of Religion, Courses taught: World Religions: Diversity and Dialogue, Scriptures and Classics; The History of Jewish Women in Late Antiquity. Teaching Fellow, Harvard Divinity School, Fall Course taught: Jewish Feminism in Theological Perspective. PROFESSIONAL SERVICE Member, editorial board of the series Jewish Engagements, published by Arc Humanities Press, affiliated with Medieval Institute Publications at Western Michigan University, 2017-present; reviewing books proposed for publication by the press. Reviewer for publication, Oxford University Press, summer 2017, Arguing with Aseneth: Gentile Access to Israel s Living God in Jewish Antiquity, by Jill Hicks-Keeton. -4-

5 PRESENTATIONS Esterah and Lilith: Women and Mystical Ascent, presented at a joint panel sponsored by three sections of the Society of Biblical Literature, Mysticism, Esotericism, and Gnosticism in Antiquity; Second Corinthians: Pauline Theology in the Making; and John's Apocalypse and Cultural Contexts Ancient and Modern, at the Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, November 18-21, Did the authors of Joseph and Aseneth and the Gospel of Philip meet in Antioch? The heavenly bridal chamber between Jews and Christians, presented at the Mysticism, Esotericism, and Gnosticism in Late Antiquity section of the Society of Biblical Literature at the Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, November 19-22, As part of my participation in the Käte Hamburger Kolleg at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in the academic year: A. Workshop June 18-19, 2015: Women and Gender in Ancient Mediterranean Religions Paper presentation: Aseneth and the Gospel of Philip: Jewish mystics and Valentinian Christians in Antioch. B. Workshop July 21-22, 2015: Traditions of Magic : Rituals of Power in Contact from Antiquity to the Middle Ages (organizer) Paper presentation: The Interweaving of Traditions of Ritual Power in the Aramaic Incantation Bowls. Esotericism and Mysticism in Joseph and Aseneth, at the Fifth Conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, held in Riga, Latvia, April 16-18, American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting in San Diego, California, November 22-25, I presented two papers: A. "Ritual Esotericism in Joseph and Aseneth," presented at a session on Imaginative Narratives, Practice, and Esotericism, cosponsored by the Mysticism, Esotericism, and Gnosticism in Antiquity section of the SBL and the Western Esotericism Group of the AAR. B. Review of James Davila, "Hekhalot Literature in Translation," at a session on Early Judaism of the Mysticism, Esotericism, and Gnosticism in Antiquity section of the SBL. The Dangers of the Body in Early Jewish Mysticism, at the conference, Body Trouble: Religious Boundaries for Sex, Gender, and Corporeality, sponsored by the Käte Hamburger Kolleg of Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany, held on March 10-14, 2014, at Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Spain. -5-

6 Participation in book review session of the Esotericism and Mysticism in Antiquity section of the Society of Biblical Literature in November 2013, reviewing Holy Misogyny: Why The Sex And Gender Conflicts In The Early Church Still Matter, by April DeConick, and Forming Femininity in Antiquity: Eve, Gender, and Ideologies in the Greek Life of Adam and Eve, by Daphna Arbel. Participation in Book Review panel of the Esotericism and Mysticism in Antiquity section of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Chicago, November 17, 2012 Response to papers by James Davila, Istvan Czachesz, and Frances Flannery at the panel, Praxis and Experience in Ancient Jewish and Christian Mysticism, organized by the Esotericism and Mysticism section, at the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, November, 2011, San Francisco, California. Moderator for final discussion at the conference, The Origins of Islam: Narratives of History and the Historiography of Narratives, organized by David S. Powers (Cornell) and Susannah Heschel (Dartmouth), August 8-9, 2011, at Dartmouth College. Gender and women in the Hekhalot Literature. Invited paper, presented at the conference Hekhalot Literature in Context: From Byzantium to Babylonia, held at Princeton University, November 14-16, 2010, sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Female Jewish mystics in late antiquity: real women or literary construction? Presented at the International Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, July, 2010, Tartu, Estonia, as part of a panel organized by the Pseudepigrapha Section. Were Jewish women involved in early Jewish mysticism? Presented at the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, November 2009, New Orleans, as part of a panel organized by the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Section. She Spoke in the Language of the Cherubim : Women and Revelatory Experience. Presented at a joint session of the Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Early Christianity, and the Pseudepigrapha Sections of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting in Boston, November, They Revealed Secrets to their Wives : The Transmission of Magical Knowledge in 1 Enoch. Presentation to Medieval-Renaissance Colloquium, Ithaca College, November 27, They Revealed Secrets to Their Wives : The Transmission of Magical Knowledge in 1 Enoch. Wisdom and Apocalypticism in Early Judaism and Early Christianity Section, Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, November, Panel discussion of the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Section which discussed the work of the Section s last ten years and celebrated the publication of the first book of proceedings produced by members of the Section, Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism, Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, November,

7 Review of Andrei A. Orlov, The Enoch-Metatron Tradition, in a book review panel organized by the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Section. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, November, How to Expel Demons with Pictures: Performance Theory and the Aramaic Incantation Bowls. Association of Jewish Studies Annual Meeting, December, He Shall Not Look at a Woman : Gender in the Hekhalot Literature. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, November, Divine Weeping and God s Right Arm: A vision of eschatological sorrow in Sefer Hekhalot. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, November, Demons, Characters, and Angelic Alphabets: Pictorial Depictions in Jewish Amulets and Texts of Ritual Power. Association of Jewish Studies Annual Meeting, December Amulets and Angels: Visionary experience in the Testament of Job and the Hekhalot literature, Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, November Women and Gender Issues in the Contemporary American Jewish Community, Bucknell University, April, Lilith and Other Demons, Berman Center for Jewish Studies, Lehigh University, April Women in Early Jewish Magic, Faculty Colloquium, Bucknell University, March Ascetic Piety and Angelic Revelation in Jewish Incantations of Late Antiquity, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Boston, November Sorcery in 1 Enoch, Orion Center for Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, May, Metatron as Messiah in the Hekhalot Literature, Seminar on Messianism, Hartman Institute, Jerusalem, April, 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, Magic and Mysticism in Early Judaism, given at Symposium on Mysticism, Cross-cultural Perspectives, Tulane University, New Orleans, March 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,

8 Adjurations in the Hekhalot Literature: The Role of the Senses in Ritual Performance, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, November Dream-Revelation Adjurations in the Hekhalot Literature, International Conference on Magic and Magic in Judaism, Jerusalem-Tel Aviv, October 29-November 2, Speaking with Angels: Jewish and Greco-Egyptian Revelatory Adjurations, Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Chicago, November Heavenly Descents: A Speech-Act Analysis of Adjurations from the Heikhalot Literature, Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference, Boston, December 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 Hekhalot Literature and the Babylonian Magical Bowls, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, New Orleans, November Association for Jewish Studies Society of Biblical Literature American Academy of Religion American Association of University Professors PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS LANGUAGES Hebrew (classical and modern), Aramaic, classical Greek, German, French. Available on request. REFERENCES -8-