Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

Reuven Kimelman

Professor of Classical Rabbinic Literature

Degrees

• Yale University, PhD

• Yale University, MPhil

• Jewish Theological Seminary, MHL

• Jewish Theological Seminary, BHL

• Columbia University, BS

• Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi

Profile

Reuven Kimelman is Professor of Classical Rabbinic Literature at Brandeis University. His work specializes in the history of Judaism with a focus on the history and meaning of the Jewish liturgy. Professor Kimelman teaches courses and directs doctoral work in Talmud, Midrash, Liturgy, Ethics, and the Jewish Political tradition. He co-directs the program with Bernadette Brooten in Judaism and Christianity in Late Antiquity. His most recent courses taught include The Western Canon, Midrashic Literature: Sifre Deuteronomy, and Understanding Evil and Human Destiny.

Selected Publications

He has written on the interaction between Judaism and Christianity in antiquity and modernity. His books include "The Rhetoric of Jewish Prayer: A Literary and Historical Commentary on the Prayerbook" and the Hebrew work "The Mystical Meaning of Lekhah Dodi and the Welcoming of the Sabbath."