Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

Maham is a PhD candidate and fellow at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. She is writing her dissertation on the legal history of Israel from 1992 to 2013. Her research stems from her interests in comparative citizenship, boundaries of membership in nation-states, and courts as political institutions. In Spring 2021, she taught “Defining Status in the Modern State,” an original interdisciplinary course on citizenship, nationalism, indigeneity, and migration. She received her BA in International Studies from the University of Chicago, where she wrote her thesis on citizenship law in Bangladesh. She has previously worked at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights and at the American Bar Foundation.

Daniel Berman is a doctoral student in Bible and Ancient Near East. His research interests include ancient Near Eastern religions and the development of biblical texts, especially the Pentateuch and Deuteronomistic History. Dan first became interested in biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies as an undergraduate at Cornell University. Upon earning his bachelors degree, he spent six months as a visiting graduate student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, after which he enrolled in the master's program in Bible and Ancient Near East at Brandeis. Dan is delighted to continue his studies in Brandeis' PhD program. A passionate foodie, Dan cooks for his friends and roommates as often as he can, and in the winter, he enjoys taking ski trips with his family.

Deborah Feingold is a PhD candidate in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. Her dissertation explores representations of aging in modern Hebrew literature primarily through the lens of feminist, gender, and sexuality theories. Her research focuses on the embodied aspects of aging including topics such as sexuality and disability, and she is particularly interested in the queering of the aging body at the intersection of family, community, and nation.  As the aging cohort lives longer, the discourse around aging is often focused around “successful” aging. Conversely, Deborah is interested in the uncanny, the hybrid, and the liminal aspects of the experience of aging. Deborah received a master’s degree in Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies from Brandeis in 2018.

Justin Huguenin is a doctoral student in Bible and Ancient Near East. His research interests focus on Canaanite and Mesopotamian mythology, particularly those dealing with netherworld cult and ritual. He also enjoys studying early biblical literature and seeks to understand its place within the larger Near Eastern milieu. Before enrolling in Brandeis' PhD program, he earned a BA in History at the Ohio State University and an MA in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies here at Brandeis.

Anthony Lipscomb is a PhD student in Bible and Ancient Near East. His research interests include the formation of the Hebrew Bible, Ezekiel, the reception of biblical traditions in the Second Temple period, emotions in the Bible, and history of emotions. Prior to Brandeis, he completed an MA in Biblical Studies at Regent University and a ThM in Hebrew Bible at Trinity International University. He is happily married and a proud father of two awesome kiddos.

Stephen Naron is a PhD student in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. His research focus is Holocaust studies, with an emphasis on the impact of wartime and postwar testimony on Holocaust historiography and memory. He is particularly interested in the evolution/genealogy of audiovisual testimony, and grassroots archival activism. Stephen has worked as an archivist/librarian since 2003, when he received his MSIS from the University of Texas, Austin. He pursued a Magister in Jewish studies at the Freie Universitaet Berlin and history at the Zentrum fuer Antisemitismusforschung, TU. He has a BA in History from the University of Kansas. Stephen is currently the director of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, where he is responsible for encouraging use of the collection through the access site program, the Archive’s fellowship program, and presenting at conferences, symposiums and university classes.

Lenny Prado is a PhD student focusing on Bible and Ancient Near East. He is married and has three beautiful children. His primary research interests include such topics as the composition and compilation of the Torah; development of Israelite Religion (e.g., representation of deities, portrayals of human/divine interaction, cultic ritual practices); scribes and scribal culture in the ancient Near East; and Oral Tradition and Memory. When he is not spending time with his family or hitting the books, you can find him rooting for New York sports teams, especially the Yankees and the Knicks.

Seth Winberg's research explores the immigrant experience and the writing of American Jewish legal (halakhic) texts. He earned an MA in Medieval Jewish History from Yeshiva University and a BA from York University. He currently serves as Executive Director of Brandeis Hillel and as the University's Senior Chaplain. 

I study the Jews and Judaism of the Islamic world with a focus on the Middle Ages. My interests include Hebrew and Arabic poetry, biblical exegesis, Talmudic commentary, and medieval texts of Jewish law and philosophy. I did my second-year paper on Maimonides’s approach to gambling in Jewish law, where I try shed some light on how his position as a Jewish community leader within a Muslim society may have influenced his interpretation of the Talmud and his legal rulings.