Faculty Member, Religion
Professor of Religion and Jewish Studies
About
I've been teaching at Vassar since 1992, and was the first Director of Jewish Studies. I'm a graduate of Oberlin College, received the PhD at Yale University, and did much of my graduate research at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. I have written on various topics in visual and material culture produced by, for, and about Jews. My first book, "Dreams of Subversion in Medieval Jewish Art and Literature" was published by Penn State Press in 1997. My newest book, under contract with Yale University Press and slated for publication in 2010, is titled "The Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative, and Religious Imagination." I'm also general editor of "Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts," the first comprehensive survey of Jewish illumination in over thirty years, and the first ever to incorporate digital imagery, currently being considered by the trade division of another prominent university press. During the 80s, I was Director of the Hebrew Books and Manuscripts division of Sotheby's Judaica department, and continue to serve as consultant to various libraries, auction houses, museums and private collectors throughout the world, among them the Herbert C. and Eileen Bernard Museum at Temple Emanu-El in New York City, for which I curated the inaugural exhibition.
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