Prof. David Malkiel [Emeritus]

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    Professor David Joshua Malkiel

     

    PERSONAL DETAILS

                Address: 13 Gad St., Apt. 25, Jerusalem 9362212

                Tel.: +972-526094943

                ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3952-3645

                Email: David.Malkiel@biu.ac.il

     

     

    EDUCATION

                B.A.                 1972-1975 - Bar Ilan University - Dep't. of Jewish History

                M.A., Ph.D.     1980-1988 - Harvard University - Dep't. of Near Eastern

                                        Languages and Civilizations

     

                Doctoral dissertation grants and fellowships:

                1985: Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University

                1985: Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation

                1985-1986: Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture

                1987-1988: Lady Davis Fellowship Trust

     

    EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

    1986-1990: Adjunct Lecturer: Judith Lieberman Institute (Jerusalem); Bruria

    College (Jerusalem); Pardes Institute (Jerusalem); Ben Gurion

    University; Bar Ilan University; Touro College (Jerusalem)

                1990-1993: Lecturer: Ben Gurion University

                1993-1994: Writer & Consultant: Centre for Educational Technology, Ramat

                            Aviv

                1993-1997: Judaic Studies editor: Kiryat Sefer, Jewish National & University

                            Library

                1994-1997: Lecturer: Beit Berl College, Kfar Sava

                1995-1996: Harry Starr fellow in Jewish Studies, Center for Jewish Studies,

                            Harvard University

                1997-1999: Assistant Professor: Touro College (Jerusalem)

                1997-2001: Editor: Pe’amim, quarterly publication of the Ben-Zvi Institute

                2000-2010: Senior Lecturer, Department of Jewish History, Bar Ilan

    University

                2007-2008: Visiting Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, Stanford

                            University

                2010-2015: Associate Professor, Department of Jewish History, Bar Ilan

    University

                2015-: Full Professor

     

    AWARDS, HONORS, RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS

                (a) Honors and awards (postdoctoral)

                            1989/90 - Warburg Prize, Hebrew University

     

                (b) Research fellowships (postdoctoral)

                            1989 - Lady Davis Fellowship, Hebrew University

                            1994 - Dinur Institute for Jewish History, Hebrew University

                            1995 - Harry Starr Fellowship, Harvard University

     

    RESEARCH GRANTS

    2009-2012: Israel Science Foundation: “Tombstones of the Jews of Padua”

    2013-2016: Israel Science Foundation: “Ambassadors of Holiness: Shadars in the Social and Intellectual Life of Italian Jewry (1450-1850)”

    2020-2022: Israel Science Foundation: “Hebrew Letters from Renaissance Italy”

     

    SUPERVISION OF DISSERTATIONS

    Natan Slifkin, Rabbinic Encounters with Zoology in the Nineteenth Century (completed 2016).

     

    Hillel Applebaum, Slavery among the Jews of Medieval Ashkenaz (completed 2020).

     

     

    ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS

    Association for Jewish Studies: 2005-2011: member Board of Directors

     

    CONFERENCES ORGANIZED

    1998: “Leone Modena and his World” (Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem)

    2000: “Identity and Memory: Oriental Jewry in the Late Twentieth Century” (Ben-Zvi

                Institute, Jerusalem)

    2001: “Livorno: Intersection of Oriental Jewish Culture” (Ben-Zvi Institute,

                Jerusalem)

    2014: “Travelers and Travel” (Israel Historical Society; Bar-Ilan University)

    2021: “Between Europe and the Land of Israel” (Yad Ben-Zvi)

    2022: “Under Gentile Eyes: Representations of the Jews and Judaism in Medieval and Modern Europe”

     

     

    UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION

    2015-2016       Graduate School Committee

    2015-2018       Appointments Committee

    2020-2022       Appointments Committee, Alternate

     

    Research

    RESEARCH INTERESTS

     

    1) Jewish culture in Europe and the Mediterranean basin in the Middle Ages and early modern era

    2) Jewish culture in Italy in the Middle Ages and early modern era

    3) Palestinian emissaries and their relations with their hosts

     

    Publications

     

    PUBLICATIONS

     

    Books

    A Separate Republic: The Mechanics and Dynamics of Venetian Jewish Self-Government (1607-1624). Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1991.

     

    The Jewish Christian Debate on the Eve of Modernity [Hebrew]. Jerusalem: Ben-Zion Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, 2004.

     

    Reconstructing Ashkenaz: The Human Face of Franco-German Jewry (1000-1250). Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009.

     

    Poems in Marble: Inscriptions from the Jewish Cemeteries of Padua, 1529-1862 [Hebrew]. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 2013.

     

    Stones Speak: Hebrew Tombstones from Padua, 1529-1862. Leiden: Brill, 2014.

     

    Strangers in Yemen: Travel and Cultural Encounter among Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Colonial Era. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021.

     

    Isaac’s Fear: An Early Modern Encyclopedia of Judaism. Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2022.

     

     

    Volumes Edited

    Pe’amim: Hebrew quarterly devoted to the study of Oriental Jewry, published by the Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem. Issues 72-87 (Summer 1997 – Spring 2001).

     

    The Lion Shall Roar: Leon Modena and His World, ed. David Malkiel. Jerusalem: Magnes Press and Ben-Zvi Institute, 2003.

     

     

    Articles

    “The Tenuous Thread: A Venetian Theologian's Apology for Jewish Self-Government,” AJS Review 12/2 (1987), pp. 223-251.

     

    “Technology and Culture Regarding Cremation: A Historical and Phenomenological Analysis,” [Hebrew] Italia 10 (1993) pp. 37-70.

     

    “Infanticide in Passover Iconography,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 56 (1993) pp. 85-99.

     

    “The Inheritance Tale in Immanuel of Rome’s Mahbarot,” Prooftexts 16 (1996) pp. 169-173.

     

    “Jews and Wills in Renaissance Italy: A Case Study in the Jewish Christian Cultural Encounter,” Italia 12 (1996) pp. 7-69.

     

    “New Light on the Life of Isaac Samuel Reggio,” The Jews of Italy: Memory and Identity, ed. Barbara Garvin and Bernard Cooperman. Bethesda 2000. pp. 276-303.

     

    “The Ghetto Republic,” The Jews of Early Modern Venice, ed. Robert C. Davis and Benjamin Ravid, Baltimore and London 2001. pp. 117-142.

     

    “Destruction or Conversion: Intention and Reaction, Crusaders and Jews, in 1096,” Jewish History 15 (2001), pp. 257-280.

     

    “Texts and Themes of Modern Italian Halakhic Literature,” [Hebrew] Pe’amim 86-87 (2001), pp. 258-296.

     

    “Vestiges of Conflict in the Hebrew Crusade Chronicles,” Journal of Jewish Studies 52 (2001), pp. 323-340.

     

    “The Rimini Papers: A Resurrection Controversy in Eighteenth-Century Italy,” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 11 (2002), pp. 89-115.

     

    “The Underclass in the First Crusade: A Historiographical Trend,” Journal of Medieval History 28 (2002), pp. 169-197.

     

    “The Reggios of Gorizia: Modernization in Micro,” The Mediterranean and the Jews: Society, Culture and Economy in Early Modern Times, ed. Elliott Horowitz and Moises Orfali. Ramat-Gan  2002. pp. 67-84.

     

    “Between Wordliness and Traditionalism: Eighteenth-Century Italian Jews Debate Intercessory Prayer,” Jewish Studies Internet Journal 2 (2003), pp. 169-198.

     

    “Jewish-Christian Relations in Europe, 840-1096: A Historiographical Review,” Journal of Medieval History 29 (2003), pp. 55-83.

     

    “The Sambation River and the Ten Lost Tribes in Isaac Lampronti’s Pahad Yizhak,” [Hebrew] Pe‘amim 94-95 (2003), pp. 159-180.

     

    “Leon Modena’s Altercation with his Erstwhile Pupils,” The Lion Shall Roar: Leon Modena and his World, ed. David Malkiel. Jerusalem 2003. pp. 63-84.

     

    “Epitaph Poems from Northern Italy in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century,” [Hebrew] Pe’amim 98-99 (2004), pp. 121-154.

     

    “The Jewish-Christian Debate on the Eve of Modernity: Joshua Segre of Scandiano and his Asham Talui,” Revue des Etudes Juives 164 (2005), pp. 169-198.

     

    “Ebraismo, tradizione e società: Isaaco Lampronti e l’identità ebraica nella Ferrara del XVIII secolo,” Zakhor 7 (2005), pp. 9-42.

     

    “Empiricism in Isaac Lampronti’s Pahad Yizhak,” Materia Giudaica 10 (2005), pp. 341-351.

     

    “The Price of Faith in 1096” [Hebrew], Be’erot Yitzhak: Studies in Memory of Isadore Twersky, ed. Jay Harris, Cambridge Mass. 2005. pp. *31-*59.

     

    “Christian Hebraism in a Contemporary Key: The Search for Hebrew Epitaph Poetry in Seventeenth-Century Italy,” Jewish Quarterly Review 96 (2006), pp. 123-146.

     

    “The Burden of the Past in the Eighteenth Century: Authority and Custom in the Pahad Yizhaq,” Jewish Law Annual 16 (2006), pp. 93-132.

     

    “Manipulating Virginity: Digital Defloration in Midrash and History,” Jewish Studies Quarterly 13 (2006), pp. 105-127.

     

    “Jews and Apostates in Medieval Europe – Boundaries Real and Imagined,” Past and Present 194 (2007), pp. 3-34.

     

    “Nuova luce sulla carriera di Isacco Samuele Reggio,” Cultura ebraica nel Goriziano, ed. Marco Grusovin, Gorizia 2007, pp. 137-159.

     

    “Eros as Medium: Rereading Immanuel of Rome’s Scroll of Desire,” Donne nella storia degli ebrei d’Italia, ed. Cristina Galasso e Michele Luzzati, Firenze 2007, pp. 35-59.

     

    “Three Perspectives on Judah Halevi’s Voyage to Palestine,” Mediterranean Historical Review 25 (2010), pp. 1-15.

     

    “Law and Architecture: The Pollution Crisis in the Italian Ghetto,” European Journal of Jewish Studies 4.2 (2011), pp. 255-84.

     

    “Halakhah and Modernization” (Hebrew), Jewish Communities in the East in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Italy (Hebrew), ed. Roni Weinstein. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 2012. pp. 83-88.

     

    “The Artifact and Humanism in Medieval Jewish Thought” Jewish History 27 (2013), pp. 21-40.

     

    “Renaissance in the Graveyard: The Hebrew Tombstones of Padua and Ashkenazic Acculturation in Sixteenth-Century Italy,” AJS Review 37 (2013), pp. 333-70.

     

    “Modernity in the Graveyard: Jewish Tombstones from Padua (1830-1862),” Jewish Social Studies, n.s. 13 (2013), pp. 73-108.

     

    “The Structures of Hebrew Epitaph Poetry in Padua,”  Death in Jewish Life: Burial and Mourning Customs Among Jews of Europe and Nearby Communities, ed. Stefan C. Reif, Andreas Lehnardt, and Avriel Bar-Levav. Berlin: De Gruyter 2014, pp. 225-240.

     

    “The Rabbi and the Crocodile: Interrogating Nature in the Late Quattrocento,” Speculum 91 (2016), pp. 115-48.

     

    "The Shadar-Host Economy in Early Modern Italy: New Perspectives on the Travels of Emissaries from the Holy Land," Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 15 (2016), 402-18.

     

    "The Bird and the Crocodile: Scholastic and Empirical Knowledge in the Travel Experience of the Renaissance" [Hebrew], Zemanim 133-134 (2016), 48-56.

     

    "Palazzo Tè between Science and Imagination," Journal of Early Modern History 20 (2016), 429-61.

     

    "Gentile Wine and Italian Exceptionalism," Journal of Jewish Studies 68 (2017), 346-68.

     

    “Maharal and Italy – a Transnational Approach,” Rassegna Mensile di Israel 84 (2018), 15-45.

     

    “Realism and the Rise of Kabbalah in the Sixteenth Century,” Caminos de leche y miel: Jubilee Volume in Honor of Michael Studemund-Halévy, ed. Harm den Boer, Anna Menny and Carsten L. Wilke. Barcelona: Tirocinio 2018. pp. 313-27.

     

    “Imagination and History Converge: the Danites in the Middle Ages,” Jewish History 36 (2022), 125-38.

     

    “The Danish Expedition to Yemen and the Jews of Yemen” [Hebrew], Pe’amim 167-168 (2022), 141-59.

     

    “Jews and Christians in Renaissance Italy: a Dialectical Approach,” Zakhor [forthcoming].

     

     

    Review Essays:

    “From Japhet to Shem and Back to Japhet: An English Translation of Azariah de' Rossi's The Light of the Eyes” [Hebrew], Pe‘amim 104 (2005), pp. 135-144.

     

    “Vision and Realization,” Jewish Quarterly Review 95 (2005), pp. 131-141.

     

    “Rapture and Rupture: Kabbalah and the Reformation of Early Modern Judaism,” Jewish Quarterly Review 103 (2013), pp. 107-121.

     

     

    Book Reviews:

    “M. Beit-Arié, Hebrew Manuscripts of East and West” (Hebrew), Kiryat Sefer 64 (1994), pp. 769-770.

     

    “B.D. Walfish, Esther in Medieval Garb”(Hebrew), Kiryat Sefer 64 (1995), pp. 1143-1144.

     

     “A. Gross, Rabbi Joseph ben Abraham Hayyun” (Hebrew), Kiryat Sefer 64 (1995), pp. 1193-1194.

     

     “J. Wertheimer, ed. The Uses of Tradition” (Hebrew), Kiryat Sefer 65 (1995), pp. 13-14.

     

     “Y. Bocsenboim, Letters of Jews in Italy” (Hebrew), Pe’amim 64 (1995) pp. 149-153.

     

     “A. Toaff, Love, Work and Death,” Journal of Jewish Studies 48 (1997) 169-170.

     

     “S.A. Goldberg, Crossing the Jabbok,” Journal of Jewish Studies 49 (1998) pp. 175-176.

     

    “B. Arbel, Trading Nations: Jews and Venetians in the Early Modern Eastern Mediterranean,” Jewish Quarterly Review 88 (1998), pp. 328-331.

     

    “T. Fishman, Shaking the Pillars of Exile,” Journal of Jewish Studies 49 (1998), pp. 383-385.

     

     “R. Chazan, God, Humanity, and History: The Hebrew First Crusade Narratives,” AJS Review 27 (2003), pp. 124-126.

     

     “T. Madden, Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice,” American Historical Review  109 (2004), pp. 1294-1295.

     

     “O. Limor and Y. Hen, The Beginnings of Europe: Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages” (Hebrew), Zemanim 90 (2005), pp. 110-113.

     

    “A. Mortari and C. Bonora Previdi, Il ‘giardino’ degli ebrei,” Materia Giudaica 13 (2008), pp. 417-418.

     

    “R. Chazan, Reassessing Jewish Life in Medieval Europe,” American Historical Review 116 (2011), p. 1556.

     

    "Monuments of an Exotic Community,” Ars Judaica 9 (2013), pp. 118-119.

     

    “E. Kanarfogel, The Intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz,” Speculum 88 (2013), pp. 1115-1116.

     

    "M. Lehmann, Emissaries from the Holy Land," AJS Review 39 (2015), 454-56.

     

    "A. Morpurgo, Il cimitero ebraico in Italia" (Hebrew), Pe'amim 149 (2017), 175-76.

     

    “D. Shyovitz, A Remembrance of His Wonders,” AJS Review 42 (2018), 465-67.

     

     

    VIDEO PRESENTATIONS

    “The Debate over Kabbalah in 19th-Century Italy” [Hebrew], 18.11.2020:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM1qwgF0yno&list=PLad6UXI9FHGMET6RnwvFvnISCcEPzNFda

     

    “Colloquium on R. Isaac Lampronti’s Pahad Yitzhak, in anticipation of the publication of Isaac’s Fear, by David Malkiel,” 22.12.2020:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohd9Mc2P3fc

    https://www.academia.edu/video/1M35Jk

     

    “Strangers and Locals Discover Each Other in 19th-Century Yemen,” Bible Lands Museum, 3.3..2020:

    https://www.academia.edu/video/lg798l

     

    “Book Launch: Serena di Nepi, Surviving the Ghetto,” 19.4.2021:

    https://www.academia.edu/video/jow0Vj

     

    “Realism and the Rise of Kabbalah in the Sixteenth Century” [Hebrew], 9.11.2021;

    https://www.academia.edu/video/kVrqvk

     

     

    Last Updated Date : 26/11/2023