Eitan Fishbane

Professor of Jewish Thought

Department: Jewish Thought

Phone: (212) 678-8864

Email: eifishbane@jtsa.edu

Building Room: Unterberg 603

Office Hours: By Appointment

BIOGRAPHY

BA, summa cum laude, and PhD, Brandeis University

Dr. Eitan P. Fishbane is professor of Jewish Thought at 91快播, where he teaches courses in the literature and history of Jewish mysticism, from medieval Kabbalah to modern Hasidism. The author or editor of six books, the latest of which was published in 2018 by Oxford University Press, Dr. Fishbane has devoted his research and writing primarily to the development of Kabbalah in medieval Spain. At present his scholarship is devoted to three main topics: The Zohar as mystical poetry; The Sabbath and sacred time in hasidic mysticism; and ideas of the self and identity in the Kabbalah.

Dr. Fishbane has been a member of the Seminary faculty since 2006, participating in governance through his service on the Faculty Executive Committee, the Rabbinical School Council, the faculty committees of the Gershon Kekst Graduate School and the Department of Community Engagement, and as advisor for BA and MA concentrators in Jewish Thought. Actively involved in the mentoring of PhD, DHL, rabbinical, and undergraduate students, Dr. Fishbane seeks to integrate advanced scholarship and the cultivation of contemporary spiritual meaning. From 2017-2020, he served as Division Chair for Jewish Mysticism at The Association for Jewish Studies. Before coming to 91快播, he served on the faculties of Hebrew Union College鈥揓ewish Institute of Religion and in the Department of Religion at Carleton College.

Dr. Fishbane is a regular scholar-in-residence and guest speaker at congregations across North America. The recipient of many honors and awards, he holds a BA,summa cum laude, and a PhD from Brandeis University.

SELECTED FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS, AND HONORS

  • Charles A. Ryskamp Fellowship (American Council of Learned Societies) 
  • Chancellor鈥檚 Fellow (2015-2016) 
  • Lucius N. Littauer Foundation Grant for publication of first book (2008) 
  • National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Stipend (2004) 
  • Nahum and Anne Glatzer Endowed Prize for Outstanding Achievement by a Graduate Student (dissertation prize) in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University (2003)
  • Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture Fellowship Award (2002鈥2003) 

PUBLICATIONS

Academic Books:

  • (Oxford University Press, 2018).
  • (Stanford University Press, 2009).

Academic Books in Progress:

  • Shabbat and Sacred Time in Hasidic Mysticism
  • The Zohar as Mystical Poetry
  • Construction of the Self in Sixteenth Century Kabbalah

Other Books:

  • (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2012).
  • (Syracuse University Press, Library of Modern Jewish Literature, 2011). Selected as one of 鈥淭he Best Jewish Books of 2011鈥 by D. G. Myers for Jewish Ideas Daily.
  • Ed., (Brandeis University Press, 2011), co-editor.
  • Ed., (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2010), co-editor.
  • Nostalgia: Poems (currently under review by a major university publisher of contemporary poetry)

Academic Articles:

  • 鈥淜abbalah as Literature,鈥 in Ken Seigneurie, Christopher Lupke, Frieda Ekotto, B. Venkat Mani, Ilaria Ramelli, and Susan Noakes, eds., The Wiley Blackwell Companion to World Literature (2018).
  • 鈥淟ight and Darkness in Medieval and Modern Judaism鈥 (with Gerold Necker) in The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception 13 (Berlin/Boston:  Walter de Gruyter, 2018).
  • 鈥淢ystical Consciousness and Homiletical Method in Sefer Degel Ma岣aneh Efrayim: Critical Hermeneutics, Theology, and Neo-岣sidic Pedagogy鈥 forthcoming in Elie Holzer, ed., Ways of Learning, Ways of Becoming: Neo-Hasidic Teaching of the Hasidic Homily (Academic Studies Press).
  • 鈥淢ystical Friendship in the Zohar,鈥 forthcoming in Lawrence Fine, ed., Friendship in Jewish Culture (The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2018).
  • 鈥淭he Sabbath in Later Hasidic Thought鈥 in Alan Mittleman, ed., Holiness in Jewish Thought (Oxford University Press, 2018). 
  • 鈥淭he Shape of Genre:  Between Narrative and Exegesis in the Zohar鈥 in Yehuda Liebes, Melila Hellner-Eshed, and Yonatan Benarroch, eds., Ha-Sippur ha-Zohari (Jerusalem: Makhon Ben Tzvi, 2017). In Hebrew.
  • 鈥淚saac ben Samuel of Acre鈥 in The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception 13 (Berlin/Boston:  Walter de Gruyter, 2016).
  • 鈥淧erceptions of Greatness: Constructions of the Holy Man in Shiv岣ei ha-Ari,鈥 Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 27 (2012): 195-221.
  • 鈥淭he Zohar: Masterpiece of Jewish Mysticism鈥 in Frederick Greenspahn, ed., Jewish Mysticism: New Insights and Scholarship (New York:  New York University Press, 2011), pp. 49-67.
  • 鈥淩epresentation and the Boundaries of Realism:  Reading the Fantastic in Zoharic Fiction,鈥 Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 23 (2010): 105-119.
  • 鈥淭he Scent of the Rose: Drama, Fiction, and Narrative Form in the Zohar,鈥 Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History 29 (2009): 324-361.
  • 鈥淎 Chariot for the Shekhinah:  Identity and the Ideal Life in Sixteenth Century Kabbalah,鈥 Journal of Religious Ethics 37:3 (2009):  385-418.
  • 鈥淭he Speech of Being, the Voice of God:  Phonetic Mysticism in the Kabbalah of Asher ben David and his Contemporaries,鈥 The Jewish Quarterly Review 98:4 (2008):  485-521.
  • 鈥淛ewish Mystical Hermeneutics: On the Work of Moshe Idel,鈥 Journal of Religion 85:1 (January 2005):  94-103. 
  • 鈥淎uthority, Tradition, and the Creation of Meaning in Medieval Kabbalah:  Isaac of Acre鈥檚 Illumination of the Eyes,鈥 Journal of the American Academy of Religion 72:1 (2004): 59-95.   
  • 鈥淭ears of Disclosure:  The Role of Weeping in Zoharic Narrative,鈥 Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 11:1 (2002):  25-47.
  • 鈥淢ystical Contemplation and the Limits of the Mind:  The Case of Sheqel ha- Qodesh,鈥 Jewish Quarterly Review 93:2 (2002):  1-27.

Academic Articles in Preparation:

  • 鈥淓motion, Ethics, and Mystical Piety in Sefer Reishit 岣okhmah, and Sefer Shenei Luhot ha-Berit鈥 forthcoming in Fine, Hecker, and Kara-Ivanov Kaniel, eds., Emotions and Emotional Life in Jewish Mysticism.
  • 鈥淩eincarnation and Personal Identity in R. Hayyim Vital鈥檚 Sha鈥榓r ha-Gilgulim鈥 forthcoming in Gondos, Sachs-Shmueli, and Schnytzer eds., Reincarnation in Jewish Mysticism: From the Middle Ages to the Modern Period.
  • 鈥淭he Zohar: An Annotated Bibliography鈥 forthcoming in Oxford Bibliographies Online.
  • 鈥淭oward Virtue Ethics in Kabbalah and Hasidism鈥 forthcoming in Mittleman, Claussen, and Green, eds., Jewish Virtue Ethics (SUNY Press)

Other Essays and Reviews:

  • 鈥淭he Book of Radiance,鈥 The Jewish Review of Books, Fall 2018 Issue (a commissioned review essay on the 12 volume project, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition). 4500 words.
  • 鈥淗appy Is the People Who Knows the Blast,鈥 The Jewish Review of Books, Fall 2019, commissioned translation, introduction, and commentary on a classic hasidic homiletical text.
  • Review of Peter Cole, The Poetry of Kabbalah, Forward, April 17, 2012.
  • 鈥淕od as the Breath of Life鈥 in Elliot Cosgrove, ed., Jewish Theology in Our Time:  A New Generation Explores the Foundations and Future of Jewish Belief (Woodstock, VT:  Jewish Lights Publishing, 2010), pp. 11-16.
  • 鈥淥pening to the Mystery,鈥 Sh’ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility, October 2009.
  • Review of Joel Hecker, Mystical Bodies, Mystical Meals: Eating and Embodiment in Medieval Kabbalah, AJS Review 31 (2007): 388-391.
  • 鈥淲isdom, Balance, Healing:  Reflections on Mind and Body in an Early Hasidic Text鈥 in William Cutter, ed., Healing and the Jewish Imagination (Woodstock, VT:  Jewish Lights Publishing, 2007), pp. 63-74.
  • 鈥淔rom the Hidden to the Revealed: Kabbalah as a Spiritual Resource in Our Day,鈥 CCAR Journal (Fall 2007): 86-98.
  • Review of McAuliffe, Walfish, and Goering, eds., With Reverence for the Word:  Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), Jewish Quarterly Review 96 (2006):  268-271.
  • “.” The Huffington Post, December 8, 2011.
  • “.” 91快播 Torah Commentary, March 20, 2009.
  • “.” 91快播 Torah Commentary, February 6, 2010.
  • “Terumah鈥擳he Gift That Elevates.” 91快播 Torah Commentary, January 29, 2014.
  • “Written on the Heart.” Torah from 91快播, February 27, 2015.                               

ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS

Dr. Fishbane has delivered presentations on his research in many prestigious venues, including: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; The Schocken Institute for Jewish Research, Jerusalem; Harvard University; Yale University; Princeton University; 91快播; Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA); Florida Atlantic University; Colby College; Carleton College; Vanderbilt University; as well as at many gatherings of The Association for Jewish Studies.

Public Lectures

Dr. Fishbane also speaks frequently at a wide range of synagogues across North America. His many lecture topics include:

  • “What is Jewish Mysticism? Understanding the Kabbalah”
  • “Shabbat as Spiritual Transformation in Jewish Mysticism”
  • “Entering the Word, Opening the Heart: The Mystical Experience of Prayer”
  • “The Layers of Torah: A Path to God in Jewish Mysticism”
  • “The Virtue of Humility and the Pursuit of Wisdom: Mysticism and Ethics in Judaism”
  • “Mystical Theology: Ideas of God in the Kabbalah”
  • “罢丑别听Zohar: Reading the Masterpiece of Jewish Mysticism”

Selected Videos

Learn with Dr. Fishbane at 91快播 Torah Online