Scholar in Residence

Marjorie Lehman is associate professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at The Jewish Theological Seminary.

Dr. Lehman's scholarly interests are focused on the En Yaaqov, an early sixteenth-century collection of Talmudic Aggadah. She has just published a book, The En Yaaqov: Jacob ibn Habib's Search for Faith in the Talmudic Corpus and enjoys teaching aggadic material drawn from the Talmudim.

Dr. Lehman has also done research on the study of women and festival observance in the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmudim. She is approaching the rabbinic material from the perspective of gender and ritual theory. A preliminary article appeared in Studies in Jewish Civilization 14: Women and Judaism (Creighton University Press, 2003) and is titled "Women and Passover Observance: Reconsidering Gender in the Study of Rabbinic Texts." A second article, "The Gendered Rhetoric of the Sukkah," appeared in Jewish Quarterly Review (Summer 2006). An examination of the use of gender theory as a pedagogical tool in the classroom, titled "Rediscovering ‘Women' in the Talmudic Corpus: The Impact of Gender Studies on the Teaching of Talmudic Literature," appeared in the Journal of Jewish Education (2006). In addition, an expanded look at the sukkah through the lens of gender and space, titled "Reimagining Home, Rethinking Sukkah: Rabbinic Discourse and its Contemporary Implications," will appear in Jews at Home: The Domestication of Identity, ed. Simon J. Bronner (Oxford: Littman, 2009).

In 2006, Dr. Lehman was invited by Professor Tal Ilan of the Freie Universität in Berlin to participate in the scholarly production of a feminist commentary to the Talmud. She will be working on Tractate Yoma. Her book will explore the different visions of Yom Kippur evident in Talmudic literature, the rabbinic attitude toward the priesthood and the Yom Kippur avodah, the development of a rabbinic form of asceticism, rabbinic attitudes toward sexuality, as well as the impact of other religious traditions on the development of Yom Kippur. Her work on the commentary is part of a groundbreaking endeavor because it is the first time that scholars in the field of Talmudic literature have gathered together to apply an array of feminist approaches to the texts of the Talmud. It is also the first time since WWII that significant scholarship in the field of Talmud is being spearheaded and funded by a German academic institution.

A dynamic, stimulating, and passionate teacher, Dr. Lehman is also known at JTS for being continuously self-reflective about her pedagogy. Her article "For the Love of Talmud: Reflections on the Study of Bava Metzia, Perek 2" appeared in the Journal of Jewish Education (2002). She has also published in the area of Talmud and Jewish education. Her article "Reenacting Ancient Pedagogy in the Classroom" was published in the March 2008 issue of Spotlight on Theological Education. Most recently, she coauthored an article titled, "Making a Case for Rabbinic Pedagogy," in The International Handbook of Jewish Education, eds. Lisa Grant and Alex Pomson (New York: Springer, forthcoming). She has also collaborated with members of JTS's Jewish-education faculty, including a project with Dr. Jeffrey Kress, assistant professor of Jewish Education, on cognitive developmental theories as a lens for analyzing Talmudic sugyot in order to enhance scholarly understanding of the role of dialogue in the sugyot of the Babylonian Talmud. Their first article on this subject, titled "The Babylonian Talmud in Cognitive Perspective: Reflections on the Nature of the Bavli and its Pedagogical Implications," appeared in the Journal of Jewish Education (2003).

She has lectured widely and taught courses to high school, college, and adult audiences on an array of topics including: rabbinic theology, faith, rabbinic pedagogy, theodicy, tefillah, rabbinic attitudes toward the relationships of father/son, mother/son, husband wife, rabbi/rabbi, and rabbi/student.