Dr. Leor Jacobi
CV
Education
2021–2023: Postdoctoral Fellow, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz
2015–2020: PhD, Dept. of Jewish Art & Interdisciplinary Studies, Bar-Ilan University. Advisors: Prof Ilia Rodov, Prof Daniel Sperber; Thesis Title: The Intrusion of Falconry in Art and Rabbinic Literature: Reading Medieval Culture into Ancient Sources
2011–2014: Master of Arts, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Talmud. Advisor: Dr Aaron Ahrend; Hebrew Thesis Title: The Commentary of a Student of Rashba to Chapter Keitzad Mevarkhin of Tractate Berakhot from a Girona Archive
1997–Present: Various Jerusalem Talmudic Institutes
1994: Bachelor of Arts, Cognitive Science, UC Berkeley
Fellowships and Awards
2025: Shvidler Visiting Research Fellow, Fordham University & Dorot Jewish Division of the New York Public Library.
2024: Judaist in Residence: Juedisches Leben Erfurt, Germany
2024: American Philosophical Society Franklin Research Grant
2021–2023: Humboldt Stiftung Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Mainz
2021–2022: Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, Postdoctoral Fellow
2021–2022: Shatzmiller Fellow Lecture, Duke Center for Jewish Studies
2021: First Book Publication Grant, World Union of Jewish Studies, Brill Publishing
2020: ReiRes Fellow, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris
2019–2020: Rector’s Prize for Academic Publications, Bar-Ilan University
2019: Erasmus Exchange Student, Friedrich Alexander Universität Erlangen Nürnberg
2018–2020: ReiRes Fellow, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
2017–18: Memorial Grant for Jewish Culture, Doctoral Fellow, Featured Scholar
2015–2019: President’s Doctoral Fellow, Bar-Ilan University
2013–14: Kolatch Fellow for Excellence in Talmudic Studies, Bar-Ilan University
Academic Service
Co-editor, Ars Judaica: The Bar-Ilan Journal of Jewish Art (2021–)
Board Member (2017–2021): The Israeli Association for Visual Culture in the Middle Ages (IMAGO)
Academic Review: Jewish History, Materia Giudaica, Ars Judaica, Reinardus, Aleph, Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies, Tamid, Department of Manuscripts and Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, National Library of Israel.
Employment
2023–Present: Associate Lecturer, Department of Jewish Art, Faculty of Jewish Studies, Bar-Ilan University
2020–2021: Editor, Genesis Rabbah Loanwords Project, Universität Salzburg
2017–2019: Project Coordinator, The Torah Ark in German Lands, Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University, German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development
2012–2018: Research Associate, Bar-Ilan University: Prof Shamma Friedman, Dr Aaron Ahrend, Dr Avi Shmidman, Dr Judah Galinsky, Dr Ilia Rodov, Prof Bracha Yaniv; Schechter Institute: Dr Paul Mandel
2010–2014: Transcription and Editing of Talmudic Manuscripts, The Saul Lieberman Institute of Talmud Research
Research
Fields of Study:
illustrated manuscripts and art
material culture
Jewish law and custom
medieval manuscripts
philology
Courses
Biblical Stories in Medieval Art
The Bible painted and decorated with manuscripts
Hunting Scenes in Medieval Jewish Art: Real, Imaginary and Symbolic
Midrash in color: Painted Passover haggadot
Publications
Academic Publications:
‘The Song of Songs, gaze upon her’: Antique Hebrew Liturgical Poetry from the Medieval Mainz Rite. In The Song of Songs in European Poetry (Twelfth to Seventeenth Centuries). Ed. Camilla Caporicci (Turnhout: Brepols, 2024), 25–42
Terahertz Identification of Characters Written in Iron-Gall Ink on Stacked Paper, IMEKO TC4 International Conference on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage 2023, 564–569, with H. Shi, A. Locquet, D. S. Citrin
Making a Maskil Mainstream: Adapting Haskalah Scholarship for a 19th-Century Rabbinic Audience, Zutot 18:1 (2021), 89–107
Toxic Talons and Venomous Nails: The Impetus for Falconry and Its Imposition on Ancient Jewish Law. In Falconry in the Mediterranean Context during the Premodern Era. Eds. Charles Burnett & Baudouin Van den Abeele (Geneva: Droz, 2021): 225–248
The Fifth Passover Cup and Magical Pairs: Isaac Baer Levinsohn and the Babylonian Talmud, European Journal of Jewish Studies 15 (2020): 84–103
On the Mighty Hand of the Lord: Medieval Falconry intrudes upon the Bible. In Raptor on the Fist: falconry, its images and similar motifs throughout the millenia on a global scale (2018 NYU-ABD Conference Volume, Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, Schleswig; Kiel/Hamburg: Wachholtz, 2020): 879–889
Revelation in Girona: Lost Literature from the ‘Jerusalem of Catalonia’. In European Genizah, ed. Andreas Lehnardt (Leiden: Brill, 2020): 168–184
From the Hunting Grounds to the Courtyard: The Crane in History and the Question of Its Kashrut Status According to the Medieval Rabbis (Hebrew), Jewish Studies Internet Journal 16 (2019), with Zohar Amar
‘This Horse is a Bird Specialist’: Falconry intrudes upon the Palestinian Mishnah in Sasanian Babylonia, in Raptor and human: falconry and bird symbolism throughout the millennia on a global scale. Eds. Karl-Heinz Gersmann & Oliver Grimm, Kiel/Hamburg 2018: 1831–1846
Hans J. Epstein: falconry’s extraordinary historian (w/Mark Epstein), ibid. 2018: 391–402
A Dispute for Heaven’s Sake, Journal of Jewish Studies (Oxford) 67 (2016): 91–101
The Rabbis on the Hunt: From Palestine to Poland, in Falconry: its Influence on Biodiversity and Cultural Heritage. Eds. U. Szymak & P. Sianko. Podlaskie Museum: Bialystok, 2016: 169–186
The Jewish Bookbinders of Girona, Materia Giudaica XX-XXI (2015-2016): 341–348
Appeals to Authority: Latin and Hebrew Drafts on a Girona Bookbinding Fragment, Materia Giudaica XX-XXI (2015-2016): 349–359
Jewish Hawking in Medieval France: Falconry, Rabbenu Tam, and the Tosafists, Oqimta 1 (2013): 421–504
Academic Presentations
In the Service of Crown and Clergy: Jewish Bookbinders of Medieval Catalonia [Hebrew]s. Material Culture Conference. Ben Zvi Institute, Jerusalem, September 2024
A Question of Faith: Medieval Jewish Polemical Interpretation of Genesis 15:6 and Samuel David Luzzatto’s Forgotten Retraction. Vortrag: Theologische Hochschule Elstal, July 2024
"Sie machen (das) nicht schön" Wie die Rabbiner Nahmanides und Meir von Rothenburg im dreizehnten Jahrhundert die Dekorationen von Schofarhörnern und Machsor Handschriften kritisierten. Vortrag: Alte Synagoge Erfurt, June 2024
Levels of Sanctity: Manuscripts and their Disposal in Jewish Ritual Law and Custom. Creating Holiness: Books, Scrolls and Icons as Carriers of Sacredness. Akademie der Wissenschaften u. der Literatur. Mainz, June 2024
Dueling Be’er Hetev Commentaries to the Shulhan Arukh: HIDA’s Literary Explanation of a Bibliographic Mess. Three Hundred Years of the Hida: Travel, Study and Creation in the Mediterranean Basin and Europe in the Eighteenth Century. Ben Zvi Institute, Jerusalem, March 2024
The Inception and Development of the Bar-Ilan University Emblem: Focus on Sol Nadel and Abram Games. Wartime Seminar Series. Bar-Ilan University, Nov. 2023
Latin Fragments Matter: All Jewish Documents in a 14th Century Girona Bookbinding.
European Association of Jewish Studies Congress, Branching Out, Goethe University, Frankfurt, July 2023
Discovering the Covering: Identifying Bookbinders of Medieval Notary Books in Girona Archives, Reuse of Hebrew and Latin Manuscript Fragments. Fragments and Fragmentariness in the Humanities and Cultural Studies, University of Urbino, Italy
Artisans and Archival Incompatibility: Jewish Bookbindings made for Christian Notaries in Medieval Girona. IMAGO Conference, Encounters: Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval and Early Modern Art, Bar-Ilan University, March 2023
Who Wrote Iggeret HaRamban?, World Congress of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, August 2022
Decorated Shofars in Art and Halakhah, Department of Jewish Art Seminar, Bar-Ilan University, Oct 2021
Homecoming and Healing: Hebrew Scroll Donations from the Mainz Martinus Bibliothek, World in Crisis: Reflections and Responses from Antiquity to the Present, British Association of Jewish Studies Annual Conference (via Zoom), July 2021
Predators and Birdies: Alternating Emotions via Species Selection in Fable Development, Disciplining Emotions, Texts and Images in Medieval and Early Modern Times, Bar-Ilan University, May–June, 2021
’Flowers appear ... the time of singing’: The Song of Songs in Hebrew liturgical poetry for the Passover Festival, The Song of Songs in European Poetry (13th-17th Centuries): Translations, Appropriations, Rewritings, University of Padua (via Zoom), September 2020
Rabbi Jacob’s Early Modern Hebrew Qur’an, JEWTACT ERC Research Group Seminar, Ben-Gurion University (via Zoom), July 2020
Christian Books, Jewish Covers: Mudejar Bookbinding in Medieval Christian Iberia, Jewish Craftspeople in the Middle Ages: Objects, Sources and Materials, Tel-Aviv University, March 2021
The Woman on the Wall: A 14th-century Falconry Courting Scene in a Jewish House of Zurich, Gendering Falconry, NYU: Abu Dhabi Campus, March 2020, postponed
Rejecting Lazarus and Noblesse Oblige: Medieval Visual Augmentation of the New Testament Parable on the Rouen Cathedral, IMAGO 13: Chivalry and Nobility in Medieval and Early Modern Art, Ben-Gurion University, January 2020
Possenreißer, fröhliche Leute, Purim und der Karneval: Der Einfluss von Mainz und seinen Talmudgelehrten auf jüdisches Leben und den Text des Talmud, Die Heimkehr der Ester-Rollen, Martinus-Bibliothek, Mainz, June 2019
Defending a Dead Disciple: Silent Schism between S.D. Luzzatto and I.S. Reggio, Grey Areas: Two Centuries of Wissenschaft des Judentums, Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg, June 2019
An Art Historian on the Talmud, Calling the Holy Ark ‘Arna’ and Dangerous Things, Framing the Sacred: Shrines in European Architecture, Bar-Ilan University, June 2018
On the Mighty Hand of the Lord: Medieval Reality Intrudes Visually on Biblical Texts, Raptor and Falconry Depictions throughout the Millennia on a Global Scale, Center
for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, NYU Abu Dhabi, March 2018
The Middle Ages Intrude upon the Bible: Falconry in Jewish and Christian Interpretation and Art [Hebrew], The Oral and Visual Scripture, Ben-Gurion University, March 2018
Signals in the Noise: Girona Bookbindings, the Cairo Geniza, and Secondary Miscellanies, IXe journée d’études doctoralesen paléographie et diplomatique hébraïques: La matérialité de l’écrit dans le monde juif, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Institut national d'histoire de l'art, Paris,
Textual and Visual Intrusions: Abbasid Babylonia in the Palestinian Mishnah, Byzantium in the Greek Legend of Phaedra, 17th World Congress of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, August 2017
The Writing is on the Wall: Falconry in R. Moses' SeMaK Zurich and Painted in his 14th Century Home, Public Lecture: Antiquarische Gesellschaft in Zürich, University of Zurich, May 2017
Revelation in Girona: Lost Literature from the ‘Jerusalem of the West’, European Genizah: Newly Discovered Hebrew Binding Fragments in Context, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, May 2017
This Horse is a Bird Specialist: Imposed on the Mishnah by the ‘Stam’, Expunged by Maimonides and R. Isaac ha-Zaqen [Hebrew], Talmudic Literature and Jewish Law, Bar-Ilan University, March 2017
How a Hebrew Hunts with a Hawk on His Hand, Public Lecture: National Library of Israel, Jan 2016
Falconry in Talmudic Literature: Palestine, Persia, Paris, Poland, Falconry in the Mediterranean Context, Warburg Institute, NYU Abu Dhabi, Nov 2015
Falconry, Kυνηγέω and the Musket: The Rabbis on the Hunt, Falconry — its influence on biodiversity and cultural heritage in Poland and across Europe, Bialystok, Poland, Oct 2015
By/On the Hand of an Ape: Monkey-Men and Ape Falconers, Department of Jewish Art, Colloquim, Bar-Ilan University, May 2015
Falconry in Talmudic and Islamic Law, Public Lecture: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, March 2014
Pharaoh Alfonso, or the French Falconer? Jews, Christians and Visuality: New Approaches, Boston College, March 2014
Falconry in Jewish Art, Law, and Lore, Traditions and Perspectives in History of Jewish Art, Bar-Ilan University, Sept. 2012
For additional publications and appearances in the community and in the media, see:
Last Updated Date : 19/12/2024
