Zehavit Stern

Advisor: Robert Alter

Dissertation Title: Eastern European Jewish Culture and the Re-imagination of Folk Performance

Current Position: University Research Lecturer, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford.

Zvi Septimus

Advisor: Daniel Boyarin

Dissertation Title: The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions

Current Position: Caroline Zelaznik Gruss and Joseph S. Gruss Visiting Professor in Talmudic Civil Law at Harvard Law School

Zvi Septimus is Caroline Zelaznik Gruss and Joseph S. Gruss Visiting Professor in Talmudic Civil Law at Harvard Law School.  He received his PhD in 2011 for a dissertation entitled The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions, which was supervised by Daniel Boyarin. Zvi subsequently held research positions at Harvard University, the University of Toronto, and Cornell University.

Zvi’s first book, The Talmud as Book: The Work of the Reader (manuscript under review), theorizes how the Talmud was formed—and continues to be formed—through a partnership between readers and writers in the act of performance. His current research on Jewish legal history focuses on legislation relating to sexual unions outside of the context of permanent marriage.  Zvi has served on the advisory board of G-dcast since 2009 and has written the curriculum for their Talmud Film project.