Deutsch Intern
DFG Centre for Advanced Studies MagEIA

Reuven Kiperwasser

Research Interests

  • Rabbis
  • Incantation Bowls
  • Demons
  • Body

Curriculum Vitae

Higher Education

2000 MA, Bar-Ilan-Universität, Fachbereich Talmud, Masterarbeit: Studies in Kohelet Zuta: Its Versions and Its Parallels in Kohelet Rabbah 
2005 Promotion, Bar-Ilan-Universität, Fachbereich Talmud, Doktorarbeit: The Midrashim on Kohelet: Studies in Their Formation and Redaction 

Research Grants and Awards

2002-2003 The Jacob Herzog Fund – Prize for Excellence 
2001-2004 Doctoral Fellowship of Excellence, Bar-Ilan University
2002-2003  The Moses S. Schupf Fellowship Program for Doctoral Studies, Bar-Ilan University
2003-2006  Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture for the studies on Midrashim on Kohelet
2006-2007   Chais Center (The Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University Jerusalem) post-doctoral
2007-2008   Skirball Fellowship for the Study of Christianity; Cardinal Bea Center for Judaic Studies, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome 
2008-2012   Israel Science Foundation Grant for the preparation of a critical edition of Midrash Kohelet  
2005-2006    Yad Ben-Zvi Research Grant for the study of Exempla Rabbinica
2008-2009    Research Grant, Yad Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem
2008-2012  Israel Science Foundation Grant for the preparation of a critical edition of Midrash Kohelet, supervised by Menachem Hirshman, as a participant
2010-2012    Research Grant, Yad Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem
2013-2016   Israel Science Foundation Grant for the Comparative Studies of Syriac Patristic Writings and Rabbinic Literature, supervised by Serge Ruzer and Arye Kofsky, as a participant
2019-2023  Israel Science Foundation Grant for the Travel Stories in Early Christian and Rabbinic Literature, supervised by Serge Ruzer and Arye Kofsky, as a participant 

Publications

A. Books
  • Kiperwasser R., 2012, Metamorphoses of Love and Death in Rabbinic Texts, Moscow-Jerusalem: Gishrey Tarbut, (Russian)
  • Kiperwasser R., Kohelet Rabbah: Critical Edition and Commentary, Schechter Publishing House, 2021 (Hebrew) = this book introduction is based on n.1
  • Kiperwasser R., Going West: The Migrating Persona in Rabbinic Narratives. (BJS 2021)
  • Kiperwasser, Reuven, Kofsky, Aryeh and Ruzer, Serge. Late Antique Jewish and Christian Travelogues: Religious Aspects and Cultural Backgrounds, De Gruyter, 2025.
B. Books edited
C. Chapters in Collections
  • Kiperwasser, R., 2021, “The Art of Forgetting in Rabbinic Narrative,” Rabbinic Study Circles: Jewish Learning in its Late Antique Context, Edited by Marc Hirshman and David Satran with the assistance of Anita Shtrubel. Mohr Siebeck/Tübingen, 2020. Studies in Education and Religion in Ancient and Pre-Modern History in the Mediterranean and Its Environs, 67-85.
  • Kiperwasser R. 2021, "The Cure of Amnesia and Ars Memoria in Rabbinic Texts", Defining Jewish Medicine. Transfers of Medical Knowledge in Jewish Cultures and Traditions. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz (Series: Episteme in Bewegung. Beiträge zu einer transdisziplinären Wissensgeschichte, 2021), 117-139.
  • Kiperwasser, R., 2021, "Matter that Tends towards Heresy": Rabbinic Ways of Reading Ecclesiastes," Expressions of Sceptical Topoi in (Late) Antique Judaism, Reuven Kiperwasser and Geoffrey Herman, Oldenbourg: De Gruyter, 2021. 27-44.
  • Kiperwasser R., 2021, "Facing Omnipotence and Shaping the Sceptical Topos,” Expressions of Sceptical Topoi in (Late) Antique Judaism, Reuven Kiperwasser and Geoffrey Herman, Oldenbourg; De Gruyter, 2021, 101-124.
  • Kiperwasser R. and Ruzer S., 2022, “Aramaic Stories of Wandering in the High Seas of Late Antiquity”, Das Mittelalter 18: "The Past Through Narratology. New Approaches to Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Mateusz Fafinski and Jakob Riemenschneider (Eds.), 161–177. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 2022 (Das Mittelalter. Perspektiven mediävistischer Forschung /Beihefte, Band 18), 161-177.
  • Kiperwasser R., (2022) “The King of Demons in the Universe of the Rabbis”, Demons in Judaism and Christianity: Characters, Characteristics, and Demonic Exegesis. Edited by Hector M. Patmore and Josef Lössl, 274-293.
  • Kiperwasser R. (2022), “Divine mockery and laughing Rabbis,” Humour in the Beginning. Religion, Humour and Laughter in Formative Stages of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism, by Roald Dijkstra and Paul van der Velde (eds.) [THR 10] 2022, 93-105.
  • Kiperwasser R. (2023), “Definitions of the Human Body and the Order of Creation in Rabbinic Literature,” Jews and Health Tradition, History, and Practice Edited by Catherine Hezser, Leiden: Brill, 69-86.
  • Kiperwasser, R. (2023). "Nautical Fiction of Late Antiquity: Jews and Christians Traveling by Sea". Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Travel Experiences: 3rd Century BCE – 8th Century CE. doi.org/10.1515/9783110717488-015
  • Kiperwasser R. 2023., “Host and Guests: Some Features of the Eschatological Banquet in Rabbinic Parables and Gospels,” The Power of Parables: Essays on the Comparative Study of Jewish and Christian Parables Edited and introduced by Annette Merz, Eric Ottenheijm, Marcel Poorthuis, With the editorial assistance of Nikki Spoelstra, Brill: Leiden, 346-366.
  • Kiperwasser R. 2024., “From Oral Discourse to Written Documents,” The Routledge Handbook of Jews and Judaism in Late Antiquity Edited by Catherine Hezser, Routledge: 2024, 249-262.
  • Kiperwasser R. 2024., "The Order(s) of the Universe and the (Dis)Order(s) of the Body, “Living Bodies, Dead Bodies, and the Cosmos. Culturally Specific and Universal Concepts, edited by Chiara Ferella, Tanja Pommerening, and Ulrike Steinert.  Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2024.
  • Kiperwasser R. 2024., “Ecclesiastes Rabbah,” Targums and Rabbinic Literature, Bruce Chilton, Alan J. Avery-Peck, Craig A. Evans , Cecilia Wassén, Grand Rapids:  Zondervan, 363-372
D. Articles
  • Kiperwasser R. 1998, "The Natural Order" – the Perception of the Nature in Rabbinic Thought," Akdamot, the Journal for Jewish Thought 5, 35-52 (Hebrew).
  • Kiperwasser R. 1999, "The 248 Parts – a Study of the Mishna Oholot 1:8," 'BDD': Journal of Torah and Scholarship 8, 29-64 (Hebrew)
  • Kiperwasser R. 2001, "The Metaphoric Process in Midrashic Literature: The Case of Qoheleth Rabbah," Vestnik 6 (24, 11-29 (Russian)
  • Kiperwasser R. 2002, “The History of Aggada Research,” Vestnik 7 (25), 201-232 (Russian)
  • Kiperwasser R. 2006, "Midrash ha-Gadol and The Exempla of the Rabbis (Sefer Ma'asiyot) and Midrashic Works on Ecclesiastes - A Comparative Approach," Tarbiz 75, 409-436 (Hebrew)
  • Kiperwasser R. 2006-2007, "The Comparative Study in Midrashim on Kohelet," Sidra 22 (2006-2007), 153-176 (Hebrew) (n.1)
  • Kiperwasser R. 2007, "Structure and Form in Kohelet Rabbah as Evidence of Its Redaction," JJS 58, 283-302. (n.1)
  • Kiperwasser R. 2007-2008, "Rabba bar Bar Channa's Voyages," Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature 22, 215-242 (Hebrew)
  • Kiperwasser R. and Shapira D. 2008, "Irano-Talmudica I: The Three-Legged Ass and Ridya in B. Ta'anit: Some Observations about Mythic Hydrology in the Babylonian Talmud and in Ancient Iran," AJS Review 32:1, 101–116.
  • Kiperwasser R. 2009, "The Visit of the Rural Sage: Text, Context, and Intertext in a Rabbinic Narrative," Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore 26, 3-24 (Hebrew)
  • Kiperwasser R. 2009, 'Three Partners in a Person.' The Genesis and Development of Embryological Theory in Biblical and Rabbinic Judaism," Lectio Difficilior – European Electronic Journal for Feminist Exegesis 2 (http://www.lectio.unibe.ch/09_2/kiperwasser.html).
  • Kiperwasser R. 2010, "Towards the Redaction History of Kohelet Rabbah," JJS 61, 257-277. (n.1)
  • Kiperwasser R. and Ruzer S. 2012, "Zoroastrian Proselytes in Rabbinic and Syriac Christian Narratives: Orality-Related Markers of Cultural Identity," History of Religions 51, no. 3, 197-218.
  • Kiperwasser R. and Ruzer S. 2012, Приобщить Зороастрийца к Священному Писанию: Полемические стратегии, Символ № 61 - SYRIACA - ARABICA – IRANICA. Париж – Москва, 71–106. (Russian) (n. 43)
  • Kiperwasser R. 2012, “The Immersion of Baallei Qerain,” JSQ 19, 311-338
  • Kiperwasser R. and Ruzer S. 2013, “The Holy Land and Its Inhabitors in Travel-stories of Bar-Sauma,” Cathedra 148, 41-70. (Hebrew)
  • Kiperwasser R. 2014, "A Bizarre Invitation to the King's Banquet: The Metamorphosis of a Parable Tradition and the Transformation of an Eschatological Idea," Prooftexts-A Journal of Jewish Literary History, 33:2, 147-181.
  • Kiperwasser R. 2016, "The Bitter Fate of Elihoref and Ahiya: The Metamorphosis of a Story from the land of Israel that Went to Babylonia," Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Literature 28, pp. 3-26 (Hebrew)
  • Kiperwasser R. 2017, "Wives of Commoners and the Masculinity of the Rabbis: Jokes, Serious Matters and Migrating Traditions," Journal for the Study of Judaism 48, 418-445.
  • Kiperwasser R. 2019, "Three Partners in a Person," The Metamorphoses of a Tradition and the History of an Idea (edited and updated version), Irano-Judaica 8 (2019), eds. Julia Rubanovich and Geoffrey Herman, Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 393-438. (n. 41)
  • Kiperwasser R and Serge Ruzer, 2019, "Sea Voyages Tales in Conversation with the Jonah Story: Intertextuality and the Art of Narrative Bricolage," Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing 20, 39-57.
  • Kiperwasser R. 2021, “Solomon and Ashmedai Redux”, JQR 111.1(2021), 21-54.
  • Kiperwasser R. 2021, "What Is Hidden in the Small Box? Narratives of Late Antique Roman Palestine in Dialogue", AJS (2021), 1-19. 
  • Kiperwasser R. 2022, “Chatting with God and the Benefit of the Doubt,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft,2022, 189-203.
  • Kiperwasser R. and Yahalom Sh. 2023, “Priest and Androgynous: The Metamorphosis of a Halakhic Case and its Gender Politics”, Revue des études Juives, 182 (2023:1-2), pp. 1-24
  • Kiperwasser R. and Ruzer S. 2023, Encountering Goddesses in Late Antiquity: otes on Metamorphoses of Mythic Figures in Religious Storytelling, Journal for Late Antique Religion and Culture 17 (2023), 1-13
  • Kiperwasser R. 2023., "A Guide to the Rabbinic Marketplace: Roman Palestine in the 3rd–4th Centuries". Religion and Urbanity Online, edited by Susanne Rau and Jörg Rüpke. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1515/urbrel.23439234. Accessed 2023-07-31.
  • Kiperwasser, R. (2023). “Solomon and Kitovras Redux. Regarding Source Criticism of Palaea Interpretata,” HENOCH Historical and Textual Studies in Ancient and Medieval Judaism and Christianity 45 (1), 121–139.
  • Kiperwasser R. (2024). “A Jew and a Gentile in the mirror of a Rabbinic Conversion story: From Aquila, the Proselyte to Abba Golis,” JSQ 30 (2024?), 1–18
  • Kiperwasser, R. (2024). The Desert as an Inventarium: Going to the Wilderness in Babylonian Talmud Stories. Dead Sea Discoveries, 31(3), 355-374. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685179-bja10060
  • Kiperwasser, R. (2024). Sōma and Gufa: Rabbinic Perception of a Person. In: Rico, C., Paniello, J. (eds) From Logos to Person. Comparative Philosophy of Religion, vol 5. Springer.
  • Kiperwasser, R. (2025). The Rabbinic Body in Magical Texts of the Incantation Bowls. Aramaic Incantation Bowls in Their Late Antique Jewish Contexts. Alexander W. Marcus, Jason S. Mokhtarian, editors. BJS.