Prof. George-Yaakov Kohler

Email
George-Yaakov.Kohler@biu.ac.il
    CV

    Education

    October 2011-2012 Thyssen-Foundation Postdoc Fellowship Ben Gurion University of the Negev  
    October 2010-2011 Minerva Postdoc fellow University of Frankfurt/M  
    2006-2010 Ph.D(summa cum laude) Ben Gurion University of the Negev Jewish Thought
    2001-2005 M.A. (with distinction) Ben Gurion University of the Negev Jewish Thought
    1994-1997 B.A.

    Berlin University of Arts, Faculty of Marketing

    Public Relations/Business Communication
    Doctoral thesis:

    "The Rediscovery of Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed by the Wissenschaft des Judentums",Advisors: Prof. Haim Kreisel, Prof. Gideon Freudenthal

    M.A thesis:

    "Infinity in Gersonides",Advisor: Prof. Haim Kreisel

    Professional Experience

    From 2020 Associated tenured professor
    From 2015 Director of the Joseph-Carlebach-Institute at Bar Ilan University
    From fall 2012 Faculty member at Bar Ilan University’s department for Jewish Thought
    Winter-Semester 2010/11 Lecturer at the Goethe University Frankfurt/M.
    From 2009-2016 Guest lecturer at the Papal Lateran University in Rome
    2009-2010

    Lecturer at the department of Jewish thought at BGU

     

    Research

    Jewish religious thought in Germany in the modern age;Wissenschaft des Judentums;Jewish-Christian debates on theology in the modern age;The philosophy of Hermann Cohen

     

    Courses

     

    course

    (Hebrew)

    03-129-01 Women in Jewish Thought from the Bible till Today Annual credits equal 2 annual course hours  

     

    Publications

    List of publications

    Books

    Reading Maimonides' Philosophy in Nineteenth Century Germany – The Guide to Religious Reform (Springer Science, Dordrecht 2012 / vol. 15 of Amsterdam Studies in Jewish Philosophy).

    Kabbalah Research in the Wissenschaft des Judentums (1820–1880) - The Foundation of an Academic Discipline, Series: Europäisch-jüdische Studien, De Gruyter 2019.

    Edited volumes

    Der jüdische Messianismus im Zeitalter der Emanzipation - Reinterpretationen zwischen davidischem Königtum und endzeitlichem Sozialismus (introduced edition, deGruyter, 2013).

    Horchet, ihr Söhne, der Moral des Vaters" - Väter und Vaterfiguren in jüdischer Geschichte, Religion und Kultur, Dölling und Galitz, München Hamburg, 2016, 204 pages (coeditor).

    The Tragedy of Optimism - Steven Schwarzschild’s Writings on Hermann Cohen, State University NY Press, New York 2018 (introduced edition).

    Introduced and annotated translation of Max Joseph’s Judentum am Scheidewege (1908).

    The Roads Not Taken – The Neglected Role of Kabbalah in 19th and early 20th Century Scholarship, Cherub Press, Los Angeles, 2018 (with Christian Wiese).

    Nationalismus und Religion – Zu Hermann Cohens 100. Todestag, Heidelberg 2019 (with Eveline Goodman-Thau).

    Judaism and the Science of Judaism – 200 Years of Academic Thought on the Jewish Religion, special editon of Daat - A Journal of Jewish Philosophy & Kabbalah, 2019 (with Thomas Meyer and Andreas Braemer).

    Reviewed articles in journals

    “Medieval Infinities in Mathematics and the Contribution of Gersonides”, in: History of Philosophy Quarterly, 23-2 (2006), pp. 95-116

    “Manuel Joel in Defense of the Talmud – Liberal Responses to Religious Antisemitism in Nineteen-Century Germany”, Hebrew Union College Annual 79, (2008/2010), p. 141-163.

    “German Spirit and Holy Ghost - Treitschke’s Call for Conversion of German Jewry: The Debate Revisited”, in: Modern Judaism 30:2 (2010), p. 172-195.

    “Finding God’s Purpose - Hermann Cohen’s Use of Maimonides to Establish the Authority of Mosaic Law”, in: Journal for Jewish Thought and Philosophy 18:1 (2010), p. 85-115.

    „Die Idealisierung des Diesseits“ – Maimonides’ Einfluss auf das Konzept des Messianismus in Hermann Cohens Essay Charakteristik der Ethik Maimunis, in: Judaica, 3/2011 p. 241-262.

    "Is there a God an sich? Isaac Breuer on Kant’s Noumena", in: AJS Review 36:1 (2012), p. 121-139.

    Platzmachen für Gott - Else Lasker-Schüler, Rabbiner Kurt Wilhelm und der religiöse Liberalismus in Palästina“, in: Aschkenas. 2013; 21(1–2): p. 179–199.

    “Moses as a Superhuman – Criticism of Maimonides’ Theory of Prophecy by Wissenschaft des Judentums Scholars in Early 20th-Century Germany”, in Jewish Studies Quarterly, No. 1, 2015, p. 87-107.

    "Rabbi Max Joseph – Between Reform and Zionism", in: Review of Rabbinic Judaism 19 (2016) 96–117

    “The Captivating Beauty of the Divine Spark – Breslau and the Reception of Yehuda Halevi’s Sefer Kuzari (1877–1911), in: Transversal – Journal for Jewish Studies, 2016; 14 (1), p. 26-34.

    “Scholasticism is a Daughter of Judaism” - The Discovery of Jewish Influence on Medieval Christian Thought, in: Journal of the History of Ideas, 2017 No. 3, 319-340.

    “Renewed Messianic Thought in Nineteenth Century Germany: A Dispute between Moses Hess and Leopold Loew”, in: DAAT: A Journal of Jewish Philosophy & Kabbalah 84 (2017), p. V-XXIII.

    “Heinrich Graetz and the Kabbalah”, in: Kabbalah - Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts, vol. 40, 2018, p. 107-130.

    “Against the Heteronomy of Halacha – Hermann Cohen’s Implicit Rejection of Kant’s Critique of Judaism”, in: Dinei Israel Yearbook, vol 32, 2018, p. 189-209.

    “Is there Room for Belief in Judaism? Two German-Jewish Thinkers Debate Dogma in 1834”, in: Jewish Thought - Journal of the Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought volume 1:1 (2019), p. 89-114.

    “Yehuda Halevi's Kuzari and the Wissenschaft des Judentums (1840–1865)”, Jewish Quarterly Review, Volume 109, Number 3, Summer 2019, p. 335-359.

    “Theology as a Discipline of the Wissenschaft des Judentums (1830-1910) – An Overview”, in DAAT: A Journal of Jewish Philosophy & Kabbalah 88 (2019), p. 65-88.

    “The Pattern for Jewish Reformation” – The Impact of Lessing’s Dynamic Theology on Nineteenth-Century German Jewish Religious Thought, in: Harvard Theological Review 113:2 (2020), p. 263–284.

    “Die Vernünftigkeit des jüdischen Dogmas - Samuel Holdheims Kritik an Mendelssohns Religionsphilosophie”, in Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte, 72,4 (2020), p. 371-389.

    “The Claim to "Hidden Truths" as the Reason for the Rejection of Kabbalah by the Wissenschaft des Judentums”, in Jewish Thought - Journal of the Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, volume 2 (2020), p. 133-155.

    Reviewed chapters in books

    “Maimonides and Ethical Monotheism – The Influence of the Guide of the Perplexed on German Reform Judaism”, in: James T. Robinson (ed.) The Cultures of Maimonideanism, Brill (2009), p. 309-334.

    Ein notwendiger Fehler der Weltgeschichte - Ludwig Philippsons Auseinandersetzung mit dem Christentum“, in: Görge K. Hasselhoff (ed.) Die Entdeckung des Christentums in der Wissenschaft des Judentums, Berlin 2010, p. 33-62.

    Judaism Buried or Revitalised? ‘Wissenschaft des Judentums’ in Nineteenth Century Germany – Impact, Actuality and Applicability Today, in: Daniel J. Lasker (ed.),  Jewish Thought and Jewish Belief, Beer Sheva 2012, p. 27-63.

    Eine verpasste Gelegenheit: Abraham Geigers lebenslang spannungsvolles Verhältnis zur Religionsphilosophie des Maimonides“, in: Christian Wiese (ed.) Jüdische Existenz in der Moderne: Abraham Geiger und die Wissenschaft des Judentums, Berlin 2013, p. 249-274

    Keine Brücke zwischen Begriff und Welt - Orthodoxe Kritik an der Religionsphilosophie Hermann Cohens”, in: Eveline Goodman-Thau und Hans-Georg Flickinger (ed.), Zur Aktualität des Unzeitgemäßen - Beiträge zum Jüdischen Denken, Reiner Wiehl zum Andenken, Nordhausen 2013, 111-140.

    “Prayers for the Messiah in the Thought of Early Reform Judaism“, in: Uri Ehrlich (ed.) Jewish Prayer: New Perspectives, Beer Sheva 2016, 5-29.

    “Ludwig Philippson on Biblical Monotheism: Jewish Religious Philosophy between Mendelssohn and Hermann Cohen “, in: Jewish Historiography between Past and Future. 200 Years of Wissenschaft des Judentums, ed. Paul Mendes-Flohr, Rachel Livneh-Freudenthal, and Guy Miron, de Gruyter, NY 2019, p. 181-196.

    “Hermann Cohen und die Aufhebung der christlichen Alleinherrschaft in der Kultur“, in Nationalismus und Religion – Zu Hermann Cohens 100. Todestag, ed. E. Goodman-Thau and G. Y. Kohler, Heidelberg 2019, p. 61-73.

    “The Rediscovery of Gersonides as a Religious Philosopher by the Wissenschaft des Judentums”, in Gad Freudenthal et al (ed.), Gersonides’ Afterlife - Studies on the Reception of Levi ben Gerson’s Philosophical, Halakhic and Scientific Oeuvre, Brill 2020, p. 550-568.

    Forthcoming articles (reviewed and accepted)

    “Humankind is Advancing – Samuel Hirsch’s Rediscovery of Messianism and its Consequences for Modern Jewish Religious Philosophy”, in: Thorsten Fuchshuber and Judith Frishman (ed.), Religionsphilosoph, Emanzipationsverfechter und radikaler Reformer der jüdischen Moderne, De Gruyter, forthcoming in 2020.

    “The Birth of Modern Jewish Theology: Reactions to Bruno Bauer’s Secular Supersessionism”, In: Journal for the History of Modern Theology, 2020.

    Book Reviews

    Josef Albo: Jüdische Philosophie und christliche Kontroverstheologie in der frühen Neuzeit, in: Jewish Quarterly Review - Volume 95, Number 4, Fall 2005, pp. 724-727.

    Am HaSefer, in: ZRGG 62, 1 (2010), p. 85f.

    Maimonides interkulturell gelesen, in: ZRGG 62, 2 (2010), p. 188-190.

    Moshe Halbertal: HaRambam, in: ZRGG 62, 3 (2010), p. 301-303.

    Abraham Melamed: On the Jewish Origin of Philosophy and Science, in ZRGG 63, 2 (2011) p. 186-188.

    Dieter Adelmann: Reinige dein Denkenüber den jüdischen Hintergrund der Philosophie von Hermann Cohen, in: Modern Judaism 31, 1 (2011), p. 109-113.

    Ran HaCohen: Reclaiming the Hebrew Bible, in: ZRGG 63, 4 (2011), p. 398-400.

    Elliot N. Dorff and Jonathan K. Crane (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality, in: Medaon – Magazin für jüdisches Leben in Forschung und Bildung, 9 (2015), 16.

    James Diamond:Maimonides and the Shaping of the Jewish Canon, in: Medaon – Magazin für jüdisches Leben in Forschung und Bildung, 9 (2015), 17.

    Torsten Lattki, Benzion Kellermann, in: Medaon – Magazin für jüdisches Leben in Forschung und Bildung, 10 (2016), 19.

    Ismar Schorsch, Leopold Zunz, Medaon – Magazin für jüdisches Leben in Forschung und Bildung, 11 (2017), 21.

    James Diamond, Jewish Theology Unbound, in: Medaon – Magazin für jüdisches Leben in Forschung und Bildung, 13 (2019), 24

    Neil Weinstock Netanel, From Maimonides to Microsoft: The Jewish Law of Copyright since the Birth of Print, in: ournal of Law and Religion, 1-3. doi:10.1017/jlr.2019.29

    Frederick C. Beiser, Hermann Cohen – An Intellectual Biography, Medaon – Magazin für jüdisches Leben in Forschung und Bildung, 14 (2020), 26

    Last Updated Date : 27/11/2023