Dr. Yael Wilfand
Rabbinic literature, Social and cultural history, Poverty, Conversion to Judaism, Halakhah and Roman law, Roman Empire, the interaction of texts and material culture.
CV
Yael Wilfand (née Ben-Shalom) studies the social and cultural history of the Jews who lived in the Land of Israel during the first five centuries CE, with a particular focus on rabbinic literature. She is interested in the junctures of texts and material culture (such as epitaphs, architecture, mosaics), and the relationship between rabbinic sources and the Roman- and Byzantine worlds.
Yael earned her BA and MA in Jewish history from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. During her years at Hebrew University, Yael also studied and taught Talmud and other Jewish texts in a number of Beit Midrash programs. She then attended Duke University, where she received her PhD in Religion (2011). A monograph based on her dissertation Poverty, Charity and the Image of the Poor in Rabbinic Texts from the Land of Israel was later published by Sheffield Phoenix Press (2014; an extended Hebrew version The Wheel that Overtakes Everyone: Poverty and Charity in the Eyes of Sages in the Land of Israel was published by Hakibbutz Hameuchad in 2017). Her current research focuses on the status of converts in rabbinic literature from the Land of Israel. She has been teaching Jewish history and Talmud at the School of Basic Jewish Studies at Bar-Ilan University since 2019.
Publications
Books
Yael Wilfand, Poverty, Charity and the Image of the Poor in Rabbinic Texts from the Land of Israel. Social World of Biblical Antiquity, Second Series, 9; Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2014.
Yael Wilfand Ben-Shalom, The Wheel that Overtakes Everyone: Poverty and Charity in the Eyes of Sages in the Land of Israel. Tel-Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2017 (revised and expanded Hebrew version of 2014 English volume).
Peer-Reviewed Chapters in Edited Volumes
Yael Wilfand, “‘No one can avoid this measure’: Explaining Poverty among Individuals according to the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds.” Pages 215-240 in Between Babylonia and the Land of Israel: Studies in Honor of Isaiah M. Gafni. Edited by Geoffrey Herman, Meir Ben Shahar, and Aharon Oppenheimer. Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 2016. (Hebrew)
Yael Wilfand, “Alexander the Great in the Jerusalem Talmud and Genesis Rabbah: A Critique of Roman Power, Greed and Cruelty.” Pages 337-360 in Reconsidering Roman Power: Roman, Greek, Jewish and Christian Perceptions and Reactions. Edited by Katell Berthelot. Rome: Ecole Française de Rome, 2020.
Yael Wilfand, “Was There Really ‘an Arrogance of Wealth’? Re-evaluating a Scholarly Description of Second-Century Rabbis.” Pages 17-36 in Rabbinic Study Circles. Edited by Marc Hirshman and David Satran with the assistance of Anita Shtrubel; Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen, 2020.
Yael Wilfand, “‘A Proselyte whose Sons Converted with Him’: Roman Laws on New Citizens’ Authority over Their Children and Tannaitic Rulings on Converts to Judaism and Their Offspring.” Pages 345-364 in Legal Engagement: The Reception of Roman Law and Tribunals by Jews and Other Inhabitants of the Empire. Edited by Katell Berthelot, Natalie Dohrmann, and Capucine Nemo Pekelman. Rome: Ecole Française de Rome, 2021.
Yael Wilfand, “‘Like Snake Venom’? The Rabbis and Christian Charity” Pages 177- 200 in Reflections on Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity. Edited by Dan Jaffé, Rivka Nir and Yaakov Teppler. Brussels: Peter Lang, 2021.
Yael Wilfand, “The Roman Freedman and the Ḥalal: The Legal Models That Shaped Rabbinic Law on the Status of Converts in Marriage.” Pages 63-91 in Land and Spirituality in Rabbinic Literature: A Memorial Volume for Yaakov Elman ז''ל. Edited by Shana Strauch Schick. Leiden: Brill, 2022.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Yael Wilfand, “Did the Rabbis Reject the Roman Public Latrine?” BABESCH Annual Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology 84 (2009): 183-196.
Yael Wilfand, “Aramaic Tombstones from Zoar and Jewish Conceptions of the Afterlife.” Journal for the Study of Judaism 40 (2009): 510-539.
Yael Wilfand, “From the School of Shammai to Rabbi Yehuda the Patriarch's Student: The Evolution of the Poor Man's Tithe.” Jewish Studies Quarterly 22 (2015): 36-61.
Yael Wilfand, “Serpent or Furled Sail: An Analysis of the Ships in the Madaba Map.” Eastern Christian Art in its Late Antique and Islamic Contexts 10 (2014-2016): 113-124.
Yael Wilfand, “Supporting non-Jewish Poor: ‘Goyim’ (Gentiles), ‘Others,’ and 'Those Who Do Not Belong to the Covenant.’” Sidra: Journal for the Study of Rabbinic Literature 30 (2016): 35-46. (Hebrew)
Yael Wilfand, “The Roman Context for the Rabbinic Ban on Teaching Greek to Sons.” Journal of Ancient Judaism 8 (2017): 365-387.
Yael Wilfand, “Did Roman Treatment of Freedwomen Influence Rabbinic halakhah on the Status of Female Converts in Marriage?” The Journal of Legal History 40 (2019): 182-202.
Yael Wilfand, “‘How Great Is Peace’: Tannaitic Thinking on Shalom and the Pax Romana.” Journal for the Study of Judaism 50 (2019): 223-251.
Yael Wilfand, “‘A Proselyte whose Sons Converted with Him’: Roman Laws on New Citizens’ Authority over Their Children and Tannaitic Rulings on Converts to Judaism and Their Offspring.” Zion 84 (2019): 445–461. (Hebrew)
Marie Roux and Yael Wilfand, “‘The flower of the whole world’: A Jerusalem Talmud’s Homily on Converts in the Light of Greco-Roman Floral Motives.” Revue des Études Juives 179 (2020): 315-331.
Yael Wilfand, “Roman Concepts of Citizenship, and Rabbinic Approaches to the Lineage of Converts and the Integration of their Descendants into Israel.” Journal of Ancient Judaism 11 (2020): 45–75.
Yael Wilfand, “The Rabbinic Ban on Childless Judges Serving on the Sanhedrin: Fatherhood, Cruelty, Lineage, and Roman Law.” Forthcoming in AJS Review.
Other Publications:
Book Reviews
Review of Art, History and the Historiography of Judaism in Roman Antiquity by Steven Fine. Review of Biblical Literature (2014).
Review of At the Intersection of Texts and Material Finds: Stepped Pools, Stone Vessels, and Ritual Purity among the Jews of Roman Galilee by Stuart S. Miller. Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies (JEMAHS) 6 (2018): 163-166.
Review of “Captivity Is Harder Than All”: Captives, Captivity and the Discourse of Captivity in the Rabbinic Literature by Sagit Mor. Zion 86 (2021): 92-97. (Hebrew)
Encyclopedia Entries and Short Commentaries
Translations and brief commentaries on select rabbinic sources on poverty and wealth. Items A29, A30, A31, A33, A34 in Judaism and the Economy: A Source Book. Edited by Michael L. Satlow. London and New York: Routledge, 2019.
Translations of 163 rabbinic sources and accompanying commentaries that explain each source in the context of Roman imperial ideology. Published on the website of the European Research Council project “Judaism and Rome.”
The Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2007–.
“Manna: Rabbinic Judaism,” 17:776-778 (2019).
“Mixed Multitude: Rabbinic Judaism,” 19:465-466 (2021).
“Mordecai: Rabbinic Judaism,” 19:994-996 (2021).
“Nadab and Abihu: Rabbinic Judaism,” 20:538-539 (2022).
“Nahum of Gizmo: Rabbinic Judaism,” 20:603-604 (2022).
Other Publications
Yael Wilfand, “Charity and Philanthropy.” Pages 293-310 in On the Economy and on the Sustenance: Judaism, Society and Economics. Edited by Itamar Brenner and Aharon Ariel Levi. Jerusalem: Reuven Mas, 2008. (Hebrew)
Yael Wilfand, “Models of Rabbinic Charity,” Ancient Jew Review (14 September 2016).
Yael Wilfand, “‘Even a Horse, Even a Slave’?: The Provision of Personal Needs versus the Application of Uniform Standards in Rabbinic Almsgiving.” Pages 369-399 in Pursuing Justice: Society and Economy in Jewish Sources. Edited by Hanoch Dagan and Benjamin Porat. Jerusalem: The Israel Democracy Institute, 2016. (Hebrew)
Last Updated Date : 27/03/2024
