Rate My Professor Dov Weiss

Weiss specializes in rabbinic theology and rabbinic biblical interpretation, with additional research interests in the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, medieval Jewish mysticism, medieval Jewish philosophy, and modern Jewish thought. His first monograph, Pious Irreverence: Confronting God in Rabbinic Judaism (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016), won the 2017 National Jewish Book Council’s Nahum M. Sarna Memorial Award in Scholarship. He is currently writing his second book, Rabbinic Inferno: Hell in Classical Judaism. Notable publications include “Divine Concessions in the Tanhuma Midrashim” in Harvard Theological Review (2015), “The Sin of Protesting God in Rabbinic and Patristic Literature” in AJS Review (2015), “The Sins of the Parents in Rabbinic and Early Christian Literature” in Journal of Religion (2017), and “The Rabbinic God and Medieval Judaism” in Currents in Biblical Research (2017). He has contributed chapters to edited volumes such as “Olam Haba in Rabbinic Literature: A Functional Reading” (Purdue University Press, 2017) and encyclopedia entries on topics like Midrash and Kingdom of God in Rabbinic Judaism. Among his honors are an NEH Summer Stipend (2020) for his book project, an Associate position at the University of Illinois Center for Advanced Studies (2020-2021), the Harry Starr Fellowship at Harvard University (2012), the Martin Marty Fellowship at the University of Chicago Divinity School (2010-2011), and the Targum Shlishi Dissertation Fellowship (2010-2011). Weiss teaches undergraduate and graduate courses including World Religions, History of Judaism, Jewish Sacred Literature, Readings in Rabbinic Midrash, and History of Jewish Theology.