Christian Kabbalah
Christian Hebraism
Jewish-Christian Relations
Conversion Narratives
Current Projects
My current research project examines the Christian reception and interpretation of the Zohar from the 14th to the 18th centuries, focusing on how Christian scholars engaged with and conceptualized the text, often viewing it as an ancient source of Jewish wisdom. The project explores the role of Christian scholars in producing and disseminating the Zohar, including its use in polemical contexts and its influence on the development of Christian Kabbalah. By analyzing the Zohar’s impact within Western Christianity, this project aims to shed light on the complex cultural and interfaith exchanges that shaped the early modern period in Europe.
Curriculum Vitae
Fellowships and Grants (selection)
2022–25 German Research Foundation (DFG), research grant for the project: Kabbalah as a Paradigm of Transfer between Judaism and Christianity
2022–23 Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies at the University of Hamburg, Postdoctoral Research Fellowship,
2016–18 Minerva Foundation, Feodor Lynen Doctoral Fellowship
2015–16 Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center at the Hebrew University, Doctoral Fellowship
Prizes
2018 Prize of the Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem for excellent PhD students in German-Jewish History
2018 Ady Steg Research Award, Department of History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Education
2020 PhD in Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2013 MA in Modern History, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (minors: Ancient History and Judaic Studies)
Publications
Chapters in books
“A Key to Kabbalah and a Christian Talmud: Johan Kemper’s Retrieval of the Primeval Religion of the Hebrews,” Oriental Cultures and Scholarship in the Baltic Sea Area, ed. by C. Linde, J. Loop, and B. Roling (Leiden: Brill, forthcoming). [peer-reviewed]
(co-authored with Elke Morlok) “Konfessionskultur und schwedischer Staatsmythos: Hebräische Panegyrik zum zweihundertsten Jubiläum der Confessio Augustana,” Konfessionen auf dem Prüfstand, ed. by A. Badea, B. Boute, and B. Emich (Cologne: Böhlau Verlag, forthcoming).
Special journal issues
Zutot: Perspectives on Jewish Culture 22 (2025), Special Issue: Christian Interpretations and Instrumentalizations of Kabbalah (Together with Elke Morlok)
Articles
(co-authored with Elke Morlok) “Introduction: A Piece in a Puzzle? Early Modern Christian Interpretations and Instrumentalizations of Kabbalah,” Zutot: Perspectives on Jewish Culture 22 (2025), 3–13.
“Marginalienpolemik: Hebräische Randglossen in einem syrischen Neuen Testament,” Morgen-Glantz: Zeitschrift der Christian-Knorr-von-Rosenroth-Gesellschaft 32 (2022), 101–113.
“Zur Verfasserfrage des Altdorfer Purimspiels von 1697,” Jiddistik Mitteilungen 62 (2019), 21–33.
Peer-reviewed articles
“Purim in Altdorf: Johann Christoph Wagenseils Interesse am Jiddischen und dessen Kultur sowie seine Zusammenarbeit mit Johann Christian Jakob (Johan Kemper) und jüdischen Konvertiten im Allgemeinen,” Zeitschrift für Religion und Geistesgeschichte 71:2 (2019), 176–201.
Presentations (selection)
“The Sefirotic Tree in the Eyes of Selected Protestant Scholars,” Ilanot Workshop; Officina di Studi Medievali, Palermo, Italy (September 2024).
“Counter Tikkunim: Seventy Christian Interpretations of the Word Bereshit,” Questioning Authority: Kabbalah between Dialectical Disputes, Religious Dissent, and ProtoAcademic Scholarship in Medieval and Early Modern Europe; Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies, University of Hamburg, Germany (June 2024).
“‘The Ancient Ones Were Mindful of the Messiah’s Anguish’: The Protestant Reconstruction of the ‘Original’ Interpretation of Isaiah 52–3,” AJS 55th Annual Conference; San Francisco, CA, U.S.A. (Dec. 2023).
“‘The Old Jewish Church Agreed with Us’: Dogmatic Protestant Appropriations of Kabbalah,” Kabbalah Lecture Series in Budapest; Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary (May 2023).
“Metatron Is the Increate Angel: Metatron in the Thought of Early Modern Protestants,” 16th Lavy Colloquium; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, U.S.A. (April 2023).
“A Lutheran Rabbi: Boundary Crossing in Early Modern Europe—Sabbatianism, Conversion, and Christian Kabbalah,” University of Antwerp, Institute of Jewish Studies (March 2022).