Tzahi (Yitzhak) Weiss

Higher Education 2005-2008 Ph.D. in Jewish Thought, Hebrew University Dissertation: "A Conceptual Examination of the Attitude towards Alphabetic Letters as Independent Units in Jewish and Culturally Affiliated Sources of Late Antiquity: Midrash, Mysticism and Magic" Advisers: Prof. Moshe Idel and Dr. Aminadav Dykman 2003-2004 M.A. in Jewish Thought, Hebrew University Dissertation: "The Phenomenology of the Sinner and the Theurgical Implications of the Sin – A Theurgical Reading in Agnon's Short Stories" Adviser: Prof. Moshe Idel 2001-2004 Graduate of Revivim Honors Program for the Teaching of Jewish Studies Teachers, Hebrew University 2001-2003 B.A. in Biblical Studies and Jewish Thought, Hebrew University

Post Doctorate 2010-2011 The Israeli Council for Higher Education Postdoctoral Fellowship at Tel Aviv University 2009-2010 Rothschild Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Divinity School, University of Chicago 2008-2012 Postdoctoral Fellow, Shalem Center

Awards and Fellowships 2009-2011 Kreitman Foundation Fellowship, Ben-Gurion University (declined) 2006-2008 Stephan and Irene Lipper Prize in Excellence: Full scholarship from the Institute of Jewish Studies and the Canadian Friends, Hebrew University 2005-2006 Scholarship from the Institute of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University 2005-2006 Bahana Prize for an Outstanding Ph.D. Student in Jewish Thought

2003-2004 Mirella and Alberto De Picciotto Prize for excellent M.A Students in Jewish Thought 2002-2003 Dean's List of Academic Excellence, Hebrew University 2001-2002 Dean's Prize of Academic Excellence, Hebrew University

Courses Taught 2008-09; 2011-12 Reading in the Zohar for Beginners (Hebrew University) 2011-2012 Prayer, Magic, Custom and Myth: The Jewish Ritual in the Secular World (Ofakim Honors Program for the Teaching of Jewish Studies Teachers, Tel Aviv University) 2007-2009 Meaning and Significance: Teaching Rabbinic Literature and Jewish Thought (Revivim Honors Program for the Teaching of Jewish Studies Teachers, Hebrew University) 2006-2008 Bibliographical Guidance and Research Methods (Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University) 2008-2009 Vicissitudes in the Perception of the Godhead in Modern Hebrew Literature (Bar-Ilan University)

Doctoral Supervision 2010 Ariel Rubin (Ph.D. student), "Lurianic and Messianic Motifs in David Shahar’s Oeuvre" Co-supervising with Avidov Lipsker in the Department for the Literatures of the Jewish People, Bar-Ilan University

Selected Academic Conferences and Presentations 2010 "The Literary Depiction of the Figurative Image of God in S. Y. Agnon's Oeuvre," British Association of Jewish Studies (BAJS) Conference (Southampton, England) 2010 "Vicissitudes in the Perception of the Mythical Godhead in Bialik's Poems," National Association of Professors of Hebrew (NAPH) Conference (New York, NY) 2010 "Why the World Was Molded by Alphabetical Letters? A Lacanian Perspective" (Guest Lecture), University of Chicago, The Center for Jewish Studies 2009 "Kabbalistic and Mystical Influences on Contemporary Israeli Poetry and Literature," The 41st Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) 2009 "The Roots of Speculation on the Alphabet in Jewish Sources from Late Antiquity," The 15th World Congress of Jewish Studies

2006 "The Perceptions of Letters in the Samaritan Memar Marqua and Its Equivalences in Rabbinic Sources and in the Book of Creation," The 14th World Congress of Jewish Studies

List of Publications – Refereed Books 1. Letters by which Heaven and Earth Were Created: The Origins and the Meaning of the Perceptions of Alphabetic Letters as Independent Units in Late Antiquity's Jewish Sources (Bialik Press, forthcoming). [Hebrew] 2. Death of the Shekhinah in S. Y. Agnon's Oeuvre: A Reading in Four Stories and Their Sources (Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2009). [Hebrew]

Articles 1. "Katerina and the Jew: A Few Notes about Appelfeld’s Katerina and Freud’s Katherina," Studies in Jewish Narrative 3, (forthcoming). [Hebrew] 2. “Soft and Hard: More Comments on the Syrian Context of Sefer Yetsirah,” Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts, [Hebrew] (forthcoming). 3. "The Reception of Sefer Yetsirah and Jewish Mysticism in the Early Middle Ages," The Jewish Quarterly Review (forthcoming). 4. "'Things Which Are Better Concealed than Revealed': Some Historical Observations on S. Y. Agnon's Attitudes toward the Sabbatean Movement," The Association for Jewish Studies Review (forthcoming). 5. "Some Short Remarks on the Syrian Context of The Book of Creation," Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 22 (2011), pp. 75-90. [Hebrew] 6. "On the Matter of Language: Creation of the World from Letters and Jacques Lacan's Perception of Letters as Real," The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 17 (2009), pp. 101-115. 7. "S. Y. Agnon's 'Ido and Einam' and the Death of the Myth," Reshit 1 (2009), pp. 261-277. [Hebrew] 8. "Different Traditions of Creation of the World from Letters," Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 17 (2008), pp. 169-200. [Hebrew] 9. "Teaching the Bible as Misreading," Hagut: Studies in Jewish Educational Thought 8 (2008), pp. 141-163. [Hebrew] 10. "The Perception of the Letters in the Samaritan Memar Marqa and in its Equivalents in Rabbinic Sources and in the Book of Creation," Jewish Studies 43 (2007), pp. 89-129. [Hebrew]

Book Chapters

1. “A Metamorphosis in the Perception of God in Bialik’s Poetry,” in: On Faith: Studies in the Concept of Faith and its History in the Jewish Tradition, M. Halbertal, D. Kurzweil and A. Sagi, eds., Academic Studies Press, forthcoming. 2. "Listening to the Silent Crying of the Shekhinah: Mysticism in Modern Hebrew Literature – Between Textual Influence and Mythical Atmosphere," Literature, Kabbalah and Magic, S. Mualem and A. Elkayam, eds., Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, forthcoming. [Hebrew] 3. "The 'Akedah' Complex and Aharon Appelfeld's Attitude towards Christian Metaphysics," Aharon Appelfeld: Readings, Avidov Lipsker and Avi Sagi, eds. (Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press), pp. 285-300. [Hebrew] 4. "The Yearning for Eastern Europe in Modern Hebrew Literature," Michael's Book: Between This Time to Those Days – A Festschrift for Michael Bahat, Avi Sagi, ed. (Jerusalem: Keter, 2007), pp. 525-543. [Hebrew] 5. "From Na'ama to Na'aman: The Metamorphosis of Three Myths from the Biblical Literature to Contemporary Literature," Shay Le-Joseph, Meir Jonathan, ed. (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University, 2003), pp. 181-188. [Hebrew]. Encyclopedia Entries 1. Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore, Haya Bar Yitzhak, ed. (forthcoming).  Kabbalah

Other Publications Articles 1.a. "A State of Orphanhood," Eretz Acheret 31 (2006). [Hebrew] 1.b. English version in Eretz Acheret 31 (2009). 2.a. "The Shekhinah's Broken Wing," Eretz Acheret 47 (2008). [Hebrew] 2.b. English version in Eretz Acheret 40 (2010).

Submitted 1. "Who is a Beautiful Maiden without Eyes? From a Christian Allegory to a Zoharic Metaphor," History of Religion (submitted).

Languages Hebrew, English, French, German, Syriac