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 Dr. Yossi Leshem Promoted to Adjunct Associate Professor of Bible at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem Dr. Yossi Leshem has been promoted to Adjunct Associate Professor of Bible at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, as of July 1, 2008. In announcing the promotion, Rabbi David Ellenson noted, "For over 28 years at the College-Institute in Jerusalem, Dr. Yossi Leshem has contributed as a scholar and teacher in the areas of Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Hebrew Inscriptions from the First Temple Period, and Learning Disabilities. He is an esteemed member of the faculty, and has touched the lives of generations of our Israeli and North American students with his expertise, mentorship, and friendship." Dr. Leshem has taught Biblical Hebrew at HUC-JIR's Jerusalem School since 1979, was appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor of Bible in November 2003, and has served the College-Institute in numerous programmatic capacities. During his time at the College-Institute, Leshem has also served as a professor at the Teachers Colleges David Yellin and Kerem in Jerusalem. For his sabbatical, he spent two years as a professor at the College for Jewish Studies in Heidelberg, Germany. In addition, he was the Director of the Masia Institute for Revival of the Hebrew Language, and founded and directed a center for students with learning disabilities. Dr. Leshem received his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he wrote his dissertation on "'Royal' Usages in the Language of Samuel and Kings and their Contribution to Dating the Narrative Material in Judges and Ruth." He also earned his M.A. in Old Testament and his B.A. in Old Testament and Hebrew Grammar from Hebrew University. Among his numerous scholarly writings, three articles relating to the literary analysis of the Bible - focusing on I Samuel 16.21, I Samuel 18.7, and II Kings 9.30 - grew out of questions and suggestions of HUC-JIR students in the classroom. A forthcoming article relating the grammatical commentaries of the 12th-century commentator R. Samuel ben Meir, known as the Rashbam, to the Book of Ecclesiastes that aims to solve the scholarly question of whether the composition can indeed be attributed to the Rashbam, will be published in the Annual of Biblical and Near Eastern Studies. Other upcoming articles focus on comparing two Biblical families from a literary and linguistic perspective, and on the way medieval commentators understood distinctions between keri and ketiv (the way a Biblicalword is written and the way it is to be pronounced." His research in the area of learning challenges and disabilities has generated an article on the ways in which students with hearing challenges cope with learning Hebrew verbs. Founded in 1875, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the nation's oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual, and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR educates men and women for service to American and world Jewry as rabbis, cantors, educators, and communal service professionals, and offers graduate and post-graduate programs to scholars of all faiths. With centers of learning in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York, HUC-JIR's scholarly resources comprise renowned library and museum collections, the American Jewish Archives, biblical archaeology excavations, research institutes and centers, and academic publications. HUC-JIR invites the community to an array of cultural and educational programs which illuminate Jewish history, identity, and contemporary creativity and which foster interfaith and multiethnic understanding. Visit us at www.huc.edu |
