Federico Dal Bo, PhD PhD

Italian National Scientific Qualification (ASN)

2022-2032
10/F4 — Critica Letteraria e Letterature Comparate (Literary Criticism and Comparative Literature)

10/N1 — Culture del Vicino Oriente Antico, del Medio Oriente e dell'Africa (Cultures of the Ancient Near East, Middle East and Africa)

11/A4 — Scienze del Libro e del Documento e Scienze Storico Religiose (Book and Document Sciences and Historical Religious Sciences)

11/C1 — Filosofia Teoretica (Theoretical Philosophy)

Past Employment & Postdoctoral Training

2019-2023
Research Assistant at the University of Heidelberg (Germany)

2019
Member of the Center for the Study of Conversion & Inter-Religious Encounters (Ben Gurion University of the Negev)

2017
Invited Lecturer in Jewish Studies (University of Lucerne, Switzerland)

2016-2019
Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain)

2014-2016
Postdoctoral Fellow at the ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry (Germany)

2009-2011
Research Assistant in Jewish Studies (Free University of Berlin, Germany)

2007-2008
Postdoctoral Fellow in Jewish Studies at the Rothschild Foundation Europe (Yad ha-Nadiv) (London) & Research Assistant in Jewish Studies (Free University of Berlin, Germany)

1998-2001
Teaching Assistant in Theoretical Philosophy (University of Bologna, Italy)

Graduate and Postgraduate Education

2006-2008
PhD in Jewish Studies (Free University of Berlin, Germany)

2000-2006
MA in Hebrew (University of Florence, Italy)

2001-2005
PhD in Translation Studies (University of Bologna, Italy)

2004
Scholarship as Visiting Graduate Student at Brown University (Providence, R.I., USA)

2003
Scholarship as Visiting Graduate Student at Brown University (Providence, R.I., USA)

1992-1997
MA in Philosophy (University of Bologna, Italy)

‘My Mother Tongue Is a Foreign Language’: On Edmond Jabès’s Writing in Exile in A. Castore – F. Dal Bo (eds), Untying the Mother Tongue, Berlin, Berlin ICI Press, 2023, pp. 45-84

(with Sylvia Brockstieger, Paul Schweitzer-Martin, Johanna Baumgärtel, Friederike Elias, Rebecca Hirt, Radu Leca, Hanna Liss, Bernd Schneidmüller, Melanie Trede) Materialer Wandel, in N. Dietrich – L. Lieb – N. Schneidereit (eds), Theorie und Systematik materialer Textkulturen, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2023, pp. 159-205

‘The Exile from the Law.’ Keeping and Transgressing the Limits in Jewish Law, in Christoph F. E. Holzhey – Arnd Wedemeyer (eds), Errans: Going Astray, Being Adrift, Coming to Nothing, Cultural Inquiry, Berlin, ICI Berlin Press, 2022, pp. 201–31

«Smarrirsi in alto». Su Linguaggio e Profezia. Appunti a margine di alcuni scritti di Maurizio Malaguti, in A. Baggio – M. Galvani – A. Migliari – N. Rubbi (eds), Vivere in filosofia. Scritti in ricordo di Maurizio Malaguti, Rome, Tab Edizioni, 2022, pp. 103-114

‘If you will judge me to have merit.’ Isaac Aboab da Fonseca’s Preface to his Hebrew Translation of Abraham Cohen De Herrera’s Puerta del Cielo, in S. Brentjes (ed.), Narratives on Translation across Eurasia and Africa. From Babylonia to Colonial India, Turnhout, Brepols, 2022, pp. 249-259

Paul’s Definition of “Circumcision of the Heart.” A Transcultural Reading of Romans 2:28-29, in W.M. Schniedewind – J.M. Zurawski – G. Boccaccini (eds.), Torah. Functions, Meanings, and Diverse Manifestations in Early Judaism and Christianity, Atlanta, SBL, 2022, pp. 397-410

Mysticism and Political Extremism in Henry Bean’s Script The Believer (2001), in C. Bartlett and J, Schlör (eds), The Stranger in Early Modern and Modern Jewish Tradition, Leiden, Brill, 2021, pp. 117–132

A Foetus Shaped like a Sandal. Birth Anomalies in Talmudic Tractate Niddah, in L. Lehmhaus (ed), Defining Jewish Medicine. Transfer of Medical Knowledge in Premodern Jewish Cultures and Traditions, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2021, pp. 93-118

La Mística de los Palacios Divinos en Siglo XIII. Los Heikhalot Bereshit y Heikhalot Pekudei en el Zóhar, in H.S. Fermin (ed), Kabbala Judía y Mística Carmelitana. Encuentros en Sefarad, Avila, Grupo Editorial Forte & CITeS – Universidad de la Mistica, 2020, pp. 169-193

Sexualities and Il/licit Relationships in Late Ancient Jewish Literatures, in G. Kessler – N. Koltun-Fromm (eds), A Companion to Late Ancient Jews and Judaism: 3rd Century BCE - 7th Century CE, Hoboken, Wiley-Blackwell, 2020, pp. 307-321

Hebrew as “Remedy” to the Shoah in Dan Pagis’ Poetry, in B. Hofmann – U. Reuter (eds), Translated Memories. Transgenerational Perspectives on the Holocaust, Lanham, Lexington, 2020, pp. 165-182

«L’immediata intensità messianica del cuore». Paolinismo nel Frammento teologico-politico di Walter Benjamin, in T. Tagliacozzo – G. Guerra (eds.), Felicità e tramonto. Sul Frammento teologico-politico di Walter Benjamin, Macerata, Quodlibet, 2020, pp. 139-152

Textualizing, De-Textualizing, and Re-Textualizing the Talmud. The Dimension of Text in the Extractiones de Talmud, in A. Fidora – G.K. Hasselhoff (eds.), The Talmud in Dispute During the High Middle Ages, Bellaterra, Servei de Publicacions de la UAB, 2019, pp. 101-124

Nihilism and Extremist Religious Education in Contemporary Israel. The King's Torah and its Discontents, in S. Kunze – F. Jacob (Eds.), Jewish Radicalisms. Historical Perspectives on a Phenomenon of Global Modernity, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2019, pp. 241-267

Testifying, Writing, and Putting God in the Dock: Elie Wiesel and the Crisis of Traditional Theodicy, in V. Nesfield – P. Smith (Eds.), The Struggle for Understanding. Elie Wiesel's Literary Works, New York, SUNY, 2019, pp. 169-193

“Women Are Like Cattle.” Some Remarks on Early Jewish Judicial Vocabulary on Women and Nature, in S.L.Budin – M. Cifarelli – A. Garcia-Ventura – A. Millet Albà (Eds), Gender and methodology in the ancient Near East: Approaches from Assyriology and beyond, Barcelona, Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, 2019, pp. 315-326

Appendix Glossarum. A Preliminary Edition of the Glosses Contained in the Extractiones de Talmud, in U. Cecini – Ó. de la Cruz Palma, Extractiones de Talmud per Ordinem Sequentialem, Turnhout, Brepols, 2018, pp. 597-710

“Economic speculation and the sacred,” “Market prices,” “Market intervention and the common good,” and “Market intervention and the common good,” in M. Satlow (Ed.), Judaism and the Economy. A Sourcebook, London, Routledge, 2018, pp. 46-47, 48, 53-54, 69-70

“So then, the Law is Holy, and the Commandment is Holy, Righteous and Good.” Augustine’s Ambiguities on the Jewish Law, in S.K. Danielson – F. Jacob (Eds), Intellectual Antisemitism, Würzburg, Königshausen & Neumann, 2018, pp. 21-40

A Contemporary Midrash: Saramago’s Re-Telling of the “Sacrifice of Isaac”, in C. Salzani – K. Vanhoutte (Eds), Saramago’s Philosophical Heritage, Basingstoke, Palgrave McMillan, 2018, pp. 121-142

A Priest’s “Uncircumcised Heart.” Some Theological-Political Remarks on a Rashi’s Gloss in tractate Sanhedrin and its Latin translation in Extractiones de Talmud, in U.Cecini – E. Vernet i Pons (Eds), Studies on the Latin Talmud, Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2017, pp. 129-144

Emmanuel Levinas' Messianism and the World to Come. A Gnostic-Philosophical Reading of Tractate Sanhedrin 96b-99a in L.J. Greenspoon, Olam ha-Ze v'Olam ha-Ba. This World and the World to Come in Jewish Belief and Practice, Lafayette (Indiana), Purdue University Press, 2017, pp. 197-213

Legal and Transgressive Sex, Heresy, and Hermeneutics in the Talmud: The Cases of Bruriah, Rabbi Meir, Elisha ben Abuya and the Prostitute, in E. Ancselovits – G. Wilkes (eds.), Jewish Law and Academic Discipline. Contributions from Europe, Liverpool, Deborah Charles, 2016, pp. 128-151

Die „Opferung Isaaks“ zwischen jüdischem Midrasch und der Poetik des Aristoteles nach ihrer griechischen, syrischen, arabischen und hebräischen Überlieferung in M. Menicacci (ed.), Das Tragische: Dichten und Denken. Literarische Modellierungen eines ‚pensiero tragico,‘ Heidelberg, Winter Verlag, 2016, pp. 39-55

Dan Pagis e il Meridiano della Memoria in D. Pagis, Papà, Firenze, La Giuntina, 2014, pp. 53-75

Du solltest dich verfolgen lassen. Eine theologisch-politische Auslegung vom Talmudischen Traktat Baba Kamma 93 [You should let you be persecuted. A theological-political Reading from the Talmud Tractate Baba Kamma 93] in C.S. Dorchain – T. Speccher (eds.), Täter und Opfer. Verbrechen und Stigma im europäisch-jüdischen Kontext, Würzburg, Verlag Königshausen & Neumann, 2014, pp. 69-95

The entry Le'om in H.J. Fabry – U. Dahmen (eds.), Theologische Wörterbuch zu den Qumrantexten / Theological Dictionary of the Qumran manuscripts, II Band, (ThWQ), Stuttgart, Kohlhammer, 2013, p. 466

Women to Think With: Sexual Transgressions as Heuristics in Tractate Kritot, in T. Ilan (ed.), A Feminist Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud II: Seder Qodashim. vol. 1, Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2012, pp. 241-252

A Reading of the “Epistle to the Romans” in Mithridates’ Latin translation of Giqatilla’s “Gates of Justice” for Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, in M. Perani e G. Corazzol (eds.), Flavio Mitridate mediatore fra culture nel contesto dell’ebraismo siciliano del XV secolo. Atti del Convegno Internazionale. Caltabellotta, 30 luglio-1 agosto 2008 Palermo, Officina di Studi Medievali, 2012, pp. 137-147

The entries “Bamah”, “Hutz,” and “Hoq” in H.J.Fabry – U. Dahm (eds.), Theologische Wörterbuch zu den Qumrantexten / Theological Dictionary of the Qumran manuscripts, I Band, (ThWQ), Stuttgart, Kohlhammer, 2011, pp. 460-462, 916-917, and 918-923

Traduzione come poesia: Bachmann e Celan interpreti di Ungaretti [Translation as Poetry: I. Bachmann and Paul Celan readings of Ungaretti], in A. Dolfi (ed.), Traduzione e poesia, Roma, Bulzoni, 2004, pp. 743-763

La testimonianza della pace. Derrida lettore di Celan [Witnessing Peace: Derrida Reads Paul Celan], in I. Malaguti (ed.), Filosofia e pace, Rimini, Fara, 2000, pp. 224-239

Ebraismo e filosofia. Levinas e la comunità occidentale [Judaism and Philosophy. Levinas and the Western Community], in R. Panattoni (ed.), La comunità, la sua legge, la sua giustizia, Padova, Il Poligrafo, 2000, pp. 117-127

Postfazione in G. Hottois, Il segno e la tecnica, [Afterword to the Italian Edition of Hottois’ Le signe et la technique], Ferrara, Gallio Editori, 1999, pp. 224-257

“Cinque trattati qabbalistici. Un’indagine preliminare di alcuni testi provenienti dalla Collezione Antonelli della Biblioteca Ariostea di Ferrara,” in Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni, 88, 2 (2022), pp. 533-588

"Giqatilla’s Philosophical Poems on the Hebrew Vowels: Poetry, Philosophy, and Theology in Giqatilla’s Ginnat Egoz and Sefer ha‐Niqqud,” in Religions, 12, 554 (2021), pp. 1-20

"The Evolution of Rabbi Mordekhay ben Yehudah Dato’s Messianism: from his Early Sabbatical Hymn Vieni ò sposa to his Later Vernacular Texts,” in Journal of Jewish Studies, LXXI, 1 (2020), pp. 93-120

"Jesus’ Trial In The Latin Talmud. Tractate Sanhedrin and its Translation in the Extractiones de Talmud,” in Henoch, 41, 1 (2019), pp. 140-176

"Jesus’ Punishment in Hell in the Latin Translation of the Babylonian Talmud. A Passage from Tractate Gittin in the Extractiones de Talmud," in Henoch, 40, 1 (2018), pp. 165-195

[with A. Fidora] “‘Inicium Creationis Iesu Nazareni.’ Toledot Yeshu in the Thematic Version of the Extractiones de Talmud," in Henoch, 40, 1 (2018) pp. 206-222

“Hebrew and Aramaic Terms in the ‘Extractiones de Talmud.’ Some Remarks on a Thirteenth-Century Latin Translation of the Talmud,” in Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies 5, 2 (2018) pp. 241-260

“Talmudic Angelology and the Tosafists: On Metatron in the Latin Translation of Tractates Sanhedrin and Avodah Zarah,” in Jewish Studies Quarterly 25 (2018) pp. 42-61

“‘A Sage Understands of His Knowledge’ (mHag 2:1). Degrees and Hierarchy of Knowledge in Abraham Abulafia," in Mediaevalia. Textos e estudos, 36 (2017) (= online release February 2019) pp. 63-75

“Between the 'City of Man' and the 'City of God.' Levinas on the Biblical Institution of the 'Cities of Refuge' in Talmudic literature (bMakk 9b-10a),” in HannahArendt.net – Zeitschrift für Politisches Denken/ Journal for Political Thinking, 1, 8 (2016) pp. 74-92

“Textualism and Scepticism: Post-modern Philosophy and the Theology of Text,” in Melilah: Atheism, Scepticism and Challenges to Monotheism, vol. 12 (2015) pp. 84-96

“The Theological and Cultural Challenge of 'Messianic Jews.' Towards a New Jewish Paradigm?” in Pardes, Jesus in the Jewish Culture of the 19th and 20th century: Die Figur Jesu in der Jüdischen Kultur des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, 20 (2015) pp. 33-58

“The Theory of 'Emanation' in Gikatilla's 'Gates of Justice,'” in Journal of Jewish Studies, 62, 1 (2011) pp. 79-104

“Traduzione come mediazione linguistica: Celan traduttore di Ungaretti tra italiano e francese” [Translation as linguistic mediation: Celan as translator of Ungaretti between Italian and French], in Italian Poetry Review, 3 (2008) pp. 476-493

“Il poeta traduttore. Paul Celan e Ingeborg Bachmann si confrontano con Ungaretti” [The Poet Traslator. Paul Celan and Ingeborg Bachmann face Ungaretti] in Comunicare (2006) pp. 197-219

“Tra la sabbia e le stelle: Scholem e la traduzione di Zohar 22a-26b” [Between Sand and Stars: Scholem’s Translation of Zohar 22a-26b], in Materia Giudaica, VIII, 2 (2004) pp. 297-309

“Filosofia del linguaggio e morale della comunicazione in K.O. Apel” [Philosophy of Language and Ethics of Communication in K.O. Apel], in Segni e comprensione, XIV, n. 39-40 (2000) pp. 76-110

“L’utopia dell’angelo. Note a L’angelo necessario di Massimo Cacciari” [The Angel Utopia. Notes to Massimo Cacciari’s L’angelo necessario], in Arcipelago 5 (2000) pp. 114-121

“Il tema della salvezza nelle Confessioni di Agostino” [Augustine’s Theory of Redemption in Confessions], in Studia Patavina 47, I (2000) pp. 63-84

“La teoria della nevrosi in Freud e il movimento della metafora” [Freud’s Theory of Neurosis and the Movement of Metaphor], Rivista di psicologia 1 (1999) pp. 55-78

“Il medico e la filosofia. Un commento a L’interesse per la psicoanalisi di Freud” [Physician and Philosophy: A Comment on Freud's The interest in Psychoanalysis], Rivista di psicologia 3 (1995) pp. 81-101

“Il teatro del sapere: un’interpretazione della Repubblica platonica” [The Theatre of Knowledge: An Interpretation of Plato’s Republic], Philo:logica V, 9 (March 1996) pp. 91-104

Gershom Scholem: Sabatianismo y Antinomismo
On the Discord Channel "Insurrecciones Apocalípticas"
Organized by Dr Martino Sacchi (University of Barcelona)
July 19, 2023 (online)

Meditazione nell'ebraismo
Casa di studio di tutti i popoli
Centro Culturale Veritas
May 3 and 10, 2023, Trieste (online)

“Patet quod veritatem praedicaverat.” Historiography and Theology of History. A Quotation from Josephus’ Bellum Iudaicum in Thibaud de Sézanne's Pharetra Fidei
The Medieval Afterlife of Hellenistic Judaism in Western Europe
A conference organized by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) project: Lege Josephum! Ways of Reading Josephus in the Latin Middle Ages
University of Bern
March 15-17, 2023, Bern

Violence, Care, Cure
Publication Workshop
Centre Marc Bloch
January 20, 2023, Berlin

La questione della Rivelazione continua. Maimonide sulla verità teologica di Cristianesimo e Islam
La Ragione degli altri. L'appello alla ratio nelle religioni abramitiche a confronto nel Medioevo
Dipartimento di Studi sull'Asia e sull'Africa Mediterranea Università Ca' Foscari of Venice
December 14, 2022, Venice

Between Secularism and Messianism. Hegel, Kojève, and Agamben on the Notion of ‘Inoperative Law’
Politische Theologie im und im Ausgang des Deutschen Idealismus
University of Basel
November 24-25, 2022, Basel

“The Jewish image of man must be cubist.” Gershom Scholem on Cubism: on the Imaginary, Psychology, and Figurative Arts
The Eranos Experience. Spirituality and the Arts from a Comparative Perspective
Fondazione Giorgio Cini
November 17-19, 2022, Venice

Mito e verità ai tempi del colera. Social media, Twitter e messianismo durante la pandemia di Covid-19
Ripensare la verità. Nuove frontiere del pensiero ermeneutico
Centro Studi filosofico-religiosi “Luigi Pareyson”
November, 10-11 2022, Turin

Scholem sobre la (im)posibilidad de la traducción. La cuestión de la traducción de la novela corta neohebrea de Agnon
II Workshop. Filosofía de la traducción. Traducción de la filosofía
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
September, 28-29, 2022, Barcelona

Italian Beauty: Frames and Ornaments in Early Hebrew Prints from a Material and Textual Perspective
World Congress of Jewish Studies
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
August 8, 2022, Jerusalem

The Sorrows of Young Celan. Paul Celan's Early German Translations of Yehudah ha-Levi's Hebrew Poems
Cultural Encounters between Israel and Germany. Literary Cross-Cultural Relations 1918-1922
University of Basel
May 31-1 June, 2022, Basel

The Eruv of Venice. From Fragmentation to Unity. On Ben Schachter’s Eruv Maps and its Talmudic- Philosophical Value
Jewish Topographies. 5th International Congress on Jewish Architecture
Bet Tfila – Research Unit for Jewish Architecture
Technische Universität Braunschweig
March 28–31, 2022, Braunschweig (online)

Micro-History and Early Hebrew Prints On the Notion of Materiality
Between Manuscript and Print. Transitions, Simultaneities, and the Question of Shifting Meanings
SFB 933 “Material Text Cultures"
University of Heidelberg
February 21-23, 2022, Heidelberg (online)

Politics in the Time of Cholera. Covid, Table Manners, and Bio-Politics
Violence, Care, Cure. (Self)perceptions Within the Medical Encounter
Symposium organized by Clio Nicastro and Marta-Laura Cenedese
ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry
February 3-4, 2022, Berlin (online, hybrid)

Neither “Minor” nor “Midrashim”? New Approaches to a Misunderstood Canon
with Constanza Cordoni, Federico Dal Bo, Saskia Dönitz, Amos Geula, Simon Haffner, Jan Hon, Miriam Lange, Gerhard Langer, Astrid Lembke, Ludger Lieb, Clemens Liedtke, Hanna Liss, Johannes Müller, Ronit Nikolsky, Lucia Raspe, Sebastian Seemann, and Lieve Teugels
Digital Workshop
Hochschule für Jüdische Studien
November 8, 2021, Heidelberg (online)

Mistica ebraica
“Mistica e dialogo interreligioso nel contesto del Mediterraneo”
Pontificia Facoltà dell’Italia Meridionale
October 8-9, 2021, Neaples (online)

Paul Celan and the Poetics of Translation
DAAD Brazil – Palestra online Com
July 20, 2021, Brazil (online)

‘Incest’ in Qumran and Tannaitic Literature: A Halakhhic Struggle for Cultural Hegemony
Constructions of Gender in Late Antiquity
12th Enoch Nangeroni Meeting
July 20 2021, Potsdam (online)

Decostruzione e Talmud
Scuola Internazionale di Alti Studi “Scienze della cultura”
Fondazione Collegio San Carlo
April 30, 2021, Modena (online)

Mi-Alchemiah le-Magiah shel ha-Shemot ha-Qodashim. Paranshut Achat le-Yosef ben Abraham Giqatilla
Jewish Thought Department
Hosted by Prof. Dr. Avishai Bar Asher
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
December 16, 2020, Jerusalem (online)

Homosexuality as an “Arian Privilege” or a Universal Human Constant? A German-Jewish Debate between Benedict Friedlaender and Magnus Hirschfeld on Sexuality and Political Theology
Jewish and Queer Interactions in Central Europe and Mandatory Palestine/Israel (1870-1960)
Humboldt University
November 14-16, 2019, Berlin

El Misticismo de los Palacios Divinos en la Cabalá del siglo XIII
Los Heikhalot Bereshit y los Heikhalot Pekudei en lo Zohar
I Congreso Mundial Mística Judía y Mistica Cristiana
Kabbala judía y mística carmelitana: encuentros en Sefarad
CITeS – Universidad de la Mistica
September 26-29, 2019, Avila (Spain)

The Perception of Colors in Rabbi Moshe Chayym Luzzatto’s 18th-Century Kabbalah
“Senses and Perception”
The 16th Early Modern Workshop
Fordham University, Lincoln Center Campus
August 19-20, 2019, New York

“Paulinism” in the Wissenschaft des Judentums. On Scholem’s Reception of Paul in his Interwar Conferences on Sabbatianism
Grey Areas: Two Centuries of Wissenschaft des Judentums
Hochschule für Jüdische Studien
June 16-19, 2019, Heidelberg (Germany)

Ha-Talmud kmo Archivion Yehudi. Kamah He'arot Bio-Politiot ‘al ha-Targum le-Latinit shel ha-Talmud be-1240
The Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archeology
The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities
University of Tel Aviv
May 28, 2019, Tel Aviv

Las traducciones de la Cabala en latin por Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Flavius Mithridates como Traductor y Glossator
Identidades conversas, cabala e mística cristã
FLUP, Department of Philosophy
University of Porto
December 4, 2018, Porto (Portugal)

The Mysterious Disease Ishkara in its Medieval Reception. Some Insight from the 1242 Latin Translation of the Talmud
11th EAJS Congress
July 15-19, 2018, Krakow

Nathan as John the Baptist and Paul. Gershom Scholem and Jacob Taubes Disputing over Shabbataj Tzevi’s Heritage
From Gaza to Skopje: Nathan, the Prophet of Sabbatianism, in History, Literature and Philosophy
Sentro Moshe David Gaon de Kultura Djudeo-Espanyola / Ben Gurion University of the Negev
July 10-12, 2018, Skopje (Macedonia)

“They are not my people.” Mysticism and Political Extremism in Henry Bean’s script The Believer (2001)
Leo Baeck Institute in London
July 3, 2018, London

“L’immediata intensità messianica del cuore.” Paolinismo nel Frammento teologico-politico di Walter Benjamin
Associazione Italiana Walter Benjamin
Istituto Italiano di Studi Germanici
June 13, 2018, Rome

“I was born Jewish, I won’t die Jewish.” Judaism and Islam in An Italian Jew Converting to Christianity under Napoleon’s Domination in the 19th Century
Religious Conversions: Then and Now
Center for the Study of Conversions and Inter-Religious Encounters
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
May 28-31, 2018, Be‘er Sheva

‘Paulinism’ in the Science of Judaism. On Scholem's Reception of Paul and his Discontents
200 Years of Wissenschaft des Judentums: Historiography, Ideology and the Challenge of a Usable Past
Leo Baeck Institute in Jerusalem for the Study of German and Central European Jewry
February 18-20, 2018, Jerusalem

Rashi's Glosses in the Extractiones de Talmud
The Latin Talmud. A Joint Workshop
With the participation of: Harvey Hames (Ben Gurion University), Alexander Fidora (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), Ulisse Cecini (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), Oscar de la Cruz (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), Yakov Meir (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Annabel Gonzalez (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), Judith Weiss (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Isaac Lampurlanes (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev / Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
February 13, 2018, Beer Sheva

Traduir de l’hebreu a l’italià
Traduir els clàssics avui. De l'autor a l'editor
Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
November 28-29, 2017, Barcelona

A Feminist Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud
Féminismes religieux-spiritualités féministes
Université de Lausanne
November 23-24, 2017, Lausanne

Between Repetition and Innovation. A Covert Philosophy of History in the Jewish Medieval Commentaries on the Talmud
The Shape of Return. Process, Process, and Repetition in Medieval Culture
ICI Berlin Institut for Cultural Inquiry
September 29-30, 2017, Berlin

Waiting for the Messiah or enduring the Katechon? On Agamben’s negotiation between Paul, Benjamin, and Schmitt
Walter Benjamin and Method: Re-thinking the Legacy of the Frankfurt School
IWBS Conference 2017
University of Oxford
September 25-27, 2017, Oxford

Hebrew and Aramaic Terms in the Latin Talmud
Rabbinic Hebrew into Latin: Onomastics and translation in the Latin Talmud
17th World Congress of Jewish Studies
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
August 6-8, 2017, Jerusalem

The Latin Talmud. Assessing Boundaries between Judaism and Christianity in the 13th Century
Translating Babel: Religion and Translation in the Early Modern Period
Research Centre Gotha of the University of Erfurt
July 20-22, 2017, Gotha (Germany)

Importing Mysticism from the Orient. Jewish “Orientalism” in the 11th Century Travelogue The Chronicle of Ahima‘az
"Jews on the move"
British Association for Jewish Studies 2017
July 10-12, 2017, Edinburgh

Heated Debates. Feelings in the Talmud and its Latin Translation
International Medieval Meeting ”Feeling in the Middle Ages”
University of Lleida
June 27 2017, LLeida (Spain)

Paul’s Definition of “Circumcision of the Heart:” A Trans-Cultural reading of Rom 2:29
From tôrāh to Torah: Variegated Notions of Torah from the First Temple Period to Late Antiquity
Ninth Enoch Seminar
June 18-23, 2017, Camaldoli (Italy)

The “Sacrifice of Isaac” as God's Self-Testing in the 13th Century Spanish Kabbalah
International Conference: Translating Experience. Medieval Encounters with Nature, Self, and God
Department of History
Durham University
June 5-6, 2017, Durham (UK)

E pluribus unum? Multidisciplinarity in Jewish Studies Programs and Teaching
EAJS Workshop
University of Girona
May 28-29, 2017, Girona (Spain)

The Latin Translations of the Talmud and Jewish Mysticism. Strategies and Procedures for Translating “Edifying Literature” into Latin
Translation Studies World Congress
University of Paris Ovest-Nantierre-La-Défence
April 10-14, 2017, Paris

“Women are like cattle.” Some Remarks on early Jewish Juridical Vocabulary on Women and Nature
Second Workshop on Gender, Methodology and the Ancient Near East
Universitat de Barcelona
February 1-3, 2017, Barcelona

Torah as “Texture” in the 13th century Kabbalah. The notion of arigah and its use in Rabbi Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla
The Texture of Jewish Tradition. Investigations in Textuality
British Association for Jewish Studies 2016
College of Arts and Law at the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
July 10-12, 2016, Birmingham (UK)

The ‘Eruv of Venice. On Ben Schachter’s Eruv Maps and its Talmudic-Philosophical Value
The Ghetto of Venice. The Future of Memory in Digital Age
Department of Literature, University of California, Santa Cruz
June 28 – July 5, 2016, Venice (Italy)

From Halakhah to Kabbalah. The Evolution of the Jewish Animosity against the Gentiles: from a Juridical to a Metaphysical Controversy.
Interfaith Relations in the 14th Century
The 14th Century Society at the International Congress on Medieval Studies
May 12-15, 2016, Kalamazoo, Michigan (US)

“My Mother Tongue is a Foreign Language.” On Edmond Jabès’ Writing in Exile
International Conference: Untying the Mother Tongue. On Language, Affect, and the Unconscious
Keynotes by Daniel Boyarin and Hélène Cixous
Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry
May 11, 2016, Berlin

Alla ricerca della lingua ebraica perfetta: il dibattito sull’ebraico tra filosofia e Kabbalah
"Ars Grammatica e le lingue orientali" a cura di Prof. Matthias Kappler
Seminario tematico
Dipartimento di Studi sull'Asia e sull'Africa mediterranea/ Department of Asian and North African Studies
Università Ca' Foscari di Venezia
March 30, 2016, Venice

The Literary Absolute
Workshop with Jean-Luc Nancy and Susanne Lüdemann
Organized by Marcus Coelen and Claire Nioche-Sibony
ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry
February 1, 2016

Innerlichkeit and Äußerlichkeit. Martin Heidegger’s Schwarze Hefte and his Metaphysical Anti-Semitism
Innerlichkeit and Modernity. The German-Jewish Perspective
Zentrum für Jüdische Studien (ZJS)
January 28-29, 2016, Berlin

Thinking With Rabbinic Texts
Workshop with Dana Hollander (McMaster University), Chaya Halberstam (King’s University College, University of Western Ontario), Randi Rashkover (George Mason University), Yonatan Brafman (Jewish Theological Seminary of America), Sergey Dolgopolski (University at Buffalo), Deborah Barer (Oberlin College), Elias Sacks (University of Colorado), Michael Zank (Boston University), Hillel Levine (Boston University), Abigail Gillman (Boston University), Michael Grodin (Boston University), Zvi Septimus (Cornell University), Paul Nahme (Brown University), Samuel Brody (University of Kansas), Marjorie Lehman (Jewish Theological Seminary of America), Bruce Rosenstock (University of Illinois), Eugene Sheppard (Brandeis University), James Redfield (Stanford University), Federico Dal Bo (ICI Berlin), Lynn Kaye (Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles).
Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies
Boston University
December 16, 2015, Boston

The Theological Politics of Secrecy in Yosef Gikatilla
A Panel on “Exclusive Knowledge in Medieval Kabbalah” with Marla Segol, Jonathan Dauber, Jeremy Brown, and Hartley Lachter
47th Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS, 2015)
December 13-15, 2015, Boston

Tecniche interpretative e studi di genere: dal Talmud al decostruzionismo
Dipartimento di Scienze Giuridiche
Università di Bologna
November 27, 2015, Bologna (Italy)

Dan Pagis as a Reluctant Hebrew Poet and Paul Celan as a Reluctant German Poet. Language, Identity, and Poetry
The sixth Postgraduate Translation Symposium
The University of East Anglia
November 21-22, 2015, Norwich (UK)

Bruria: Eine Frau als Kommentatorin. Zur Hermeneutik und Sexualität im Talmud
Zentrum für Komparative Theologie und Kulturwissenschaften
University of Paderborn
November 11, 2015, Paderborn (Germany)

“By the Sanctuary, these Prices are too High!” A Case of Economic Speculation in a Jewish Law Book (revisited)
Jewish Attitudes toward Wealth and Poverty (Workshop)
Brown University
November 1-3, 2015, Providence (RI)

Levinas’ Ethical Religion. Levinas’ philosophical treatment of the “this world”-“the world to come” dichotomy
The Twenty-Eighth Annual Klutznick-Harris-Schwalb Symposium
Schwalb Center for Israel and Jewish Studies
University of Nebraska-Omaha
October 25-26, 2015, Omaha (US)

“Gentiles are like donkeys.” Some Theological-Political Remarks on Talmudic Juridical Vocabulary
Jewish/non-Jewish Relations from Antiquity to the Present
The Parkes Jubilee Conference
University of Southampton
September 7-9, 2015, Southampton (UK)

Eros und Kabbalah. Der Begriff von Liebe in der jüdischen Mystik
Lange Nacht der Religionen Berlin / Humboldt University
St. Elisabeth Kirche Mitte
August 29, 2015, Berlin

Archi-Writing. A Short History of Writing from the Caves to the Webspace
JVE-A Berlin
July 30, 2015, Berlin

“Skin:” a Metafictional Investigation into Jewish “Blackness” from Chamberlain’s and Pierce’s Racism to its Deconstruction in Modern British Film
The Promised Land: Utopia and Dystopia in Contemporary British-Jewish Culture
The Open University in London
July 23, 2015, London

Between Textualism and Skepticism Post-modern Philosophy and the Theology of Text
BAJS Conference 2015
University of Manchester/ Hamburg University
July 6, 2015, Manchester

Descending from the Tower of Babel. Authorship, Errors, Etymologies, and Literature.
Margin of Errors
Workshop with Rosa Barotsi, S. Pearl Brilmyer, James Burton, Antonio Castore, Federico Dal Bo, Maria José De Abreu, Preciosa Regina de Joya, Walid El-Houri, Ewa Majewska, Clara Masnatta, Claire Nioche-Sibony, Zairong Xiang
ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry
June 29-30, 2015, Berlin

Apocalypticism and Mysticism
Workshop with Proff. Daniel Boyarin, Lorenzo Di Tommaso, and Elliot Wolfson, under the guidance of Prof. Gabriele Boccaccini
Enoch Seminar
June 21-26, 2015, Gazzada (Milan, Italy)

“A Sage Understands of His Own Knowledge” (mHag 2:1). Degrees and Hierarchy of Knowledge in Abraham Abulafia
"How Jews Know?” Epistemologies of Jewish Knowledge
Free University of Berlin
Jun 3, 2015, Berlin

Going Home When “That Agony Returns” Primo Levi’s “Ad Ora Incerta” and His Tragic Nóstos from the Camps
Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies
Free University of Berlin
April 17, 2015, Berlin

“La istoria de Purim io ve racconto” Rabbi Mordekay ben Yehudah Dato as a reader of the Book of Esther between Literature and Kabbalah
The International Conferences on Jewish Italian Literature (ICOJIL) 8
March 19, 2015, Ferrara (Italy)

“By the Sanctuary, these prices are too high!” A case of Economic Speculation in a Jewish Law Book Religion, Ethnicity, and Economic Performance. New Concept and Empirical Applications
Humboldt University
March 5-6, 2015, Berlin

Dante - Auerbach - Pasolini
Workshop with Prof. Manuele Gragnolati
Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry
January 22, 2015, Berlin

“Egypt is only second to Israel.” Yosef ben Abraham Gikatilla on the Magic Names of God
Mysticism and Magic in Jewish Thought
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań / Institute of European Culture in Gniezno
January 15-16, 2015, Gniezno (Poland)

Die Opferung Isaaks zwischen Midrash und Aristotelischer Poetik
Kolloqium an der Universität Bonn: Das Tragische: Dichten als Denken
Bonn University
October 2-4, 2014, Bonn

From Auschwitz to Srebenica: A Case of “Transnational” Representation of the Shoah in Pascal Croci’s Comics
9. ComFor-Jahrestagung in Berlin: “Grenzen ziehen, Grenzen überschreiten”
Humboldt University Berlin
September 25-28, 2014, Berlin

A Fetus Shaped like a “Sandal:” Metaphors, Morphology, and Embryology in the Babylonian Talmud
European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS)
The X Congress of the EAJS 2014
July 20-24, 2014, Paris

K. as the New Isaac
The Jewish Law Association (JLA) 18th Biennial Conference
Institute of Jewish Studies, University of Antwerp
July 14-17, 2014, Antwerp

Lebenswelt und philosophisches Denken/ Pensiero e mondo della vita
Workshop with Prof. Sergio Givone
Humboldt Universität, Berlin / Centro Studi Filosofico-Religiosi "Luigi Pareyson”
April 7-11, 2014, Berlin

“The Incident about Bruria.” Sex, Heresy, and Hermeneutics in Tractate Avodah Zarah
Jewish Law Association / European Regional Conference 2013
November 17, 2013, Berlin

A Feminist Commentary on Tractate Keritot
Society for Biblical Literature / King's College
July 6, 2011, London

Nashim ke-Midrash Halakha: Prat ve-Klal
Women in the Temple? A Feminist Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud
Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem) / Institute for Jewish Studies (Berlin) / Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
March 7-8, 2011, Jerusalem

Women to "Think with:" Sexual Transgressions as Heuristics in Tractate Keritot
Ishà ba´azarà? “A Woman in the Temple Court?” Women in Seder Qodashim and in the Temple
Institute for Jewish Studies
Free University of Berlin
October 31 – November 2, 2010, Berlin

A Reading from the “Epistle to the Romans” in Mithridates’ Latin Translation of Gikatilla’s “Gates of Justice” for Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
II International Congress on Flavius Mithridates, Associazione Italiana per lo Studio del Giudaismo (AISG)
June 31 – July 1, 2008, Caltabellotta (Sicily)

Towards a Translation Theory. Paul Celan translator of Shakespeare
Second Annual FHIS Conference for Graduate Students in French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese Literature and Linguistics
French, Hispanic & Italian Studies (FHIS)
University of British Columbia
September 28, 2007, Vancouver

Figuratività e Diagrammi
Presentation of Prof. Giulio Busi’s Monograph “Qabbalah Visiva”
Istituto Universitario Arti Visive (IUAV) (University Ca´ Foscari Venice)
January 3, 2006, Venice (Italy)

Augustinus und die Ursprünge des christlichen Antijudaismus
Institute for Jewish Studies
Free University of Berlin
June 6, 2005, Berlin

The Evolution of the Jewish Book. Textualism and Hegemony of Reading (2019-2023)

In connection with the SFB 933 "Material Text Cultures” (Prof. Dr. Hanna Liss, University of Heidelberg/ Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg)

The present project addresses the evolution of the Jewish Book—the Bible, the Talmud, and the Zohar—from incunabula to late 16th centuries prints. While moving from historical, philological, and philosophical premises, I analyze the progressive passage from a linear to a panoptic layout that had a deep impact on the way of reading Holy Scriptures. My assumption is that a “panoptic” layout—as typically displayed in the Talmud or the Rabbinic Bible—provides the reader not only with a series of commentaries but also with a specific discipline of reading texts.

“Carnal Israel” and “Spiritual Israel:” Christians between Talmud and Kabbalah in the Renaissance (2016-2019)

In connection with the ERC project "The Latin Talmud” (LATTAL) (Prof. Dr. Alexander Fidora, Autonomous University of Barcelona)

The present research project intends to evaluate how Christian Hebraists receipted Jewish Hermeneutics in the Renaissance and how this has impacted on their representation of Judaism. My working assumption is that Christian Hebraists evaluated in a very tendentious way the development of Kabbalah besides to traditional Talmudic and Rabbinic literature. More specifically, I intend to show how Christian Hebraists tendentiously employed some hermeneutical differences between Talmud and Kabbalah in order to reinforce their stereotypical notion of a “carnal Israel” opposed to a “spiritual Israel.” On account of this, I intend to show that the negative reception of the Talmud and Rabbinic literature, on the one hand, and the positive reception of Kabbalah, on the other hand, are not contradictory; I assume that they rather represent two complementary ways of evaluating Judaism in order to prove the existence of a “carnal Israel” and a “spiritual Israel;” on account of this, the former would be associated to Talmud and Rabbinic literature, whereas the latter would be associated to the Kabbalah and, by extension, to the Christian Kabbalah

The Sacrifice of Isaac as Exodus from Law (2014-2016)

At the ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry (Dr. Dr. Christoph Holzhey)

The biblical “Sacrifice of Isaac” is considered, according to Jewish tradition, as Abraham’s final trial: that is, the conclusive act in his erratic wandering from Ur to the Land of Israel. I assume that the “Sacrifice of Isaac” has a crucial importance for understanding the ongoing secularization of European culture. On the one hand, Abraham is the acknowledged “Father” of the three monotheistic religions. On the other hand, the “Sacrifice of Isaac” in the bible displays his ultimate trial in front of God, representing a model for religious behavior in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. With respect to this, the “Sacrifice of Isaac” is the expression of an “agonistic” philosophy of law, that is a vital confrontation with juridical and ethical issues. I believe that there is an ontological connection between Abraham’s “erring” and his attitude towards the Law that he is willing to “transgress” by sacrificing Isaac in the name of God.

A Feminist Commentary on Tractate Keritot (2009-2011)

In connection with the DFG project "A Feminist Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud” (FCBT) (Prof. Dr. Tal Ilan, Free University of Berlin)

The tractate Keritot of the Babylonian Talmud belongs to the Order of Qodashim in the Mishnah. It discusses the Temple and its rituals, especially sacrifices, but deals mostly with laws on incest, sexual transgressions, childbirth, and miscarriages. In my commentary, I provided a historical, philological and philosophical investigation on these gender issues. I discussed almost the entire tractate, referring to many other sources, Jewish (the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Sifra, and other rabbinic texts) as well as non-Jewish (Akkadian, Hittite, and Ugaritic).

The Latin Translation of Yosef Gikatilla’s “Gates of Justice” (2006-2009)

In connection with the project “The Kabbalistic Library of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola” (Prof. Dr. Giulio Busi, Free University of Berlin)

In 1486 the Italian philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola charged Flavius Mithridates (aka Raimundo Moncada), a converted Jew of Sicilian provenance with the task of translating a whole kabbalistic library into Latin. Mithridates translated all the Jewish mystical works then available. Among then there was also the book "Gates of Justice” was written by Yosef ben Abraham Gikatilla (1248-1325) in mature theosophical-mystic period and was totally immersed into the world of the divine emanations: rephrasing and recasting his early disquisitions on the traditional Names of God, Gikatilla here provides a systematic and comprehensive explanation of their relation to the ten sefirot. I prepared a preliminary edition of the Hebrew text and of its Latin translation.

Current Employment

My Latest Book

Papers

My Latest Book Chapter

My Latest Journal Article

Translations

Teaching

Work

Talks

Projects

Videos