Fall 2026 Faculty News
October 27, 2026
It has been a vibrant fall for JTS faculty, marked by new publications, conference presentations, groundbreaking research, and scholarly work around the globe. Read below for the highlights.
In spring of 2027, Dr. Marjorie Lehman, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, will be a fellow at the Katz Center for Advanced Jewish Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Shira Billet, Assistant Professor of Jewish Thought and Ethics, was named a Starr Visiting Scholar in Jewish Philosophy at Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies in spring 2027, and she received the 2026–2027 Westheimer Career Development Fellowship at the Leo Baeck Institute. Her recent article entitled “Prophecy and the Prophets in Modern Judaism” was recently published in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception.
Professor David Marcus, Professor Emeritus of Bible and Masorah, published two books with Gorgias Press: The Masorah of Daniel and Ezra-Nehemiah Translated and Annotated. Volume 1: Daniel and The Masorah of Daniel and Ezra-Nehemiah Translated and Annotated. Volume 2: Ezra-Nehemiah.
At Loyola University Maryland in October, Dr. Robert A. Harris, Ph.D., Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages, joined Elaine T. James, Ph.D., Professor of Old Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, in a conversation and Q&A about the Book of Isaiah and its implications for Jewish-Christian perspectives today.
Professor Jonathan Milgram, Associate Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, participated in an international workshop in Israel exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence and Talmudic scholarship. Hosted by Hemdat Academic College in Sdot Negev, the gathering brought together researchers from Israel, the United States, Scotland, and Italy to examine how AI can support the study and teaching of Talmudic and rabbinic literature. Professor Milgram chaired a session highlighting innovative research and educational projects, from tools that help transcribe medieval manuscripts to new approaches for teaching Talmud to students.
The workshop coincided with the anniversary of the October 7 attacks, and participants visited nearby Sderot and the Pillars of Eternity, a monument that commemorates the attack. Reflecting on the experience, Professor Milgram shared: “To be engaged in the advanced study of Torah in this place after the atrocities of just three years ago is the greatest testament to the Jewish people’s commitment to persevere, rebuild, and create moments of hope and meaning even in the wake of tragedy and devastation.”
In June 2026, Dr. Yael Landman, Assistant Professor of Bible, published the article “Letting Ishmael Live: Abraham’s Plea in Genesis 17:18” in the volume The Scrolls of the Torah: Material, Compositional and Interpretive Perspectives.
Dr. Edna Nahshon, Professor of Jewish Theater and Drama, is curating an exhibition titled “Jews and Shoes” at the Herbert & Eileen Bernard Museum of Judaica at Temple Emanu-El. The exhibition is inspired by Dr. Nahshon’s book Jews and Shoes (2008) and is scheduled to open in late February 2027. Museum director Warren Klein is a JTS alum, and the exhibition will feature several loaned items by The JTS Library.
In addition, Dr. Nashon’s article “Between Warsaw and Tel-Aviv: Yitzhak Nozik and the Matateh Theater” is expected to be published in the January 2027 issue of Jewish Identities, published by The Johns Hopkins University Press. At the Israel for the Association for Israel Studies conference, she presented a paper titled “Israel and American Jews on the Broadway Stage: Jerry Herman’s Musical Milk and Honey (1961). She is also working on a study of the Hebrew Actors Union, the first labor actors’ union in America, which preceded Actors Equity by at least 14 years.
Dr. Richard Kalmin, the Theodore R. Racoosin Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, has been named a Scientific Advisory Board member of the Amard Center for Irano-Semitic Studies and Adjunct Professor Jason Schulman published an edited volume this summer called, Holocaust Education in America: Politics and Pedagogy, 1982–2025 (Texas Tech University Press, 2026).
