Yael Landman

Assistant Professor of Bible

Department: Bible

Biography

BA, University of Pennsylvania; PhD, Yeshiva University

Dr. Yael Landman is assistant professor of Bible. Her most recent book, Legal Writing, Legal Practice: The Biblical Bailment Law and Divine Justice (Brown Judaic Studies, 2022), examines the biblical laws of bailment (i.e., temporary safekeeping) in Exodus 22 as a lens through which to explore the relationship of law in the biblical law collections and law-in-practice in ancient Israel. This book exposes a vision of divine justice at the heart of pentateuchal law and further traces continuities between ancient Near Eastern and early Jewish law. 

At JTS, Dr. Landman teaches courses about the Bible, its history of interpretation (including Jewish exegesis and modern critical methods) and receptions, and its ancient Near Eastern contexts. Prior to arriving at JTS, she taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Yeshiva University, and the Drisha Institute, and also served as acquisitions editor for Gorgias Press. 

Grants, Fellowships, and Awards

  • Berkowitz Fellowship, New York University School of Law (2025–2026) 
  • Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise, awarded for Legal Writing, Legal Practice: The Biblical Bailment Law and Divine Justice (2024)  
  • Littauer Faculty Research Fund, Jewish Studies Program, University of Pennsylvania (2022)
  • Affiliated Fellow, Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania (2019–2020)
  • Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Judaic Studies, Brooklyn College (2017–2019)
  • Paula E. Hyman Mentorship Program, Association for Jewish Studies (2017–2018) 
  • Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Association for Jewish Studies (2016–2017) 
  • Doctoral Scholarship Grant, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Studies (2014–2015 and 2015–2016) 
  • Gorgias Press Book Grant (2014) 
  • Visiting Doctoral Scholar-in-Residence, the Tikvah Center for Law and Jewish Civilization, New York University School of Law (2013-2014) 
  • Center for Jewish Law and Contemporary Civilization Fellowship, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (2011–2013) 

Publications

  • P’shat commentary on Vayiggash, The New Reform Torah Commentary (CCAR, forthcoming) 
  • “Biblical Law,” Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Law and Literature, edited by Robert Spoo and Simon Stern (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025)
  • Review of Chaya T. Halberstam, Trial Stories in Jewish Antiquity: Counternarratives of Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024), The Bible and Critical Theory (2025) 
  • “Centering the Child: The Adoption Metaphor in Nathan’s Parable (2 Samuel 12:1–4),” in Adoption in the Hebrew Bible, edited by Cat Quine and Ekaterina Kozlova (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2024) 
  • “Of Dowries and Daughters: A Law and Literature Approach to the Achsah Story in Joshua and Judges,” Vetus Testamentum (2024) 
  • “A Mother Gets Custody: The Legal Background to Genesis 21:14-21,” Biblical Interpretation 32 (2024) 
  • “Of Lambs and Lambasting: The Message in Nathan’s Parable to David,” thetorah.com (2023) 
  • Review of Klaus-Peter Adam, Hate and Enmity in Biblical Law (London: T&T Clark, 2022), Review of Biblical Literature (2023) 
  • קרבן אשם על שבועת שקר: מדוע החוטא מתוודה?, thetorah.co.il (2023) 
  • Legal Writing, Legal Practice: The Biblical Bailment Law and Divine Justice (Brown Judaic Studies, 2022) 
  • “Mouth | Judaism | Rabbinic Judaism,” Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (De Gruyter, 2022)
  • “Asham of False Oaths: Why Does the Offender Confess?” thetorah.com (2020)  
  • “Herding in Haran: A Note on Jacob’s Claim in Genesis 31:39,” Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische Rechtsgeschichte 25 (2019)
  • Series, law in the book of Exodus, 929 English (2018)
  • “Dissertation Spotlight: A Biblical Law in Its Ancient Near Eastern Contexts,” Ancient Jew Review (2017)
  • “On Lips and Tongues in Ancient Hebrew,” Vetus Testamentum 66 (2016)
  • Review of Jeremy D. Smoak, The Priestly Blessing in Inscription and Scripture: The Early History of Numbers 6:24-26 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), Ancient Jew Review (2016)

Lectures

  • “Of Pregnancy and פללים: Conceptions of Fetal Loss in Exodus 21:22,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (Boston, 2025)  
  • “Izevel and the Trial of Navot (1 Kings 21),” Yemei Iyun on Bible, Jewish Thought and Talmud (Bronx, 2025) 
  • “‘Like a Daughter’: An Adoption Metaphor in Nathan’s Parable (2 Samuel 12:1-4),” Yeshiva University (New York, 2025)  
  • “Exodus 32: A Law and Literature Approach,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (San Diego, 2024)  
  • “The Biblical Legal Imagination: Law, Literature, and the Construction of Biblical Cultures,” Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award Colloquium (Heidelberg, Germany, 2024) 
  • “Dressing Up (As) Queen Esther: From Pageant to Purim,” JTS (New York, 2024)  
  • “Law, Literature, and Performance: New Directions in Biblical Law,” Columbia Hebrew Bible Seminar conference (New York, 2024) 
  • “Women and Biblical Law” (roundtable participant), Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference (San Francisco, 2023) 
  • “Of Daughters, Donkeys, and Dowries: Achsah’s Acquisition of Property in Legal Perspective,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (San Antonio, 2023) 
  • “Be My Galentine? Female Friendship in the Hebrew Bible,” JTS (virtual, 2023)  
  • Women’s Voices in the Tanakh (Series), Mathilde’s Master Class, Women’s League for Conservative Judaism (virtual, 2023)  
  • “‘Perhaps They Will Listen’: Prophecy and Social Justice,” JTS (virtual, 2023)  
  • “‘Let Justice Roll Down Like Water’: Prophecy and Social Justice,” JTS (virtual, 2023) 
  • “Centering the Child: The Adoption Metaphor in Nathan’s Parable (2 Samuel 12:1-4),” Princeton Theological Seminary Old Testament Colloquium (Princeton, 2023) 
  • “What is Halakhah? Methodological Reflections” (roundtable participant), Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference (Boston, 2022) 
  • “An Eye for an Eye in the Ancient Near East,” Drisha (West Milford, NJ, 2022)
  • “The Rabbis’ Four Bailees: From Cuneiform Law to Classical Judaism,” Harvard Law School (virtual, 2022)
  • “‘Like a Daughter’: Uncovering Adoption in Nathan’s Parable (2 Samuel 12:4–14),” Association for Jewish Studies Conference (Chicago, 2021) 
  • “Confessions of a False Swearer: Penitence and Penalties in Leviticus 5:20–26, Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (virtual, 2021)
  • “A Discussion on the New Translation of the Magerman Edition Koren Tanakh,” Yeshiva University (virtual, 2021)
  • “A Mother Gets Custody: Law and Narrative in Genesis 21:14–21,” Columbia Hebrew Bible Seminary (virtual, 2021)
  • “A Lost Cause? Unpacking the Bible’s Lost Property Laws,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (virtual, 2020)
  • “Livestock Law and Prophetic Pastures: Herding in Ezekiel 34 and Zechariah 11,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (San Diego, CA, 2019) 
  • “Locust, Fire, Anakh, Fruit: Unriddling Amos’ Visions,” Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Yemei Iyun in Bible and Jewish Thought (Bronx, 2019)
  • “Of Loss and Lambs: A New Understanding of Genesis 31:39,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (Denver, CO, 2018) 
  • “Israel as Zonah (prostitute): Unpacking a Metaphor,” Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Yemei Iyun in Bible and Jewish Thought (Bronx, 2018)
  • “Wherefore Legal Fictions? A Case Study in Ancient Near Eastern, Roman, and Early Jewish Law,” Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference (Washington DC, 2017)
  • “Is There a Biblical ‘Law’? Law in the World of the Bible,” Center for Jewish History (New York, 2017)