Current Position

Since 2026 – Principal Investigator of HaZen – Shaping Holiness, a BMFTR-funded initiative at Freie Universität Berlin dedicated to establishing an interdisciplinary centre for the comparative study of the production and handling of holy writings.

Associate Professor of Jewish Studies (Privatdozentin), Freie Universität Berlin.

Academic Qualifications

2018 – Habilitation in Jewish Studies, Department of History and Cultural Studies, Freie Universität Berlin.

2009 – PhD (Dr phil.), Freie Universität Berlin, summa cum laude.

2004 – MA (Magistra Artium) in Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, and Modern German Literature, Freie Universität Berlin.

1996–2004 – Studies in Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, and Modern German Literature at Freie Universität Berlin and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Selected Academic Positions

2022–2026 – Principal Investigator, Materialised Holiness: Torah Scrolls as a Codicological, Theological, and Sociological Phenomenon of Jewish Scribal Culture in the Diaspora, BMBF-funded collaborative research project, Freie Universität Berlin.

2020–2021 – Visiting Professor of Jewish Cultural History, University of Augsburg.

2017–2020 – Principal Investigator, The Hebrew Manuscripts of the Erfurt Collection as Cultural-Historical Witnesses to Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, BMBF-funded research project, Freie Universität Berlin.

2017 – Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.

2005–2016 – Research Associate, Institute for Jewish Studies, Freie Universität Berlin.

2004–2009 – Researcher, The Kabbalistic Library of Pico della Mirandola.

Selected Fellowships and Awards

2018 – Research Fellowship, Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel.

2010 – Tiburtius Prize (Recognition Award) for an outstanding doctoral dissertation.

Research Interests

• Jewish scribal culture and ritual writing
• Medieval and early modern Hebrew manuscripts and Torah scrolls
• Codicology and palaeography
• Materiality, rituality, aesthetics, and theology of holy writings
• STaM and Jewish scribal law and practice
• Jewish mysticism and philosophy
• Christian Kabbalah and Jewish–Christian intellectual encounters in Renaissance Europe
• Interdisciplinary manuscript research and material analysis

Major Research Projects

Shaping Holiness (HaZen) – Comparative study of the production and handling of holy writings across religious traditions, approached through four interrelated perspectives: Materiality, Rituality, Aesthetics, and Theology.

Materialised Holiness (ToRoll) – Interdisciplinary investigation of Torah scrolls as material artefacts and as products of religious, legal, and scribal practice.

The Hebrew Manuscripts of the Erfurt Collection – Study of one of the most significant surviving collections of medieval Hebrew manuscripts as evidence for Jewish life and scribal culture in medieval Europe.