About

Marc Bregman

Brief Biography

January 2018

 

 

Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His book in Hebrew, The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003), has been hailed as “undoubtedly the best research ever done about the most complicated issue in the study of rabbinic literature”. In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities. He may be contacted by email at marc.bregman@gmail.com.

Education

Education

l964-1968 University of California, Berkeley. Independent Group Major

in Jewish Studies in the Broader Context of Religion

B.A. l968

 

l968-l969 Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion,

Cincinnati. Rabbinic Studies.

 

l969-l970 Brown University, Providence. Graduate Student in

Religious Studies.

 

l970-l971 Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion,

Los Angeles. Judaic Studies.

M.A. l971

 

l972-1983 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Research Student,

Hebrew Literature: Midrash and Aggadah.

 

l983-1990 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Doctoral Candidate.

Ph.D. 1991

Other Publications

Publications

“Past and Present in Midrashic Literature,” Hebrew Annual

Review 2 (l978), pp. 45-59

 

“Another Reference to ‘A Teacher of Righteousness’ in Midrashic

Literature,” Revue de Qumran 37:10 (l979), pp. 97-100

 

“Joseph Heinemann’s Studies on the Aggadah,” Immanuel 9 (l979),

  1. 58-62


 

“The Triennial Haftarot and the Perorations of the Midrashic

Homilies,” Journal of Jewish Studies 32:1 (l981), pp. 74-84

 

“Circular Proems and Proems Beginning with the Formula ‘Zo hi

shene’emra beruah haq-qodesh'”, Studies in Aggadah, Targum and

Jewish Liturgy in Memory of Joseph Heinemann (Jerusalem, l981),

  1. 34-51 [Hebrew]


 

“The Depiction of the Ram in the Aqedah Mosaic at Beit Alpha,”

Tarbiz 51 (l982), pp. 306-309 [Hebrew]

 

“The Darshan: Preacher and Teacher of Talmudic Times,” The

Melton Journal (The Jewish Theological Seminary, New York) 14

(l982), pp. 3, 19, 26

 

“An Early Fragment of Avot deRabbi Natan from a Scroll,” Tarbiz

52 (l983), pp. 201-222 [Hebrew]

 

“The Scales are not ‘Balanced’ (A Textcritical Note to Midrash

Tanhuma, Ki Tisa, 34),” Tarbiz 53 (1984), pp. 289-292 [Hebrew]

 

“El Darshan: Predicador y Maestro de la Epoca Talmudica,”

Maj’shavot (Buenos Aires) 24:4 (l985), pp. 51-57

 

“Toward a Textcritical Approach to the Tanhuma-Yelamdenu

Midrashim,” Tarbiz 54 (l985), pp. 289-292 [Hebrew]

 

“The Nature of the Aggadah” by Joseph Heinemann (translated by

Marc Bregman), Midrash and Literature, ed. G. Hartmann and S.

Budick (Yale University Press, New Haven, l986), pp. 41-55

 

“Textual Witnesses of the Tanhuma-Yelamdenu Midrashim”,

Procedings of the Ninth World Congress of Jewish Studies,

Volume II: Jewish Thought and Literature (Jerusalem, l986), pp.

49-56 [Hebrew]

 

“Stratigraphic Analysis of a Selected Pericope from the

Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Midrashim”, Proceedings of the Tenth

Congress of Jewish Studies, Division C, Vol. I: Jewish Thought

and Literature (Jerusalem, 1990), pp. 117-124 [Hebrew]

 

“The Parable of the Lame and the Blind — Epiphanius’ Quotation

from an Apocryphon of Ezekiel”, Journal of Theological Studies

42:1 (1991), pp. 125-138. Reprinted in: The Apocryphal Ezekiel,

edited by Michael E. Stone, et al., (SBL, Atlanta, 2000)

 

“Early Sources and Traditions in the Tanhuma-Yelammedenu

Midrashim”, Tarbiz 60 (1991), pp. 269-274 [Hebrew]

 

“The Art of Retelling”, The Sagarin Review 4 (1994), pp. 177-

181 (Reprinted in The Jerusalem Post and in Jewish Book Annual

53 (1995-1996), pp. 177-182).

 

The Four Who Entered Paradise — Introduction and Commentary

(Jason Aronson, Northvale, NJ, 1995).

 

“The Riddle of the Ram in Genesis Chapter 22: Jewish-Christian

Contacts in Late Antiquity”, The Sacrifice of Isaac in the

Three Monotheistic Religions, ed. Frederic Manns, Studium

Biblicum Franciscanum, Analecta 41 (Jerusalem: Franciscan

Printing Press, 1995), pp. 127-145, Figures 1-8

 

The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, edited by R. J.

Zwi Werblowsky and Geoffrey Wigoder (Oxford and New York,

Oxford University Press, 1997) articles on: “Aggadat Esther”,

“Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva”, “Darshan”, “Deuteronomy Rabbah”,

“Moshe Ha-Darshan”, “Numbers Rabbah”, “Proverbs, Midrash”,

“Ruth Rabbah”, “Tanhuma-Yelammedenu”, “Yalqut Ha-Makhiri”,

“Yelammedenu”

 

Serah bat Asher: Biblical Origins, Ancient Aggadah and

Contemporary Folklore, The Bilgray Lectureship, booklet

published and distrubuted by the University of Arizona, 1997

[reprinted in New Harvest – Jewish Writing in St. Louis 1998-2005,

Edited by Howard Schwartz and Barbara Raznick (St. Louis: The Brodsky Library Press, 2005), pp.341-353.]

 

“The Four Who Entered Paradise: Evolution of a Talmudic Tale”,

First Harvest (1997), pp. 437-442

 

“Midrash Rabbah and the Medieval Collector Mentality”, Prooftexts 17 (1997),

  1. 63-76 [reprinted in The Anthology in Jewish Literature, edited by David Stern (Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 2004), pp. 196-208]


 

“Pseudepigraphy in Rabbinic Literature”, Pseudepigraphic Perspectives:

The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in Light of the Dead Sea Scroll,

edited by Esther G. Chazon and Michael Stone, [Proceedings of the

International Symposium of the Orion Center, 1997] (Brill, Leiden, 1999),

  1. 27-41


 

“Seeing with the Sages: Midrash as Visualization in the Legends of the Aqedah,

Agendas for the Study of Midrash in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Marc Lee

Raphael (The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, 1999), pp. 84-100

 

Het Raadsel van de Ram Christelijke Invloed op het Mozaïek tet Beit Alfa? [Booklet] Gesprekken in Israël – Nes Ammim Lezingen Tweeëtwintigste Jaargang 1 (2002)

 

The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature – Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, Piscataway NJ, 2003).

 

“Mishnah, Mystery and the LXX“, Continuity and Renewal: Judaism in Eretz Israel during the Byzantine-Christian Era, edited by Israel Levine (Dinur and JTS, Jerusalem, 2004), pp. 333-342

 

“Mishnah as Mystery”, Mehqerei Talmud 3 [Talmudic Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Professor Ephraim E. Urbach, edited by Yaakov Sussman and David Rosenthal] (The Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 2005), Part 1, pp. 101-109 [Hebrew]

 

“Bemidbar Rabbah”, Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York, 2009), cols. 818-821.

 

“Devarim Rabbah.”, Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, Volume 6 (Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York, 2013), cols. 684-686.

 

“The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Midrashim — Internal and External Interpretation” [Hebrew], Carmi Sheli — Studies on Aggadah and its Interpretation Presented to Profess or Carmi Horowitz, edited by Arnon Atzmon, Avraham Grossman, Nahem Ilan, Michael Shmidman, Joseph Tabory (Boston, Touro College Press, 2012), pp. 57-65.

 

Lirot Im Ha-Hakhamim — Midrash Ke-Hadmayah” [Hebrew], Ke-Tavor be-Harim — Joseph Tabory Jubilee Volume (Alon Shevut Israel: Tevunot, 2013), pp. 261-278.

 

“Genesis in Rabbinic Literature.”, Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, Volume 9 (Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York, 2014, cols. 1160-1162.

 

“Tanhuma”

Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions

edited by Eric Orlin (2016)

 

“Early Jewish Preaching”

The Dictionary of the Bible and Ancient Media

edited by Tom Thatcher, Chris Keith, Raymond F. Person, Jr., Elsie R. Stern

T&T Clark (2017), pp. 110-111.

 

“Lamech – Rabbinic Judaism”, Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception Volume 15

(Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2017), cols. 675-676.

 

“Mordecai Breastfed Esther — Male Lactation in Midrash, Medicine and Myth.”,  in The Faces of Torah — Studies in the Texts and Contexts of  Ancient Judaism in Honor of Steven Fraade, edited by Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Tzvi Novick and Christine Hayes [Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements, Volume 22] (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2017) pp. 257-274.

 

“From Midrash to Mashal — The Sacrifice of Isaac as Misunderstanding”, Parables in Changing Contexts — Interreligious and Cultural Approaches to the Study of Parables [forthcoming in Jewish and Christian Perspectives (JCP) (Leiden: Brill, 2018)].

 

“Midrash Rabbah”, Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception. (Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York, [in press].

 

Internet Accessible

“The Aqedah: Midrash as Visualization”, Journal of Textual Reasoning 2:1

(June 2003) (full text with four illustrations) with four response essays.

http://jtr.shanti.virginia.edu/volume-2-number-1/

 

“The Darshan: Preacher and Teacher of Talmudic Times”

http://trymyrabbi.com/jewish-holidays/the-darshan-preacher-and-teacher-of-talmudic-times-2

[initially published in The Melton Journal, Spring 1982, No. 14, Sivan 5742 and previously available in the online The Best of the Melton Journal].

 

“Pseudepigraphy in Rabbinic Literature”

http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/symposiums/2nd/papers/Bregman97.html

 

“The Aqedah at Qumran: Fire on the Mountain: a Comparison of 4Q225
Pseudo-Jubilees and Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 31”
Abstract of lecture presented at the Orion Center, May 21, 1998
http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/orion/programs/Bregman.shtml
Book Reviews and Booknotes

 

Felix Bohl, Aufbau und literarische Formen des

aggadischen Teils im Jelamdenu-Midrasch (Wiesbaden l977),

Journal of the American Oriental Society l00:2 (l980), pp. l69-l70

 

Daniel Sperber, A Commentary on Derech Erez Zuta

(1990), Religious Studies Review 19, p. 366.

 

Midrash Tanhuma (Genesis), translated by John T.

Townsend (1989), CCAR Journal: A Reform Jewish Quarterly 38:3

(Summer 1991), pp. 83-85

 

James L. Kugel, In Potiphar’s House (1990), The

Journal of Religion  73 (1993), pp. 287-288. (Reprinted in The

Jerusalem Post)

 

Jacob Neusner, Androgynous Judaism (1993),

Religious Studies Review 21, p. 156.

 

David Kraemer, Responses to Suffering in Classical

Rabbinic Literature (1995), Religious Studies Review 21, p. 341.

 

Irving Jacob, The Midrashic Process: Tradition and

Interpretation in Rabbinic Judaism (1995), Religious Studies

Review 22, p. 171.

 

Samuel A. Berman, Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu: An English Translation of Genesis and Exodus from the Printed Version of Tanhuma-Yelammedenu with an Introduction (1996), Religious Studies Review 23, p. 196.

 

Midrash Tanhuma (Genesis), translated by John T.

Townsend (1989), CCAR Journal: A Reform Jewish Quarterly 38:3

(Summer 1991), pp. 83-85

 

Günter Stemberger, Introduction to the Talmud and

Midrash (1996), Religious Studies Review 24, p. 316.

 

  1. Daniel Breslauer (ed.), The Seductiveness of Jewish Myth: Challenge or Response (1997), Religious Studies Review 24, p. 317.


 

Jeffrey L. Rubenstein, Talmudic Stories: Narrative Art, Composition, and Culture (1999),

Religious Studies Review 26, p. 393.

 

Rachel Adelman, The Return of the Repressed: Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer and the Pseudepigrapha Catholic Biblical Quarterly 74 (2012), pp. 588-589

 

Rivka Ulmer, Egyptian Cultural Icons in Midrash (Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, 2009),

H-Judaic (May, 2011) [https://networks.h-net.org/node/28655/reviews/30763/bregman-ulmer-egyptian-cultural-icons-midrash].

 

Shulamit Valer, Sorrow and Distress in the Talmud (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2011),

H-Judiac (May, 2012) [https://networks.h-net.org/node/28655/reviews/30980/bregman-%E1%B9%BFaler-sorrow-and-distress-talmud].

 

Lee I. Levine, Visual Judaism in Late Antiquity: Historical Contexts of Jewish Art. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), H-Judaic (August, 2015) [https://networks.h-net.org/node/28655/reviews/80249/bregman-levine-visual-judaism-late-antiquity-historical-contexts-jewish].

 

 

Belles Lettres

 

by “Moshe ben Yitzhak HaPardesan” (nom de plume) in  Gates to

the New City — A Treasury of Modern Jewish Tales,

edited by Howard Schwartz (Avon, New York, l985)

“The Seven Lights of the Lamp,” pp.lll-113

“The Third Tablet of the Covenant,” p. 165

“The Four Who Sought to Re-enter the Garden,” p. 279

 

The Sagarin Review 1 (1991)

“The Third Tablet of the Covenant”, pp. 43-44

“The Death of Moses”, pp. 44-45

 

The Sagarin Review 2 (1992)

“The Seven Lights of the Lamp”, pp. 44-46

“The Four Who Sought to Enter the Garden”, p. 46

The Sagarin Review 3 (1993)

“The Sabbath Bride” (Poem), p. 8

“Opening a Verse”, p. 51-52

 

The Sagarin Review 4 (1994)

“The Footsteps of the Sabbath Guests”, pp. 60-63

 

Learn Torah With…The 1994-95 Torah Annual, edited by Joel

Lurie Grishvaver and Stuart Kelman (Los Angeles, Torah Aura,

1996), “Parashat VaYishlah”

 

The Fifty-eighth Century: A Jewish Renewal Sourcebook, edited

by Shohama Harris Wiener (Jason Aronson, Northvale NJ,1997)

“Opening a Verse”

 

First Harvest: Jewish Writing in St. Louis 1991-1996, edited by

Howard Schwartz and Barbara Resnick (St. Louis, Brodsky Library

Press, 1997), two essays, two modern midrashim and one poem

previously published.

 

Learn Torah With…The 1995-96 Torah Annual, edited by Joel

Lurie Grishvaver and Stuart Kelman (Los Angeles, Torah Aura,

1997) “Parashat Ki-Tetze: Diary of a Comely Captive”

“Serach: The Recovery of Joseph’s Bones”, Living Text

—The Journal of Contemporary Midrash 4 (Winter 1998), pp. 12-17.

 

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