Martha Himmelfarb became a member of the faculty in 1978. Her teaching and research focus on ancient Judaism from the Second Temple period to the rise of Islam. Her most recent book is Jewish Messiahs in a Christian Empire: A History of the Book of Zerubbabel(Harvard University Press, 2017).
Courses – Spring 2021
JDS 202/REL 202: Great Books of the Jewish Tradition
(HA) Graded no audit Total Course Enrollment 20
Professor(s) Martha Himmelfarb
11:00am – 12:20pm MW Class
Department Area Requirement: Ancient Mediterranean
REL 342/JDS 343: Apocalypse: The End of the World and the Secrets of Heaven in Ancient Judaism and Christianity
(HA) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment 20
Professor(s): Martha Himmelfarb
3:00 pm – 04:20 pm MW Class
Department Area Requirement: Ancient Mediterranean
Courses – Fall 2020
CANCELLED
REL 246 / JDS 246: Ancient Judaism from Alexander to the Rise of Islam
(HA) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment no limit
Professor(s): Martha Himmelfarb
4:30pm – 5:50pm TTH Lecture/Precept
Department Area Requirement: Ancient Mediterranean
REL 513: Studies in Ancient Judaism: Otherworldly Journeys in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature
Graded */aud Total Enrollment 10
Professor(s): Martha Himmelfarb
1:30pm – 4:20pm W Seminar
Publications
“Second Temple Literature outside the Canon.” In Early Judaism: New Insights and Scholarship, ed. Frederick E. Greenspahn. New York: New York University Press, 2018.
“‘Greater Is the Covenant with Aaron’ (Sifre Numbers 119): Rabbis, Priests, and Kings Revisited.” In The Faces of Torah: Studies in the Texts and Contexts of Ancient Judaism in Honor of Steven Fraade, ed. Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Tzvi Novick, and Christine Hayes. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2017. 339-50.
With Sarit Kattan Gribetz, David M. Grossberg, and Peter Schäfer, Genesis Rabbah in Text and Context. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016.
“Abraham and the Messianism of Genesis Rabbah.” In Genesis Rabbah in Text and Context, ed. Sarit Kattan Gribetz et al. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016. 99-114.
“3 Baruch Revisited: Jewish or Christian Composition and Why It Matters.” Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum/Journal of Ancient Christianity 20 (2016): 41-62.