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Elliot R. Wolfson | |
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| Title | Marsha and Jay Glazer Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies Distinguished Professor of Religion Emeritus |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Queens College (BA, MA) Brandeis University (MA, PhD) |
| Thesis | "Sefer ha-Rimmon: Critical Edition and. Introductory Study" (1986) |
| Doctoral advisor | Alexander Altmann |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Religious Studies |
| Institutions | University of California,Santa Barbara •New York University |
Elliot R. Wolfson (born November 23,1956) is a scholar of Jewish mysticism,comparative religion,and philosophy. From 2014 to 2024 he was the Marsha and Jay Glazer Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies at the University of California,Santa Barbara,where he now serves as Distinguished Professor of Religion Emeritus. [1] He was previously the Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies at New York University (1987–2014). [2]
Wolfson earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in philosophy at Queens College of the City University of New York,and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Near Eastern and Judaic studies from Brandeis University,where he trained under the supervision of Alexander Altmann.
Described as "one of the most prominent living scholars in the field of religion," Wolfson is considered an authority on the history of Jewish mysticism known for his application of frameworks in philosophy,literary criticism,and feminist theory to the study of Kabbalistic texts. [3] He is also considered to be "the leading scholarly interpreter" of the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson,former leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic dynasty. [4]
Wolfson was born in Newark,New Jersey,in 1956,and grew up in Brooklyn,New York,in a neighborhood comprised largely of East European refugees,Syrian Jews,and Italian Catholics. [5] The son of an Orthodox rabbi,Wolfson attended a traditional yeshiva and had early,formative experiences with Chabad-Lubavitch. [6] He earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in philosophy at Queens College of the City University of New York (1979),where he studied under Edith Wyschogrod. [7] He went on to pursue graduate study in Jewish mysticism at Brandeis University,receiving a second M.A. (1983) and Ph.D. (1986) under the supervision of Alexander Altmann,a seminal figure in the American study of Jewish mysticism. [7] For his dissertation,Wolfson prepared a critical edition of Sefer ha-Rimmon (The Book of the Pomegranate) by Moses de León,which he revised and published in 1988. [7]
After completing his dissertation,Wolfson taught for a year at Cornell University as an Andrew W. Mellon Teaching Fellow in the Humanities (1986-1987) before joining the faculty of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University in 1987,where he was subsequently appointed as the Abraham Lieberman Professor. [2] He served as director of Religious Studies at NYU from 1995 to 2002,and continued teaching at that institution until 2014. [8] Throughout his tenure he also held various visiting and adjunct positions,including at Princeton University (1992),the University of Chicago (1992),the Russian State University for the Humanities (1995),and Columbia University (1989-2006). It was during this period that Wolfson produced some of his most acclaimed monographs,including Language,Eros,Being:Kabbalistic Hermeneutics and Poetic Imagination (Fordham University Press,2005),which received that National Jewish Book Award for Excellence in Scholarship. [9]
In 2014,Wolfson was appointed to the Marsha and Jay Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California,Santa Barbara. His tenure at UC Santa Barbara marked a shift in focus from classical Kabbalah to questions of philosophy and literary theory,exemplified by studies on Martin Heidegger and Susan Taubes. [10] In 2025 Wolfson retired from teaching responsibilities and was titled Distinguished Professor of Religion Emeritus. [11] A Festschrift was published in his honor in 2024. [12]
Wolfson has been the editor of the Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy since its inception in 1992,and has likewise served on numerous editorial boards for book series and journals. [13] While best known for his scholarship,Wolfson has also used poetry and painting as a means of communicating themes in the history of Kabbalah. [14] A selection of his paintings were exhibited at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art in 2010. [15]
Wolfson's son,Elijah Wolfson,was formerly a senior editor at Newsweek . [16] and is now an editorial director at Time . [17] His other son,Josiah Wolfson,is owner of Aeon Bookstore in Manhattan. [18]
Wolfson's publications have won prestigious awards such as the American Academy of Religion's Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the Category of Historical Studies in 1995,the American Academy of Religion's Award for Excellence in Constructive and Reflective Studies in 2012. [19]
Wolfson won two National Jewish Book Awards in the Scholarship category,in 1995 for Through a Speculum That Shines and in 2005 for Language,Eros,Being:Kabbalistic Hermeneutics and Poetic Imagination. [20]
Additionally,Wolfson has been the recipient of several academic honors and awards: [21]
Wolfson is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,the American Academy of Jewish Research,and the American Society for the Study of Religion.
History
Edited books
Poetry
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