Elisha Russ-Fishbane is a historian of Jewish culture in the medieval Islamic world. His work focuses on Jewish-Muslim encounters and on the breadth of medieval Jewish culture - philosophy, mysticism, literature, and law - with an emphasis on the life and legacies of Maimonides. He is currently at work on a book on Islam in the medieval Jewish imagination.
Elisha Russ-Fishbane
Associate Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies & Co-Director of the Dual Degree MA-MPA Program
What would you like prospective grad students to know about you, your teaching, and your scholarship?
Prof. Russ-Fishbane's graduate courses focus on major areas of medieval Jewish history culture, law, and literature. Doctoral students in the medieval track receive a thorough training in the broad spectrum of Jewish sources and scholarly methodologies. Emphasis is placed both on depth of study in the primary sources (essential for a future in scholarship) and breadth of general expertise (essential for a future in the classroom).
What types of undergraduate courses do you teach and why might students be interested in these classes?
Prof. Russ-Fishbane's undergraduate teaching covers many areas of Jewish life and culture (including Jewish mysticism, philosophy, and politics), specialized courses (such as a history of Sephardic Jewry and a history of Jewish-Muslim relations), and more advanced courses in the history of halakhah (e.g. rabbinic responses to modernity, custom in Jewish law, and medicine and Jewish law).
Publications
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Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2022
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Oxford University Press, UK, 2015
Contact Information
Elisha Russ-Fishbane
Associate Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies & Co-Director of the Dual Degree MA-MPA Program elisha.russfishbane@nyu.edu 53 Washington Square South, Room 111Phone: (212) 998-8973
The MA-MPA Program is a joint venture of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and the Wagner School of Public Service. The program combines master's training in all facets of Jewish studies with professional training in nonprofit management and communal leadership, preparing them for careers in public service and Jewish civic engagement. For more information on the dual degree program, see the program website.
Additional Affiliations
Associate, History Department
Affiliate, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Department
Academic Board, Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program