Berkovitz, AJ

A.J. Berkovitz is a scholar of Jewish Antiquity. His research explores Jewish texts, traditions, and history from the formation of the Hebrew Bible until the rise of Islam. He received his Ph.D. in Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity from Princeton University and a B.A./M.A. in Jewish Studies/Bible from Yeshiva University. His first book, A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity (University of Pennsylvania) explores the history of Psalm reception in late ancient Judaism through the lenses of materiality, exegesis, liturgy, piety, and magic. The book received a Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Award from the Association for Jewish Studies and the Honorable Mention in the American Academy for Jewish Research’s Salo Baron Prize. He is also the co-editor of Rethinking ‘Authority’ in Late Antiquity: Authorship, Law, and Transmission in Jewish and Christian Tradition (Routledge, 2018) and the author of over thirty academic articles and popular essays. His article, “Psalm 45 Between Abraham and Jesus: A Palestinian Rabbinic Polemic and its Shelf Life,” was awarded the 2021 CRINT Prize Essay. He was a Starr Fellow at Harvard and also Wexner Graduate Fellow.