Rabbi Reuven Kimelman

Reuven Kimelman is a professor of Classical Judaica at Brandeis University and former rabbi of Beth Abraham New England Sephardic Congregation of New England. He specializes in the history of classical Judaism with a focus on the history and poetics of the Jewish liturgy. His forthcoming study of that is titled “The Rhetoric of Jewish Prayer: A Historical and Literary Commentary on the Daily Prayer Book” (Littman Civilization series). His previous book is the Hebrew book, The Mystical Meaning of ‘Lekhah Dodi’ and ‘Kabbalat Shabbat’ (Magnes Press).

Two pertinent essays of his are The Cambridge History of Judaism, Volume 4: TheLateRoman-RabbinicPeriod, “Rabbinic Prayer in Late Antiquity”, and  “The Rabbinic Theology of the Physical: Blessings, Body and Soul, Resurrection, Covenant and Election”.