Hebraic Studies Program

Mordechai Cohen (MA, Comparative Literature Columbia University, 1989; PhD in Bible, Yeshiva University, 1994), has taught at Yeshiva University since 1988 and has lectured at universities in Europe, Israel, and China. The areas of his scholarship are Jewish classical texts and thought from comparative perspectives—with Christianity, Islam, Western thought, and, most recently, Chinese philosophy and classicals texts. Among his publications are Three Approaches to Biblical Metaphor (Brill Academic Publishers 2003; 2nd edition 2008), Opening the Gates of Interpretation (Brill Academic Publishers 2011), The Rule of Peshat (University of Pennsylvania Press 2020), and Rashi, Biblical Interpretation, and Latin Learning (Cambridge University Press 2021). Since 2016, Cohen has taught an annual summer seminar at the Shandong University Center for Judaic and Inter-religious studies in Jinan, China, and has participated in philosophical conferences in Beijing. Having learned Mandarin, Cohen developed a network of Chinese scholars worldwide interested in engaging with Jewish learning. Since 2018 he has implemented this vision through the Chinese-Jewish Conversation. Since 2020 he has been working on an electronic book project走进犹太文化, published in installments online at https://cjcyu.org/blog/