Yassif Eli, Dept. of Hebrew Literature



Short Curriculum Vitae (highlights):


1946: Born in Bucarest, Romania

Married, three children.


Education:

1977 - Ph.D in Hebrew Literature, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Title: "Pseudo Ben-Sira: The Text,Its Literary Character and Status in the Hebrew Literature of the Middle Ages".

1979 - Post doctorate, University of California, Los Angeles, in the departments of Folklore and Mythology and Comparative Literature.


Employment History:

1977 - Lecturer, Ben-Gurion University.

1979-1980 - Teaching Hebrew Literature and Jewish Folk-Literature at UCLA, and the University of Judaism, as Visiting assistant Professor.

1980-1981 - Visiting assistant Professor, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.

1982 - Assistant professor, Ben-Gurion University.

1986 - Associate Professor of Hebrew Literature, Ben-Gurion University.

1986-1987 - Visiting Fellow of Wolfson College, The University of Oxford, England. Visiting professor of Jewish Folklore at University College of London. Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies.

1988-1990 - Visiting professor of Hebrew medieval literature and Jewish folklore, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

1991 - Visiting professor, in the departments of Anthropology and Near Eastern studies, University of California, Berkeley.

1993 - Professor of Hebrew Literature and Jewish Folklore, Ben- Gurion University.

1995 - Professor, Tel-Aviv University.


Professional Activities:

1980-present - Member of the Editorial Board of Jerusalem Studies of Jewish Folklore, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

1984-1990 - Editorial Board of Peamim, Studies in the Cultural Heritage of Oriental Jewry, Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem.

1983-1986 - Chairman of the Department of Hebrew Language and Literature, Ben-Gurion University.

1988-present - Member of of the academic Board of the 'Themathology of Hebrew Literature' Project, Bar Ilan University.

1988-present - Chairman of the Jewish Folklore Section of the World Union of Jewish Studies.

1990, 1993 -Chairman of the Awards Committee of the Literature Section of the Israeli National Academy of Sciences.

1992-1994 - Deputy to the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; Chairman of the Ben-Gurion University Committee for Excellent Studends.

1994-present -Academic Chairman, The Menashe Regional College [of Tel-Aviv Univereity].

Major publications (books and major articles):


Books:

1. 1978 - The Sacrifice of Isaac: Studies in the Development of a Literary Tradition. With a Prolegomenon and Bibliography, Makor Publishing, Jerusalem, 300 pp.

2. 1984 - The Tales of Ben Sira in the Middle-Ages: A Critical Text and Literary Studies, The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 320 pp.

3. 1986 - The Study of Jewish Folklore: An Annotated Bibliography, Garland Folklore Series (General Editor: Alan Dundes), New York and London, 342 pp.

4. 1990 - Haim Schwarzbaum, Jewish Folklore: Between East and West., Edited with an introductory essay: "The Contribution of H. Schwarzbaum to Folklore Studies", The Ben Gurion University Press, 397 pp.

5. 1991 - R. Yehuda Yudle Rosenberg : The Golem of Prague and other Tales of Wonder. Selected Stories with introduction and notes, Jerusalem, Mosad Bialik, 260pp.

6. 1994 - Haim Schwarzbaum, Roots and Landscapes: Collected Studies in Folklore, edited by Eli Yassif, Ben-Gurion University Press, 220 pp.

7. 1994 - The Hebrew Folk-Tale: History, Genre, Meaning. Mosad Bialik, Jerusalem, 720 pp.[The English Translation: Indiana University Press, 2 vols., due: 1997]


Articles:

1982: "The Function of 'Ose-Pele' in Jewish Folk-Literature", Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore 3, pp. 47-66.

1984: "Studies in the Narrative Art of 'Megilat-Ahimaaz'", Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature 4 , pp. 18-42.

1984:"Sepher ha-Maasim: The Character, Origins and Influence of a Collection of Folktales from the Time of the Tosaphists", Tarbiz 53, pp. 409-429.

1986 - "Hebrew Prose in the East – Its Formation in the Middle Ages and Transition to Modern Times", Pe'amim. Studies in the Cultural Heritage of Oriental Jewry 26, pp. 53-70.

1987 - "What is a Folk-Book?", International Folklore Review , pp. 20-27.

1987 - "Folklore Research and Jewish Studies: Directions and Goals", World Union of Jewish Studies Newsletter 27, pp. 3-27.

1987 - "The Man Who Never Swore an Oath: From Jewish to Israeli Oikotype", Fabula 27, pp. 216-236.

1988 - "Folklore Research and Jewish Studies: Directions and Goals. Part 2", World Union of Jewish Studies Newsletter 28, pp. 3-26.

1988 - "The Exemplum in Sefer Hasidim " , Tarbiz 57, pp. 217-257.

1988 - "Traces of Folk Traditions of the Second Temple Period in Rabbinic Literature", Journal of Jewish Studies 39, pp. 212-233.

1990 - "The Cycle of Tales in Rabbinic Literature", Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature 12, pp. 103-146.

1990 - "'Leisure' and 'Generosity': Theory and Practice in the Creation of HebrewNarratives in the Late Middle Ages", Kiriat Sepher 62, pp. 887-905.

. 1990 - "The Transsformation of Folktales to Written Literature in the Hebrew Culture of the Middle-Ages", ARV. A Yearbook of Scandinavian Folklore 46, pp. 175-187.

1990 - "Jewish Folkloristics in Israel: Directions and Goals", Proceedings of the Tenth World Congress of Jewish Studies (With Galit Hasan-Rokem), Jerusalem, pp. 33-62.

1992 - "The Body Never Lies: The Function of the Body in Medieval Jewish Literature". In: People of the Body, People of the Book. Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, editor (Stanford University), State University of New York University Press, Albany, pp. 203-222. < br>
1992 - "Storytelling of the 'Repentence Movement': Rhetoric, Folklore and Cultural Debate in Contemporary Israel", Jewish Folklore and Ethnology Review 14, pp. 26-32.

1992 - "New Perspectives on the Oicotypification of Modern Jewish Folktales", Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore 13 -14 (The Dov Noy Festschrift)., pp. 275-302.

1994 - "Entre Culture Populaire et Culture Savante", Annales HSS 5, pp. 1197-1222.

1995 - "Discovering the Other Israel: The Reporter as Ethnographer and Cultural Critic", Alpayim, 11, pp. 185-208.

1997 - "The Interrelationships Between Biography and Hagiography: The Case of R. Judah the Pious", Christoph Daxelmüller (ed.), R. Yehuda He-Hasid of Regensburg, University of Regensburg (in press).


1997 - "The Narrative Anthology in the Hebrew Literature of the Middle Ages", Prooftexts (in press).

1997 - "Intertextuality in Folk-Literature: Pagan Motifs in Jewish Folktales and Their Theological Significance", Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore (in press).

Teaches in the following subject areas:


Jewish Folklore; Hebrew medieval narrative; Contemporary culture in Israel.

Teaches the following courses in the current academic year:


Introduction to Jewish Folklore
The hero of Jewish folktale: Myth and Reality.
The veneration of Saints in Israeli Culture.
The Magic tale in Jewish culture of the Middle Ages.

Additional points of contact (office/home telephone,fax,etc.):


Residence: 18, Ha-Karmel St., Kfar-Sava 44214, Israel.
Tel. 09-7653170; Fax. 09-7658382.

Office: Department of Hebrew Literature, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel. Tel. 03-6409613

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