EDUCATION

Ph.D., Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati
Rabbinic Ordination, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati
MAHL, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati
AB, Bryn Mawr College

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY

Please find this at: http://www2.bc.edu/~langerr/Bio.htm

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Jewish liturgy
Christian-Jewish relations

TEACHING

Religious Quest I
Religious Quest II
Jews and Christians: Understanding the Other
Diatribe to Dialogue: Studies in the Jewish-Christian Encounter
Jewish and Christian Interpretations of the Bible
Exploring the Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel
Turning Points in Jewish History
Jewish Liturgy: History and Theology
Passover in Midrash and Talmud

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND AWARDS

Co-editor, Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations

Chair, Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations, 2012-

Distinguished Scholarship Award, Jewish Studies Program, Boston College, 2012

Clal Yisrael Award (together with husband), Synagogue Council of Massachusetts, 2011

Doctor of Divinity, Honoris Causa, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of
Religion, for work in Christian-Jewish relations, 2011

Distinguished Service Award, Jewish Studies Program, Boston College, 2009

Lester Gilson Memorial Community Service Award, South Area Solomon
Schechter Day School, 2007

Yad Hanadiv/Beracha Foundation Fellowship, 2001-2002

Honorary Starr Fellowship, Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University, 1998-1999

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

Liturgy in the Life of the Synagogue: Studies in the History of Jewish Prayer, ed. Ruth Langer and Steven Fine (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2005).

To Worship God Properly: Tensions between Liturgical Custom and Halakhah in Judaism (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 2005).

"From Study of Scripture to a Reenactment of Sinai," Worship 72:1 (January 1998): 43-67.

"Birkat Betulim: A Study of the Jewish Celebration of Bridal Virginity," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research LXI (1995): 53-94.

PUBLICATIONS SINCE 2005

Books

Cursing the Christians?: A History of the Birkat HaMinim (Oxford University Press, 2012).

Liturgy in the Life of the Synagogue: Studies in the History of Jewish Prayer, ed. Ruth Langer and Steven Fine (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2005).

To Worship God Properly: Tensions between Liturgical Custom and Halakhah in Judaism (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 2005).

Articles

“The Liturgical Parting(s) of the Ways: A Preliminary Foray,” in A Living Tradition: On the Intersection of Liturgical History and Pastoral Practice, David A. Pitt et.al., eds. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2012), 43-58.

“Putting the Performance of the Vidui in its Context,” in We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Context, Ashamnu and Al Chet, ed. Lawrence A. Hoffman (Woodstock, Vermont: Jewish Lights Publishers, 2012), 205-209.

Review Essay: “The Rabbinical Assembly’s Mahzor Lev Shalem (New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 2010), in the Journal of Synagogue Music 37 (Fall 2012): 205-213.

“Jewish Liturgical Memory and the Non-Jew: Past Realities and Future Possibilities,” in Jewish Theology and World Religions, ed. Alon Goshen-Gottstein and Eugene Korn (Oxford and Portland, OR: Littmann, 2012), 167-86.

“Cursing the Christians?: Origins of the Birkat HaMinim,” at The Bible and Interpretation, http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/lan368024.shtml.

“Worship,” in The Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture, edited by Judith Baskin (Cambridge University Press, 2011), 663-665.

“The Censorship of Aleinu in Ashkenaz and its Aftermath,” in The Experience of Jewish Liturgy: Studies Dedicated to Menahem Schmelzer, edited by Debra Reed Blank (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2011), 147-166.

“Interreligious Prayer: Introduction,” with Stephanie Perdew VanSlyke, Liturgy 26:3 (2011): 1-10.

“Exploring the Interface of Dialogue and Theology: A Jewish Response to Christian Ruitishauser, Thomas Norris, and Liam Tracy,” in Christ Jesus and the Jewish People Today: New Explorations of Theological Interrelationships, ed. Philip A. Cunningham et.al. (Grand Rapids, Cambridge UK: Eerdmans, 2011), 287-295.

“Jewish Worship and Liturgy,” in The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture, edited by Judith Baskin and Kenneth Seeskin (Cambridge University Press, 2010), 337-356.

“The Presence of God in Jewish Liturgy,” in The Spirit in Worship and Worship in the Spirit, eds. Bryan Spinks and Teresa Berger (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2009), 25-39.

"Liturgy in the Light of Jewish-Christian Dialogue," Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations 4 (2009). Electronic Journal

“Continuity, Change, and Retrieval: The New Reform Siddur,” review essay in the Journal of Synagogue Music 34 (Fall 2009): 208-223.

"Jews and the American Funeral," in Only in America: The Open Society and Jewish Law, eds. Walter Jacob and Moshe Zemer (Pittsburgh: Solomon B. Freehof Institute for Progressive Jewish Law, Rodef Shalom Press, 2009), 91-125.

"'We Do Not Even Know What To Do!'’: A Foray into the Early History of Tahanun," in Seeking the Favor of God, Vol. 3: The Impact of Penitential Prayer Beyond Second Temple Judaism, eds. Mark Boda, Daniel Falk, and Rodney Werline (Society for Biblical Literature, 2008), 39-69.

"Theologies of the Land and State of Israel: The Role of the Secular in Christian and Jewish Understandings," Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations 3 (2008): 1-17. Electronic Journal

“Jewish-Christian Dialogue About Covenant” Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations 2:2 (2007): http://escholarship.bc.edu/scjr/vol2/iss2/26/ and a response to the Rev. Dr. William Bellinger’s companion piece, “Exploring Covenant in a World of Faiths,” http://escholarship.bc.edu/scjr/vol2/iss2/25/.

“Biblical Texts in Jewish Prayers: Their History and Function,” in Jewish and Christian Liturgy and Worship: New Insights into its History and Interaction, eds. Albert Gerhards and Clemens Leonhard, Jewish and Christian Perspectives Series 15 (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2007), 63-90.

“The Earliest Texts of the Birkat Haminim,” with Uri Ehrlich, Hebrew Union College Annual 76 (2006): 63-112.

“Liturgy” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition (2006), Vol. 13, pp. 131-139.

A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, eds. Edward Kessler and Neil Wenborn (Cambridge University Press, 2005), entries on "Amidah" (pp. 12-13), "Birkat Hamazon" (pp. 59-60), "Birkat Haminim" (p. 60), "Bread" (p. 64), "Candle" (p. 75), "Intercessions" (p. 210), "Wine" (pp. 445-446).

"Sinai, Zion, and God in the Synagogue: Celebrating Torah in Ashkenaz," in Liturgy in the Life of the Synagogue: Studies in the History of Jewish Prayer, eds. Ruth Langer and Steven Fine (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2005), 121-159.

"Worship and Devotional Life: Jewish Worship,” in the Encyclopedia of Religion (second edition, 2005), 14:9805-9809.

“The Liturgical Writings of J. Leonard Levy: The Judaism of an American Reform Rabbi,” in Pursuing Peace Across the Alleghenies: The Rodef Shalom Congregation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1856-2005, ed. Walter Jacob (Pittsburgh: Rodef Shalom Press, 2005), 201-230.

“Theologies of Self and Other in Jewish Liturgies,” CCAR Journal: A Reform Jewish Quarterly (Winter 2005): 3-41.

"Prayer and Worship," in Modern Judaism: An Oxford Guide, edited by Nicholas de Lange and Miri Freud-Kandel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 231-242.

Reviews

Dirk Monshouwer, The Gospels and Jewish Worship: Bible and Synagogal Liturgy in the First Century C.E. (Skandalon, 2010) in Worship 86:2 (March 2012): 187-189.

Adiel Schremer, Brothers Estranged: Heresy, Christianity and Jewish Identity in Late Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 2010), in Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations 5 (2010), http://escholarship.bc.edu/scjr/vol5/iss1/26/.

Stefan Reif, Problems with Prayers: Studies in the Textual History of Early Rabbinic Liturgy, Vol. 37 Studia Judaica, Forschungen zur Wissenschaft des Judentums (Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2006), 369 pp. + xv, in Journal of Jewish Studies 60:2 (2009): 339-340.

Yaakov Y. Teppler, Birkat HaMinim: Jews and Christians in Conflict in the Ancient World, trans. Susan Weingarten (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007), in Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations 4 (2009).

Forms of Prayer, I: Daily, Sabbath and Occasional Prayers, Eighth Edition (London: The Movement for Reform Judaism, 2008), European Judaism 41, no. 2 (2008): 167-172.

Uneasy Allies?: Evangelical and Jewish Relations, ed. by Alan Mittleman, Byron Johnson, and Nancy Isserman. (Lexington Books, 2007), in Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations 3 (2008).

Jeremy Schonfield, Undercurrents of Jewish Prayer (Oxford, Portland Oregon: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2006) in Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, August, 2007.

Peter Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2007), published in Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, 2:1 (2007) http://escholarship.bc.edu/scjr/vol2/iss1/13/.

Prayers that Cite Scripture, ed. James L. Kugel (Cambridge: Harvard University Press for Harvard University Center for Jewish Studies, 2006), in Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, May 2007.

Shaye J.D. Cohen, Why Aren’t Jewish Women Circumcised?: Gender and Covenant in Judaism, in Journal of Interdisciplinary History XXXVII (Winter, 2007): 435-437.

Irreconcilable Differences? A Learning Resource for Jews and Christians, eds. David F. Sandmel, Rosann M. Catalano, Christopher M. Leighton (Boulder: Westview Press, 2001), in Review and Expositor 103:1 (Winter 2006): 259-261.

Allison P. Coudert and Jeffrey S. Shoulson, eds., Hebraica Veritas?: Christian Hebraists and the Study of Judaism in Early Modern Europe (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), in Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries (February 2005).