Deborah Barer

Associate Professor

Name

Contact Info

Phone:
Office:
LA 4127

Education

B.A. in Religion, Oberlin College, 2006
M.A. in Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 2013
Ph.D. in Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 2016

Areas of Expertise

Rabbinic Literature
Judaism in Late Antiquity
Jewish Law and Ethics

Biography

Deborah Barer received her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia in 2016, with a concentration in rabbinic literature and thought. Her research explores models of rabbinic decision-making, with an emphasis on the intersection of ethical and legal reasoning in Talmudic legal narratives. She is currently developing a manuscript based on her Ph.D. dissertation “A Judge With No Courtroom: Law, Ethics and the Rabbinic Idea of Lifnim Mi-Shurat Ha-Din.”
 
Dr. Barer teaches a range of courses at Towson in Jewish studies and comparative religion, including: RLST 210: Introduction to Judaism; RLST 206: Judaism, Christianity and Islam; and RLST 310: Jewish Law and Ethics. She is also a faculty member of the Graduate Program in Judaic Studies, where she teaches courses on rabbinic history, literature and thought.