Tzvi Novick
Abrams Jewish Thought and Culture College Professor
Primary Area: Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity
Biography
Tzvi Novick is a scholar of ancient Judaism, with a particular focus on the rabbis and liturgical poets of late antiquity. In his work on rabbinic literature, Novick is especially interested in rabbinic law, or halakhah, and in situating halakhah within the normative landscape envisioned by the rabbis. His research in liturgical poetry, or piyyut, focuses on its relationship to rabbinic literature and on the interplay of poetry, prayer, performance, and exegesis in this corpus. Novick teaches the Foundations of Theology undergraduate course and a course on Christianity and Judaism, each of which have been the basis for books that he has written for popular and classroom use. At the graduate level, Novick’s teaching focuses on rabbinic literature. His seminars have addressed such topics as the Passover festival in late antique Judaism, conceptions of community in rabbinic literature, and ritual in the Mishnah.
Research Interests
Early rabbinic law and ethics, pre-Islamic liturgical poetry (piyyut), midrash, literature of the Second Temple period
Selected Publications
Judaism: A Guide for Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2025)
Piyyuṭ and Midrash: Form, Genre, and History (JAJ Supp. 30; Göttingen: Vandenhoek and Ruprecht, 2019)
“Covenant and Community in Early Rabbinic Literature,” Harvard Theological Review 117 (2024), 228-49
“Israel, the Nations, and the Angels in a Qillirian Silluq for Rosh ha-Shanah,” Oqimta: Studies in Talmudic and Rabbinic Literature 9 (2023), 37-66
“‘I am Not a Butcher’: Authority and Expertise in Rabbinic Laws of Meat Production in Classical Rabbinic Literature,” Journal of Ancient Judaism 8 (2017), 112-44
Education
- Ph.D. Yale University (2008) (Religious Studies)
- M.A. Yeshiva University (2003) (Hebrew Bible)
- J.D. Yale University (2002)
- B.A. Yale University (1998)