Research/Areas of Interest
Areas of Specialization: Modern Jewish thought; Jewish law and ethics; philosophy of religion; moral, legal and political philosophy
Areas of Competence: Medieval Jewish thought; rabbinic literature religious ethics; theories of religion; 20th century philosophy
Education
- PhD, Columbia University, USA, 2014
- MPhil, Columbia University, USA, 2011
- MA, Columbia University, USA, 2010
- BA, Columbia University, USA, 2007
Biography
Yonatan Y. Brafman is Associate Professor of Modern Judaism in the Department of Religion at Tufts University, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Literary and Cultural Studies. He is the co-director of the Program in Judaic Studies. He also serves as an affiliated scholar at the Brodie Center for Jewish and Israeli Law at Yale Law School.
A scholar of modern Jewish thought and philosopher of religion, Brafman's research explores the intersection of Jewish thought, Jewish law, and contemporary moral, legal, and political philosophy. His work also examines the implications of religious ritual for critical social theory and praxis.
His current book project, The Order of Jewish Laws: Text, Object, System, investigates the conceptual conditions and consequences of construing Jewish texts, norms, and practices as constituting a discrete object—Jewish law—capable of separation from other discourses and domains of life and subsequently subject to systematization.
Brafman is the author of Critique of Halakhic Reason: Divine Commandments and Social Normativity (Oxford University Press, 2024), and co-editor, with Suzanne Last Stone, of Jewish Law: New Perspectives (De Gruyter, 2024), and with Leora Batnitzky, of Jewish Legal Theories: Writings on State, Religion, and Morality (Brandeis, 2018). His articles have appeared in such journals as Journal of Religious Ethics, Jewish Studies Quarterly, and Diné Israel: Studies in Halakhah and Jewish Law.
Previously, he served as Assistant Professor of Jewish Thought and Ethics and Director of the Handel Center for Ethics and Justice at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He has held research fellowships at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (2022–2023), the Department of Religion and Program in Judaic Studies at Princeton University (2017–2018; 2014–2015), the Tikvah Center for Law and Jewish Civilization at New York University Law School (2012–2013), and the Center for Jewish Law and Contemporary Civilization at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University (2008–2010).
He earned his PhD in Philosophy of Religion and Jewish Thought from Columbia University, where he also received his BA, MA, and MPhil.
A scholar of modern Jewish thought and philosopher of religion, Brafman's research explores the intersection of Jewish thought, Jewish law, and contemporary moral, legal, and political philosophy. His work also examines the implications of religious ritual for critical social theory and praxis.
His current book project, The Order of Jewish Laws: Text, Object, System, investigates the conceptual conditions and consequences of construing Jewish texts, norms, and practices as constituting a discrete object—Jewish law—capable of separation from other discourses and domains of life and subsequently subject to systematization.
Brafman is the author of Critique of Halakhic Reason: Divine Commandments and Social Normativity (Oxford University Press, 2024), and co-editor, with Suzanne Last Stone, of Jewish Law: New Perspectives (De Gruyter, 2024), and with Leora Batnitzky, of Jewish Legal Theories: Writings on State, Religion, and Morality (Brandeis, 2018). His articles have appeared in such journals as Journal of Religious Ethics, Jewish Studies Quarterly, and Diné Israel: Studies in Halakhah and Jewish Law.
Previously, he served as Assistant Professor of Jewish Thought and Ethics and Director of the Handel Center for Ethics and Justice at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He has held research fellowships at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (2022–2023), the Department of Religion and Program in Judaic Studies at Princeton University (2017–2018; 2014–2015), the Tikvah Center for Law and Jewish Civilization at New York University Law School (2012–2013), and the Center for Jewish Law and Contemporary Civilization at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University (2008–2010).
He earned his PhD in Philosophy of Religion and Jewish Thought from Columbia University, where he also received his BA, MA, and MPhil.