Ofer Dynes

Ofer Dynes serves as the Leonard Kaye Assistant Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature within Columbia University's Department of Slavic Languages, currently on leave for the Fall 2025 semester.

His research centers on the literature and cultural history of Eastern European Jewry from the 18th to 21st centuries, with particular emphasis on the intersection of literary expression and political ideology. Dynes is finalizing a book manuscript titled The Fiction of the State: The Polish Partitions and the Beginning of Modern Jewish Literature (1772–1848) and recently co-edited a special volume of Prooftexts journal entitled The Beginnings of Modern Jewish Literature in Europe with Naomi Seidman of the University of Toronto.

Dynes co-founded and organizes the Hebrew Lab Faculty Seminar, a New York-based collaborative workgroup dedicated to advancing scholarship in Hebrew Literature through interdisciplinary academic exchange.