Rebecca Lesses

Rebecca Lesses is an Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Ithaca College in the School of Humanities and Sciences. She specializes in Jewish mysticism, folk religion, magic, and ritual power, with a focus on Late Antiquity. Her seminal work, Ritual Practices to Gain Power (1998), explores the intersection of magic and mysticism in early Jewish traditions.

• Education:
  • Ph.D., Study of Religion, Harvard University (1995)
  • M.A., Study of Religion, Harvard University (1991)
  • B.A., Study of Religion, Harvard University (1985)

Her research includes a 2014 project, Angels’ Tongues and Witches’ Curses: Jewish Women and Ritual Power in Late Antiquity, and 2019 conference papers on Hekhalot literature and Babylonian incantation bowls. She has held prestigious fellowships, including the Mellon Fellowship at Columbia University and the Raymond and Janine Ballag Fund Fellowship at Hebrew University.

Rebecca teaches courses such as Hebrew Scriptures, Judaism in the Greco-Roman World, and Jewish Folk Religion: Magic and Ritual Power. Her pedagogy emphasizes critical analysis, chevruta (collaborative text study), and engagement with historical and sociological contexts of biblical and rabbinic texts.