Barry Holtz
Theodore and Florence Baumritter Professor of Jewish Education
Department: Jewish Education , Melton Research Center, William Davidson Graduate School
Phone: (212) 678-8034
Email: baholtz@jtsa.edu
Building Room: Brush 206
Office Hours: Tuesday 10:00 a.m.–noon
Biography
BA, Tufts University; MA and PhD, Brandeis University
Barry W. Holtz is the Theodore and Florence Baumritter Professor of Jewish Education at The Jewish Theological Seminary. From 2008 to 2013 he served as dean of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education of JTS. He leads courses in teaching classical texts, professional development for teachers, philosophy of Jewish education, and current issues confronting Jewish education.
Dr. Holtz has written and edited numerous publications in the field of Jewish education. His Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts, a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, is widely used as a textbook for university and adult education courses. His most recent book, Rabbi Akiva: Sage of the Talmud, was published by Yale University Press in 2017.
Dr. Holtz served for 12 years as codirector of JTS’s Melton Research Center for Jewish Education, where he supervised the writing and publication of several volumes of the Melton Graded Curriculum materials for Jewish schools across North America.
GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND AWARDS
- Book-of-the-Month Club selection, 1984: Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts.
- Book-of-the-Month Club selection, 1992: The Schocken Guide to Jewish Books.
- National Jewish Book Award, 2004: Textual Knowledge: Teaching the Bible in Theory and in Practice.
PUBLICATIONS
- Rabbi Akiva: Sage of the Talmud. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017.
- Textual Knowledge: Teaching the Bible in Theory and in Practice. New York: The Jewish Theological Seminary Press, 2003
- The Schocken Guide to Jewish Books. New York: Schocken Books, 1992.
- Finding Our Way: Jewish Texts and the Lives We Lead Today. New York: Schocken Books, 1990.
- Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984.
- Your Word Is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer. Coeditor and cotranslator with Arthur Green. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights, 1993. Revised edition, 1993.
Research
Dr. Holtz’s research focuses on the pedagogy of Jewish sources with an emphasis on the relationship between Judaica scholarship and the teaching of Jewish classical texts, and between Jewish thought and Jewish educational theory. He also works in the field of professional development for educators.
