Education
B.A. in Religion, Oberlin College, 2006
M.A. in Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 2013
Ph.D. in Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 2016
Deborah Barer
Associate Professor
Areas of Expertise
Rabbinic Literature
Judaism in Late Antiquity
Jewish Law and Ethics
Biography
Deborah Barer received her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia
in 2016, with a concentration in rabbinic literature and thought. Her research explores
models of rabbinic decision-making, with an emphasis on the intersection of ethical
and legal reasoning in Talmudic legal narratives. She is currently developing a manuscript
based on her Ph.D. dissertation “A Judge With No Courtroom: Law, Ethics and the Rabbinic
Idea of Lifnim Mi-Shurat Ha-Din.”
Dr. Barer teaches a range of courses at Towson in Jewish studies and comparative religion,
including: RLST 210: Introduction to Judaism; RLST 206: Judaism, Christianity and
Islam; and RLST 310: Jewish Law and Ethics. She is also a faculty member of the Graduate
Program in Judaic Studies, where she teaches courses on rabbinic history, literature
and thought.