Meet Dr. Jonathan Stökl, LJSA Member
photography: Temple Scroll, Israel Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Before coming to Leiden, Dr. Stökl was Reader in Hebrew Bible / Old Testament at Kings College London.
His research focuses on priests and priestly literature in ancient Judaism. To that extent he works on texts and material culture from the ancient Middle East. His teaching focuses on texts in Hebrew and other Northwest Semitic languages, as well as broader topics such as the religion(s) and culture of the ancient Levant, and the reception history of the ongoing engagement of Western scholars and artists with these cultures.
Dr. Stökl thinks that it is very important indeed that there be an initiative such as the LJSA here in Leiden. “The long history of Judaism in the Netherlands and in Leiden specifically is important” and it is also “important to bring scholars and students together who study aspects of Jewish culture, history and languages and to make their work available to the public.”
Since he sees his own work largely within the frame of Jewish Studies as a “broad and intellectually stimulating subject,” Dr. Stökl welcomes in particular “the networking opportunities provided by the LJSA—the fact that Jewish Studies as a subject becomes visible in Leiden, and does not exist only in the form of individual scholars who may or may not know each other.”