Dr. Jason Gaines is Professor of Practice in Hebrew Bible & Early Judaism and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Dept. of Jewish Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, offering courses on the Hebrew Bible, Israelite religion, and the scriptures & traditions of the Abrahamic Faiths. His teaching and research interests include the historical context of Jewish antiquity, gender/sexuality in Jewish texts, and Hebrew poetry. He has recently served on the faculty of Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts; Fairfield University in Connecticut; and Loyola University in New Orleans, where he taught Hebrew Bible, Jewish studies, comparative Christianity, and Islam. Fortress Press recently published his first book, The Poetic Priestly Source, which concerns poetry in the Five Books of Moses.

In May 2013, Dr. Gaines received a PhD from Brandeis University in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, specializing in Bible and the Ancient Near East. His dissertation, Poetic Features in Priestly Narrative Texts, was awarded the Nahum and Anne Glatzer Endowed Prize in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies; he also received an Andrew W. Mellon Dissertation Completion Fellowship. In addition, he holds a Master’s in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis and a BA from Sarah Lawrence College. In 2003-04, Jason studied at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

At Brandeis, Jason served as a Lecturer in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, teaching Biblical Hebrew, and as a Lecturer in Education, conducting graduate seminars on biblical literature. He has also taught Bible and mythology at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College and at Prozdor Hebrew High School in Newton, Mass.

Jewish Studies Class at Mount Holyoke College

Jason is committed to fostering lifelong learning in his communities, and he served as coordinator of adult learning events and director of the Genesis Forum at the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston for two years. He has presented lecture series at many synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, and senior centers throughout New England. He served as Youth Advisor at Temple Beth Tikvah in Madison, Conn., where he also taught in the Hebrew School. He regularly delivers lectures at conferences, such as the New England regional and National Annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature, and at universities.

Jason is a native of New Mexico, and he lives now in New Orleans.