Debra Reed Blank

            Debra Reed Blank is a teacher of Jewish Liturgy and Rabbinics, focusing primarily on the historical development of Jewish liturgy, from the rabbinic through the medieval periods, as well as the modern period. She has authored numerous articles and reviews in the field of Jewish liturgy.  Currently she is writing on the topic of liturgical change.

            Most recently she was the Rabbi Philip Alstat Assistant Professor of Liturgy at the Jewish Theological Seminary (New York City) and the academic advisor to the Liturgy Program.  She served as the acting dean of JTS’s undergraduate program and as an assistant dean of its Graduate School.  She has also taught at the Academy of Jewish Religion and is a frequent lecturer in adult-education venues.

             Blank was a member of the first class of women to enter the Rabbinical School at the JTS in 1984.  After ordination in 1989, she engaged in doctoral studies there in the fields of liturgy and rabbinics, and received her PhD in 1998.  Her dissertation was a critical edition of chapters 10-12 of M'sekhet Sof'rim in which she suggested a new theory regarding the provenance of chapters 10 - 21.

    She received a BA in Religious Studies from Indiana University (1977) and an MA from Columbia University in Library Science (1980).  She did graduate study at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati.  Before entering Rabbinical School she worked as a Judaica librarian at the YIVO Institute and at the HUC-JIR, both in New York City.

            She can be reached at dasblank@yahoo.com