The novel (in the form of a play) is a unique window into how the questions of Jewish modernity, including discussions of gender, secularism, education, Zionism, and more, were taken up in the framework of the Sephardi intellectual world. a study of a Hebrew dramatic novel, written by a Sephardi Ottoman scholar in 1874, after a trip across North Africa.Examining the lifecycle of the book, from production (whether in manuscript or print) to distribution and circulation in reading communities, I highlight how studying the Jewish book as both a material and social object illuminates the encounter between the world of a text and the world of its readers. a monograph, based on my dissertation, of Jewish book culture in early modern North Africa.I am currently working on two academic projects:

It was awarded the 2020 Reference Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries, and the 2020 Anthology Award from the Lambda Literary Foundation. My first book, A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts from the First Century to 1969 (Philadelphia: Print-o-Craft Press, 2019), collects 120 primary sources for the study of LGBTQ Jewish history, with introductions and extensive bibliography. I also have an MA in Religious Studies from the University of Toronto, and a BA in Anthropology and Classics from Brandeis University (summa cum laude). I completed my PhD in Jewish History and Museum Studies at the University of Minnesota in 2020. I am a historian of Jewish culture, focusing especially on the medieval and early modern periods, and with a particular interest in Jewish communities in the Islamic world.

Noam sienna a rainbow thread