Max Strassfeld is an associate professor in religious studies at the University of Southern California. He earned a BA in comparative literature from Brown University and a PhD in religious studies from Stanford University. Strassfeld’s debut book, Trans Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature (California, 2022) explores eunuchs and androgynes in Jewish law and pairs classical Jewish texts with intersex autobiography, transgender studies, and theories of queer temporality. Strassfeld received the Frankel Fellowship for New Perspectives on Gender and Jewish Life from the University of Michigan, a CrossCurrents fellowship at Auburn Seminary, and a fellowship from the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion and Reading Religion and on the board of the Association for Jewish Studies. He is currently an associate editor at QTR: A Journal of Queer and Trans Religion.
In his Academy project, “Disciplining Life,” Strassfeld examines the concept of life-cycle rituals—rituals connected to birth, puberty, marriage, and death. Implicit in the idea of the life cycle is the assumption that an autonomous individual is the basic unit of ritual, and that the goal of life is to reproduce. Drawing on feminist science, disability, queer, critical race, and trans studies, Strassfeld’s project seeks to challenge current scholarship that tends to trace the origins of life-cycle rituals to rabbinic literature, and the vision of hetero-reproductive life to classical Jewish sources.
Meet Max K. Strassfeld
A short portrait filmed at the Hans Arnhold Center, introducing the work and ideas behind fellows’ projects in Berlin.
Upcoming events
Discover what’s coming up in the Academy’s public program this semester.
Past events
Lectures, readings, and conversations from the Academy’s public program.
Some rabbinic sources counter traditional Judeo-Christian ideas of binary gender.
Berlin Journal Articles
Essays, interviews, and creative work published in the Academy’s annual magazine.
Books
Books written by fellows of the Academy, many begun during a semester in Berlin.
Videos
Lectures, readings, and conversations filmed at the Hans Arnhold Center.
Traditional Jewish Literature and Trans Politics
Max K. Strassfeld argues that historical Judaic texts can prompt a radical reassessment of contemporary narratives about the relationship among religion, gender, and law.
Fellow Spotlight: Max K. Strassfeld
Max K. Strassfeld challenges current scholarship tracing the origins of life-cycle rituals to rabbinic literature.
Explore Past Fellows
Hakim Abderrezak
Marco Abel
David Abraham
