Education:
Ph.D. , Yale University - 2000 (Jewish History)
B.A., Barnard College - 1990 (European History)
Areas of Expertise:
Flatto specializes in early modern Jewish history, early modern and modern Jewish thought, and Kabbalah. Her research interests include the key role of mysticism in 17th- and 18th-century Ashkenazic (Central and Eastern European) culture- surprisingly even for some maskilim (Jewish advocates of Enlightenment), interactions between hasidim and mitnaggedim (opponents of Hasidism), and the layered process of modernization in Central Europe, particularly in Prague, Berlin and Budapest.
Books and Publications
"Diaspora and Exile: Their Purpose in the Jewish Mystical and Hasidic Traditions," Oxford Handbook of the Jewish Diaspora, ed. Hasia R. Diner (forthcoming, 2019). (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2018
"Tradition, Modernization and Enduring Family Bonds in 19th-Century Prague,"
Hebrew Union College Annual. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2017
"A Tale of Three Generations: Shifting Attitudes towards Haskalah, Mendelssohn and Acculturation," Jewish Culture in Early Modern Europe eds. Cohen, Dohrmann, Shear and Reiner. HUC Press (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2014
"Believing the Censor? A Response to 'Diests, Sabbatians, and Kabbalists in Prague': A Censored Sermon of R. Ezekiel Landau, 1770." Kabbalah :Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 24. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2011
The Kabbalistic Culture of Eighteenth-Century Prague: Ezekiel Landau and His Contemporaries, Oxford, Littman Press. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2010
"Israel Landau," "Moses Landau," and "Ezekiel Landau," YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, Yale University Press. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2008
"Hasidim and Mitnaggedim: Not a World Apart." Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 12.2: 99-121. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2003
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Adjunct Fellow, "Constructing Borders and Crossing Boundaries in Early Modern Jewish History," September 2013- May 2014. (Grants and Fellowships) 2014
Wolfe Institute for the Humanities Fellowship, 2010-11. (Grants and Fellowships) 2011
PSC-CUNY Research Award. (Grants and Fellowships) 2010
PSC-CUNY Research Award. (Grants and Fellowships) 2009
PSC-CUNY Research Award. (Grants and Fellowships) 2008
PSC-CUNY Research Award. (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
PSC-CUNY Research Award. (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
Whiting Foundation Fellowship for outstanding teaching in the humanities. (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Early Modern and Contemporary Trends in Hebrew Mystical Prayer," Invited Speaker at the Annual Day of Kabbalah Conference, NYC, Jan. 2019. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
"Revisiting the Major Impact of Isaiah Tishby," Invited speaker on-and moderator of- a panel devoted to 'The Pioneering Kabbalah Scholar: I. Tishby,' Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference, Boston, Dec. 2018.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2018
Invited Speaker at Melbourne and Sydney Limmud Jewish Studies Festival, delivered 4 lectures in Melbourne and 2 in Sydney, Australia, June-July 2016
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
Invited speaker at Limmud UK Jewish Studies Festival, delivered 4 lectures on Early Modern Jewry, Mysticism, and Messianism, Birmingham, England. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Invited speaker at the Limmud Jewish Studies East Coast US Festival, delivered 2 lectures on Jewish Magic and Hasidism, Stamford, CT. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"The Ishbitzer: His Mysterious and Radical Thought," Invited Speaker at the Annual Day of Kabbalah Conference, NYC, 2013.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Praying for the Shekhinah: Kabbalah's Influence on Jewish Law and Custom," Annual Day of Kabbalah, New York, 2012. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"Early Reformers, Rationalists, and Kabbalists," Invited lecture at Yeshiva University (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"New Directions in Early Modern Jewish History: Continuity or Break?," Association
for Jewish Studies Annual Conference, Boston, Mass. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"Acculturation in Early Modern Prague: A Tale of Three Generations," Judaic Studies Symposium, Princeton University
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009
Other Professional Activities
Invited Speaker for the Central Jewish Community, Zurich Switzerland, Jan. 2017. 2017