פרופ' ציונה גרוסמארק

I intend to continue my research of Talmudic data concerning travel and travelers in connection with Roman-Byzantine sources dealing with this phenomenon. The first part of this research dealing with travel narratives was published in 2010 (T. Grossmark, Travelers Narratives in Rabbinic Literature: Voyages to Imaginary Realms, New York: Edwin Mellen Press 2010). My current interest is concerned with the physical aspects of travel according to rabbinic literature. 

1992 – 1996, Tel Hai College (Under Haifa University), Department for the Study of Eretz-Israel. Undergraduate courses:
    1. Ancient Synagogues in the Land of Israel
    2. The Bar Kokhba Revolt
    3. Theaters and Spectacles 
    4. An Introduction to Roman Architecture 
1996 and onwards – Tel Hai College, Multidisciplinary Studies Department and the Department of Education (since 2008), Undergraduate courses:
    1.  An Introduction to the Art of the Ancient World
    2.  Academic Skills
    3.  The Galilee and the Golan during the Roman and Byzantine Periods
         Art and Mythology (Seminar)
    4.  Tzippori and Tiberias – Capitals of Galilee
5.  An Introduction to the History of the Persian and the Hellenistic Periods in 
     the Land of Israel
    6.  An Introduction to the History of the Roman and Byzantine Periods in the
          Land of Israel
    7.  From Greece to Rome    
8.  From Rome to Byzantium.
9.  The Image of Women in Ancient Art (Greek and Rome) (Seminar) 
10. The History of the Period of the Mishnah and the Talmud
11. Jewish Revolts in the Roman Period
12. Reading in Rabbinic Literary Sources
13. Jewish Art in Antiquity
14. An Introduction to Byzantine Art
15. Theaters and Spectacles
16. Women in Rabbinic Sources
17. Narratives and Myths (Seminar)
2012 – Present: The department of Drama-Therapy (M.A.)
1.    From worship to Theatre
2014 – Present:  The department of Galilee Studies (M.A.)
1.    Daily life in Ancient Galilee According to Rabbinic Literature. (Seminar)
1997 – 2001, University of Haifa, Jewish History Department, Graduate courses:
1. From Alexander the Great to Pompey: Reading of sources for the History of 
    Israel during the Days of the Second Temple
2. Tzippori and Tiberias – Capitals of Galilee
3. The Jewish City during the Days of the Mishnah and Talmud
4. Ancient Synagogues

Supervision of M.A. and Ph.D students 
2003-2006 – Sharona Levi, 'The Women of the Herodian Family', MA Thesis, Haifa University, Jewish History Department.
2005 – Referee of a doctoral thesis, School of History, Tel Aviv University.

1. April 1990, Center for the History of Eretz-Israel and its Yishuv, University of Haifa and Yad Ben Zvi. Subject of Lecture: 'Distancing the Kilns from the City'. 
2. June 1993, Hebrew University Jerusalem, 11th World Congress of Jewish Studies. Subject of lecture: 'Organizations of Goldsmiths and Silversmiths in Eretz-Israel during the Roman and Byzantine Periods'
3. November 1995, Center for the History of Eretz-Israel and its Yishuv, University of Haifa and Yad Ben Zvi. Subject of Lecture: 'Idolatry Laws in Jewelry'.
4. July 1997, Hebrew University Jerusalem, 12th World Congress of Jewish Studies. Subject of lecture: 'Images of God in Rabbinical Literature Borrowed from the Sphere of the Roman Spectacles'.
5. June 1999, 1st Galilee Research Conference, Tel Hai College. Subject of Lecture: 'The Ritual Purity of Glass in the Light of the Glass Findings from Tel Anafa'.
6. March 2001, Society for Late Antiquity, 4th Biennial Conference; Travel, Communication & Geography in Late Antiquity. San Francisco State University. Subject of lecture: 'Rabba Bar Bar Hannah, a Sindbad Rabbi'.
7. August 2001, Hebrew University Jerusalem, 13th World Congress of Jewish Studies. Subject of lecture: 'Travelers Stories in Bava Bathra, Babylonian Talmud'.
8. March 2002, 'Motar' Conference, Faculty of Arts, Tel Aviv University. Subject of Lecture: 'Mythological Scenes of the Desert in Rabbinic Legends'.
9. January 2003, Tel Hai Academic College: Travelers, Traveling and Pilgrimage. Subject of lecture: 'Inns as a Place of Danger in Talmudic Literature'.
10. February 2003, Yad Ben Zvi, Jerusalem, Urbanization in the land of Israel in Ancient Times. Subject of lecture: 'The Jews and the Roman Spectacles'.
11. March 2003, Society for Late Antiquity, 5th Biennial Conference: Violence, Victims and Vindication in Late Antiquity. University of California, Santa Barbara. Subject of lecture: 'The Inn as a Place of Violence in Talmudic Literature'.
12. December 2003, 12th International Conference of Historical Geographers, Auckland. Subject of lecture: '"Come I will show you where heaven and earth touch one another": Traveler Stories in Talmudic Literature'.
13. July 2004, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, England; Subject of Lecture: 'Travellers` Stories in Babylonian Talmud Bava Bathra, 73a-74b'.
14. December 2004, Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies, Bar Ilan University, New Studies on Jerusalem. Subject of lecture: 'A City of Gold and Jerusalem of Gold'. 
15. March 2004, Shifting Frontiers Conference, Tel Hai College; Subject of Lecture: 'Crossing Borders: Rabba Bar Bar Hanna'. 
16. May 2005, Mediterranean Studies Association, 8th Annual International Congress, Universita degli Studi di Messina, Subject of lecture: 'The Pandocheion in Rabbinic Literature'.  
17. July-August 2005, Hebrew University Jerusalem, 14th World Congress of Jewish Studies. Subject of lecture: 'The Pandocheion as a Place of Danger'.
18. December 2005, International Conference: In the Wake of Pilgrims to the Holy Land, Mishkenot Sha‛ananim, Jerusalem. Subject of lecture: 'Rabba Bar Bar Hanna – A Traveler and an Agent of Religious and Cultural Knowledge'.
19. March 2006, Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies, Bar Ilan University, New Studies on Jerusalem; Subject of Lecture: 'Ten Things were Said Concerning Jerusalem'.
20. April 2006, Research Seminar 'Leadership', Co-sponsored by the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Hai College. Subject of Lecture: 'Rabbinic Leadership during the Days of the Mishnah'.  
21. July 2006, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, England; Subject of Lecture: 'A "City of Gold" and "Jerusalem of Gold"'.
22. May 2007, 39th Annual Conference of the Israel Society for the Promotion of Classical Studies (ISPCS), The Hebrew University Jerusalem; Subject of Lecture: '"It is told of Rabbi Aqiba that he had a city of gold made for his wife" - A "City of Gold" and "Jerusalem of Gold"'.
23. June 2007, Conference on Galilee in the Roman Period, Tel Hai College co-sponsored with Macalester College and Carthage College. Subject of Lecture: 'The Absence of Travelers Stories about Galilee in Rabbinic Literature'.
24. July 2007, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, England; Subject of Lecture: '"Ten Things were said Concerning Jerusalem" (BT, Bava Kama 82b)'. 
25. June 2008, Second Yuvalim Center Conference, Tel Hai College. Subject of Lecture: 'God in the Arena'.
26. July 2008, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, England; Subject of Lecture: 'The Desert in Talmudic Travelers' Tales: Reality and imagination'.
27. July 2009, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, England. Subject of Lecture: '"Moses and his Torah are truth and we are liars" (bB. Bat. 74a), The rebellion of Korah and his men in the light of rabbinic literature'.
28. August 2009, Hebrew University Jerusalem, 15th World Congress of Jewish Studies. Subject of lecture: 'In Quest of Talmudic Reality: The Manufacture of Glass in Rabbinic Literature'. 
29. February 2010, 'Motar' Conference, The Faculty of Arts Tel Aviv University; Subject of Lecture: 'Were Sages' Voyages between Babylonia and the Land of Israel Pilgrimage Voyages?'
30. July 2010, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, England. Subject of lecture: '"Come and I'll show you where heaven and earth touch one another", The Riddle of Rabba bar bar Hanna's Travelers' Tales'.
31. May 2011, Mediterranean Studies Association 2011 Congress, Ionian University of Corfu, Greece. Subject of lecture: “The 'Mural Crown', from Tyche's Head to Rabbinic Literature”.
32. July 2011, ARAM Thirtieth International Conference: Trade Routes & Seafaring in the Ancient Near East (The Oriental Institute, Oxford). Subject of lecture: “The Pandocheion in Rabbinic Literature”.
33. May 2012, Mediterranean Studies Association 2012 Congress, Pula University, Croatia, subject of lecture: ‘Pilgrimage to Mt. Sinai in Rabbinic literature’.
34. June 2012, Tradition and Transition international conference, Tel Hai College, subject of lecture: "Talmudic Realia: The Application of Halakhic (laws) of Purity in glass vessels in light of the Glass findings from Tel Anafa"
35. July 2013, Hebrew University Jerusalem, 16th World Congress of Jewish Studies. Subject of lecture: 'I Myself Saw the Place'; Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in Rabbinic Literaturre '.
36. April 2014, 16th Galilee Research Conference, Tel Hai College. Subject of Lecture: 'Jewelry and Small Finds from the Site of Omrit'.
37. July 2014, Paris, The Xth Congress of the EAJS. Subject of Lecture: 'A Neo-Assyrian Cylinder Seal from Omrit and its Contribution to the Study of the Assyrian Military Presence in the Galilee'.
38. October 2014, The 1ST Conference for Environmental-History in Israel. Yad Ben Zvi, Jerusalem. Subject of lecture: 'An Urban Regulation in the Land of Israel during Roman and Byzantine Periods'.
39. December 2014, Galilean Archaeology workshop, Kinnert College, Subject of Lecture: 'Jewelry and Small Finds from the Site of Omrit'.
40. January 2015, Space and Historiography workshop, University of Ghent, Belgium. Subject of Lecture: 'In the Footsteps of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness: Perception of the Sinai Desert in Some Rabbinic Travelers’ Tales'.
[future conferences 2015:
1.    May 2015, Mediterranean Studies Association 2015 Congress, Athens University, Greece, subject of lecture: 'Diocletian and the Construction of Homs Dam'.
2.    July 2015,  ARAM International Conference on the Jordan River (The Oriental Institute, Oxford). Subject of lecture: 'Sargon the 2nd in Galilee, the Evidence from Omrit'.