Dr Benjamin Kantor
- Assistant Professor of Hebrew and the Jews of the Mediaeval Middle East
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About
Benjamin Kantor studied for a BA in Classical Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which he completed in 2012. During this time, he also studied various Semitic languages, such as Arabic, Akkadian, Aramaic, and Ugaritic. Following this, he went on to postgraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where he completed a PhD in Hebrew Bible with a minor in Arabic in 2017. He wrote his PhD thesis on the earliest attested reading tradition of Biblical Hebrew reflected in the Greek transcriptions of Hebrew in Origen’s Hexapla. In 2017 he moved to Cambridge, where he was employed by then Regius Prof. of Hebrew Geoffrey Khan to work on a new reference grammar of Biblical Hebrew. In 2024 he was appointed as Lecturer in Hebrew and the Jews of the Mediaeval Middle East. He currently teaches Classical Hebrew, Modern Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic, and Comparative Semitics in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.
Research
Research interests
- Biblical Hebrew
- Medieval (and Late Antique) Hebrew Reading/Vocalisation Traditions
- Medieval Hebrew and Arabic Grammarians
- Judaeo-Arabic
- Medieval Arabic Bible Translation
- Comparative Semitic Philology
- Greek of Judaea-Palestine
- Jewish Translations of the Bible into Greek (e.g.
Dr. Kantor's research focuses on the history of the Biblical Hebrew Reading traditions, mediaeval Hebrew and Arabic grammatical traditions, Judaeo-Arabic language, Arabic Bible translation, Jewish Bible translations, and historical Greek phonology in Judaea-Palestine.
Recent Publications:
- 2025. "The Origins of 'In the Beginning . . .': Genesis 1:1 in Light of the Biblical Hebrew Reading Traditions." Journal of Biblical Literature 144 (6): 601-636.
- 2023. The Standard Language Ideology of the Hebrew and Arabic Grammarians of the ʿAbbasid Period. Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures 21. Cambridge: University of Cambridge and Open Book Publishers.
- 2023. The Linguistic Classification of the Reading Traditions of Biblical Hebrew: A Phyla-and-Waves Model. Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures 19. Cambridge: University of Cambridge and Open Book Publishers.
- 2023. The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek: Judeo-Palestinian Greek Phonology and Orthography from Alexander to Islam. Grand Rapids, MI.: Eerdmans.
- 2023. A Short Guide to the Pronunciation of New Testament Greek. Grand Rapids, MI.: Eerdmans.
Teaching and supervision
Dr Kantor welcomes inquiries from prospective MPhil and PhD students who are interested in the areas of pre-modern Hebrew philology and linguistics, Judaeo-Arabic, Semitic languages and comparative Semitic linguistics, Jewish translations of the Bible (into Judaeo-Arabic, Greek, etc.), and other related areas.
Current Classes:
- MES.13 - Intermediate Classical Hebrew
- MES.18 - Judaeo-Arabic
- MES.33 - Advanced Modern Hebrew
- MES.41 - Comparative Semitic Linguistics