Yitz Landes (he/him) is Assistant Professor of Rabbinic Literature and Culture at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. His research focuses on the history of rabbinic Judaism, the history of the Jewish Book, and on Jewish liturgy. His first book, Studies in the Development of Birkat ha-Avodah, was published in 2018. Yitz received an AM and PhD in Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity from Princeton University. Prior to attending Princeton, Yitz received a BA in Talmud and Religion and an MA in Talmud from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and studied in the Otniel and Har Etzion yeshivot. Yitz was a David Hartman fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. Originally from New Jersey, Yitz lived in Israel for a decade, during which time he was involved with Encounter as a participant, facilitator, and trip leader. He now lives in Upper Manhattan with his wife and their two sons.