David Emanuel Ph.D., MSc

In September 2010 David began working as an Old Testament Professor at Nyack College in Manhattan. He continues to teach Biblical Hebrew there in addition to a number of other Old Testament courses such as the Psalms, and An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament. From 2012-2018 he also taught in a newly formed graduate program, Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins. In this program, he taught a variety of programs, including The Dead Sea Scrolls, Mishnaic Hebrew, History of the Second Temple Period, and Intertestamental Literature.

David spent 10 (2007-2017) years working for a Tel Aviv-based company, Eteacher, teaching biblical Hebrew at a variety of different levels to a variety of different people. He additionally wrote and taught seminars for them on the Dead Sea Scrolls. 

In addition Eteacher, David spent a significant amount of time writing short articles for the BibleMesh project. All of these articles center on various issues of Hebrew Grammar.

Prior to these activities, David studied for 11 years at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Whilst there he completed a Ph.D. in Bible and an MA in the Bible and Ancient Near East. In order to support himself whilst studying, he taught a class in the psalms at the University and spent three years editing articles for the Encyclopedia Ethiopica. David still has an interest in Technical Writing and completed a course in this field in 2010.

Before coming to Israel, he worked for eleven years in the computer industry. His last job was for Reuters, as a Project Executive. Whilst working in the industry, he completed a Master’s Degree in Computer Science at the University of London.

David’s original career path was as a semi-professional basketball player. In his brief, but enjoyable career, he played for four teams – Hemel Hempstead, Crystal Palace, Brunel, and Bracknell – over a period of five years. He also had the opportunity to coach basketball at a sports camp in New York in 1986.

Personal Achievements

  • Recipient of the annual Hebrew University’s President’s award in 2004.
  • Selected to represent England under 19s basketball team at the Albert Schweitzer tournament in Germany.

Publications, Papers, and Paper Presentations

  • “Biblical Remembrance”, PARDES – Journal of the Centre for Biblical and Hebraic Studies, 1/3 (1996)
  • Bi-monthly homiletical articles written for a Hebrew publication, Kivun (from Aug 2003-May 2006)
  • “Bibliography of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Nov 2000 – Sep 2001”, Revue de Qumran 20/2 (2001)
  • “The Psalmists’ Use of the Exodus Motif”, poster presentation at the SBL Annual Meeting, Washington DC (2006)
  • “The Shavuot Scroll: A Response to a Biblical ‘Wanted’ Ad?”, Paper presented at Christchurch Shavuot Lectures, Jerusalem, June 2008.
  • “An Unrecognized Voice: Intra-textual and Intertextual Perspectives on Psalm 81”, Hebrew Studies, 2009
  • “Reasons for Elective Home Education in the United Kingdom” was a paper David wrote to complete the first part of an ISTC (Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators) course in Technical Communications. He was awarded a distinction for this piece of work (see below).
  • “The Elevation of God in Psalm 105”, paper presented at the ETS national meeting, San Francisco (2011)
  • From Bards to Biblical Exegetes: A Close Reading and Intertextual Analysis of Selected Exodus Psalms (Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2012)

Leisure Intrests

David enjoys keeping fit in a variety of ways: swimming, resistance training, and hiking. Additionally, he still keeps up-to-date with computing, exploring various computer languages and applications.