Mika Ahuvia - On My Right Michael, On My Left Gabriel: Angels in Ancient Jewish Culture

Acknowledgments

This book has reached your hands thanks to the support of many teachers, colleagues, and friends, whom I am gratified to acknowledge here.

My teachers at Princeton University guided my research in its early stages, and their insights stayed with me until the end: my gratitude goes to Martha Himmelfarb, Peter Schfer, John Gager, Harriet Flower, Peter Brown, Naphtali Meshel, and AnneMarie Luijendijk.

At Tel Aviv University, Gidi Bohak introduced me to the field of ancient Jewish magic. At the National Library in Jerusalem, Ophir Mnz-Manor mentored me in the study of liturgical poetry in his spare time.

I was privileged to take a position at the University of Washington, where my research has been supported by the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, a Royalty Research Fund fellowship, and a Gorasht Faculty Endowment. I want to thank Reat Kasaba, Noam Pianko, Joel Walker, and Sarah Zaides Rosen for ensuring I had time to focus on this book. And I am especially grateful to my colleagues Michael Williams, Christian Novetzke, Scott Noegel, Stephanie Selover, and Hamza Zafer for their collegiality and feedback through the years. Beyond UW, I am thankful to Nova Robinson, Rena Lauer, Greg Gardner, Loren Spielman, and Eva Mroczek for fostering such a supportive intellectual atmosphere in the Pacific Northwest.

Looking back, I appreciate Moulie Vidass advice to center the ritual-magical evidence and to open every chapter with a primary source. I learned so much from the works of Michael D. Swartz, and I was thrilled to learn he was one of this books final readers and supporters. Laura Lieber encouraged me from afar, visited Seattle during a city-stopping snowstorm, and offered valuable feedback on my entire manuscript. Avigail Manekin-Bamberger kindly read and reread my chapters on ritual sources, helping me engage fruitfully with advances in the field of Jewish magic. Gillian Steinberg read every draft of this manuscript from start to finish and was my cheerleader every step of the way.

I will forever be grateful to the following two scholars for elevating my research: when I felt stalled, Raanan Boustans support gave me new momentum, offering constructive feedback on every chapter of this book, challenging me to flesh out every argument, and to place my contributions in the field of late antique religion more broadly. Long before I thought of a book project on angels in Jewish sources, I heard Ellen Muehlberger lecture on angels in Christian sources. She generously shared her research with me through the years, and, in the end, she gave me the confidence to articulate my argument without any hedging, qualifiers, or disclaimers.

In the pandemic spring of 2020, I taught an online seminar on angels to a brilliant group of students. Their dedication, humor, and insight made finishing this book a pleasure (special thanks to Corinna Nichols and Grace Dy). My deep gratitude goes to Jennifer Hunter for being the best TA and RA during the worst of times and for enabling me to finish revisions of this book.

I am grateful to Eric Schmidt for shepherding this book through to publication and everyone at the University of California Press for making the publication of this book such a positive experience.