elliot wolfson began a career of textual interpretation as a young boy studying talmud with his father. almost as early, the songs in his head began to translate into poems on the page, later finding expression as color on canvas. drawn particularly to esoteric traditions of mysticism and philosophy, he has repeatedly found himself not only working across media but also traversing established boundaries of religious and scholarly identities and disciplines. wolfson received bachelor and master of arts degrees from queens college of the city university of new york, where he pursued the study of philosophy, focusing especially on phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. he received master of arts and doctor of philosophy degrees from brandeis university, where he specialized in the study of the kabbalistic texts and traditions that have remained central to his scholarly work. he is the abraham lieberman professor of hebrew and judaic studies at new york university, where he has taught since 1987.