My academic work began with an interest in the relationship between contemporary theoretical approaches to literature and forms of rabbinic exegesis. My current work continues to consider these ideas in more theoretical forms, centering specifically on the relationship between Freudian theory and Jewish exegetical practice, the literary expressions of trauma and the development of literary/cultural identity, and the influences of Jewish thought and practice as paradigmatic for Western constructions of literary identity. I addition to my work as a professor I am beginning training as a clinical research psychoanalyst to further my understanding of psychoanalytic practice, beyond its theoretical applications.