Sivan Nir is a PhD student in the Department of Biblical Studies at Tel Aviv
University, focusing on the reception of Hagar’s character. He is the author of
Characterization in Midrash and Medieval Bible Commentaries and an expert on the
reception of biblical characters, literary ideas, and religious concepts in Midrash and
medieval exegesis. Previously a Harry Starr Fellow at Harvard University, he
authored a forthcoming book on rabbinic narratives in later Midrash. As part of the
”Entangled Worlds” program, he studies divine characterizations in Tanhuma
Midrash in light of classical Islam in Palestine.