Lawrence H. Schiffman is Global Distinguished Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. From 2014 he served as the Judge Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and Director of the Global Institute for Advanced Research in Jewish Studies at NYU He has served as the Chair of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at NYU and Ethel and Irvin A. Edelman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. Between 2011 and 2014, he served as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Judaic Studies at Yeshiva University.
He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. He is a specialist in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Judaism in Late Antiquity, the history of Jewish law, and Talmudic literature.
Together with a colleague, he served as editor-in-chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2000) and for ten years as one of the editors of the journal Dead Sea Discoveries and has authored more than 200 articles on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinic Judaism. In 2006 he was the recipient of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture Scholarship Award.
Among his recent books are The Courtyards of the House of the Lord: Studies on the Temple Scroll (2008); Qumran and Jerusalem: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Judaism (2010), (with M. Goldstone) Binding Fragments of Tractate Temurah and the Problem of Lishana Aḥarina (2018), (with A.D. Gross) a new edition, translation and commentary on The Temple Scroll (2021), and Sources and Interpretations: Studies in Ancient Jewish History, Literature, and Religion (2025).
Schiffman is a past Chair and Representative of the Orthodox Union for the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultation (IJCIC), the Jewish liaison committee to the Vatican and other religious groups. Dr. Schiffman has lectured widely in universities, academic conferences, and for community organizations.