Dr. Cara Rock-Singer

Contact: rocksing [at] umich [dot] edu

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS

 

University of Michigan, Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, July 2024-present

Lama Shetzer Assistant Professor of Contemporary Jewish Life Courtesy Appointment to the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies and the Science and Technology Studies Program

 

University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2019-2024

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies; Affiliate Faculty of the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, the Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, and the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies

 

Cornell University

Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Jewish Studies and Technology Studies Department (Postdoctoral Fellow 2018-2019; Visiting Lecturer 2017-2018

EDUCATION

Ph.D. Columbia University, New York, NY                                                           February 2018

Religion, North America Religions Subfield

Dissertation: “Prophetesses of the Body: American Jewish Feminism and The Politics of Embodied Knowledge”

 

The Conservative Yeshiva, Jerusalem, Israel                                                                2013-2014

Primary Source Study of the Jewish Textual Tradition

Subjects: Tanakh, Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, Halacha, Biblical Hebrew Grammar, Liturgy, Judaism and Gender

 

Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel                                                             Summer 2011, 2013

Summer Ulpan (Hebrew Language Course)

Levels: Aleph (2011), Dalet (2013)

 

Oxford University, Regent’s Park College, Oxford, England                                        2009-2010

M.St., Theology (Religion and Science)

Honors: Distinction

 

Princeton University, Princeton, NJ                                                                               2005-2009

Bachelor of Arts in Molecular Biology; Quantitative Computational Biology Certificate (Minor)

Cumulative GPA: 3.775; Major GPA: 4.07

Honors: Summa Cum Laude; Phi Beta Kappa; Sigma Xi (Science Research Society)

Thesis: Swi/Snf Chromatin Remodeling in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Global Gene Expression and Nucleosome Positioning upon Glucose Starvation

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

Monographs

Gestating Judaism: The Corporeal Technologies of American Jewish Religion, University of Chicago Press, The Class 200 Series, 2026

 Inherited Futures: The American Jewish Life of Genetics and Epigenetics, in preparation

Refereed Journal Articles

  • “Alternative Medicine in American Jewish Hands: Orthodox Mediators and the Racialized Reproduction of American Religion in Jerusalem.” Submitted to American Religion, special issue on “Religion and Health,” ed. Philippa Koch. 

  • “Tashlikh!: Epigenetics Talk and the Media of Jewish Memory.” Under review, Jewish Quarterly Review, special issue on “Jewish Heath and Experimental Ethnography,” ed. Ayala Fader, Rachel Feldman, and Lea Taragin-Zeller.

  • “The Textual is Political: Disrupting Jewish Ecology East of Eden.” Journal of Textual Reasoning 16 no. 1 (2025): 7-34.

  • “Meeting Moses Mendelssohn at the Mikveh: An Ethnodrashy.” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, 37 no. 2 (2025): 180-195.

  • “Educating for the New Jerusalem to Deliver the Messianic Age: A Fabulative Friendship with Louis Finkelstein and James Baldwin.” With Leslie Ribovich. Jewish Quarterly Review 115 no. 3 (Summer 2025): 537-565.

  • “Hadassah and the Gender of Modern Jewish Thought: The Affective, Embodied Messianism of Jessie Sampter, Irma Lindheim, and Nima Adlerblum.” American Jewish History 104, 2/3 (April/July 2020): 423-456.

  • “Milk Sisters: Forging Sisterhood at Kohenet’s Hebrew Priestess Institute.” Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies 37 (Fall 2020): 87-114.

  • “A Prophetic Guide for a Perplexed World: Louis Finkelstein and the 1940 Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion.” Religion and American Culture 29 no. 2 (May 2019): 179-215.

  • Amy A. Caudy, Yuanfang Guan…Cara Singer…Maitreya J. Dunham. (2013) “A New System for Comparative Functional Genomics of Saccharomyces Yeast.” Genetics, 195(1): 275-287.

  • Denis Tolkunov, Karl A. Zawadzki, Cara Singer…James R. Broach. (2011) “Chromatin remodelers clear nucleosomes from intrinsically unfavorable sites to establish nucleosome-depleted regions at promoters.” Molecular Biology of the Cell, 22(12): 2106-2118.

 

Book Chapters

  • “The Modern Mikveh Movement: Fertility,” In preparation for Between Flesh and Water: Documenting the Global Story of Jewish Women and Ritual Purity,” ed. Laura A. Leibman and Anabella Esparanza.

  • “The Modern Mikveh Movement: Queering Taharat HaMishpaḥa,” In preparation for Between Flesh and Water: Documenting the Global Story of Jewish Women and Ritual Purity,” ed. Laura A. Leibman and Anabella Esparanza.

  • “Mikveh Immersion Ceremonies for Menopause and Aging,” submitted to Jewish Women in Global Perspective: A Documentary History, ed. Elissa Bemporad, Dina Danon, Frederica Francesconi, and Elizabeth Imber, Oxford University Press.

  • “Nima Adlerblum,” Jewish Thinkers: Women and Gender-Marginalized Voices, ed. Sarah Imhoff and Andrea Cooper, Wayne State University Press (Forthcoming 2027, peer reviewed).

  • “Immersion: The Jewish Ritual Bath in the Protestant Waters of Religion and Science,” Science and Religion: approaches from Science and Technology Studies, ed. Zara T. Kamwendo, Palgrave Macmillan, 2024 (peer reviewed).

  • “On the Altar of Shekhina: The Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute and the Revival of the Jewish Women’s Spiritual Leadership.” Jewish Revival(s) Inside Out: Remaking Jewishness in a Post-Secular Age, ed. Rachel Werczberger and Daniel Monterescu, Wayne State University Press, 2022 (peer reviewed).

  • “Queer Mikveh.” Jews Across the Americas: 1492-Present, ed. Laura Arnold Leibman and Adriana M. Brodsky, New York University Press, 2023.

  • “Chicken Soup: Women and the Making of the Modern Jewish Home and Nation.” Beyond Chicken Soup: Jews and Medicine in America, Jewish Museum of Maryland, 2016.

Book Reviews

  • “Review: On the Sovereignty of Mothers: The Political as Maternal by Gil Anidjar.” With Florence Pasche-Guignard. Forthcoming in Religious Studies Review.

  • “Book Review: Deena Aranoff, Mother’s Milk: Essays on Childrearing, the Household, and the Making of Jewish Culture.” Contemporary Jewry 46, no. 21 (2026).

  • “Review: The State of Desire: Religion and Reproductive Politics in the Promised Land by Lea Taragin-Zeller.” Gender & Society 35 no. 8 (2024).

  • “Review: Beyond the Synagogue: Jewish Nostalgia as Religious Practice by Rachel B. Gross.” American Religion 3, no. 2 (2022): 138-140.

  • “Review: Conceiving Agency: Reproductive Authority among Haredi Women by Michal S. Raucher.” The Journal of Jewish Identities 14, no. 2 (2021): 249-51.

  • “Review: Jewish Radical Feminism: Voices from the Women’s Liberation Movement by Joyce Antler.” AJS Review 44, no. 1 (2020), 220-222.

  •  “Review: The Territories of Science and Religion by Peter Harrison.” The Revealer: A Review of Religion and Media, New York University, 19 February 2016.

 

Public-Facing Essays

 

AWARDS AND HONORS (selected)

  •  Judit Boker Liwerant Distinguished Early Career Award, Association for Social Scientific Study of Jewry, 2026

  •  Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Award, 2025

  • Young Scholars in American Religion, 2025-2027

  • Cashmere Subvention Grant, Association for Jewish Studies Women’s Caucus, 2024

  • Hadassah Brandeis Institute Senior Research Award, 2023 

  • Second NA’AMAT USA Research Fellowship in Honor of Elizabeth J. Raider, 2017

  • AJS Women’s Caucus Innovative Scholarship in Gender and Jewish Studies Prize, 2017

  • Blair Senior Thesis Award, Molecular Biology, Princeton University, 2009

  • Highest Academic Achievement Prize, Quantitative Computational Biology, Princeton University, 2009

  • Best Senior Thesis Prize, Quantitative Computational Biology, Princeton University, 2009

INVITED TALKS (selected)

  • “Gestating Judaism,” Upcoming at Columbia University, February 23, 2027

  • “Gestating Judaism,” American Labors Symposium, Upcoming at Yale University, February 22, 2027

  • “Gestating Judaism,” Upcoming at University of Pennsylvania, February 18, 2027

  • “Gestating Judaism,” Upcoming at Brown University, February 2027 

  • “Reproducing Judaism,” Upcoming, Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Scholar-in-Residence Lecture, Fairfield University, October 23, 2026

  • “The Modern Mikveh Movement: The Ritual Bath and the Politics of Jewish Bodily Technology,” Emerging Voices in Jewish Studies Series at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, September 16, 2025

  • “The Modern Mikveh Movement: The Ritual Bath and the Politics of Jewish Bodily Technology,” Department of Religion, University of Virginia, February 6, 2024

  • “The Modern Mikveh Movement: The Ritual Bath and the Politics of Jewish Bodily Technology,” Department of Religion, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, January 26, 2024

  •  “The Modern Mikveh Movement: The Ritual Bath and Feminist Practices of Religion and Science,” Department of Religion, Rice University, January 18, 2024

  • “The Modern Mikveh Movement: The Ritual Bath and the Politics of Jewish Bodily Technology,” The Frankel Center, University of Michigan, November 16, 2023

  • Participant, “New Scholarly Directions in an Altered Healthcare Landscape” at Post-Dobbs America Through a Jewish Lens, Emory University November 9-10, 2023

  • “Making Mikveh Multiple: Amniotic Accounts of Science and Religion,” Keynote Lecture, Beyond Belief: MENA Perspectives on Science and Religion Conference, Hebrew University, June 26-29, 2023

  •  “The Modern Mikveh Movement: The Ritual Bath and the Politics of Jewish Bodily Technology,” Gender and Women’s Studies, Villanova University, March 16, 2023

  • “The Politics of Ritual by Molly Farneth Book Launch,” Respondent, Villanova’s Center for Political Theology, March 16, 2023

  • “The Modern Mikveh Movement: The Ritual Bath and the Politics of Jewish Bodily Technology,” Department of Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University, January 23, 2023

  • Moderator, “Covid in Context: Health Culture among Yiddish and Pennsylvania Dutch Speakers,” Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture & The Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, January 27, 2022

  • “The Mikveh Multiple: The Modern Mikveh Movement and the Cultivation of Embodied Spiritualities,” American Studies Program, Princeton University, February 19, 2019

  • “The Mikveh Multiple: The Modern Mikveh Movement and the Cultivation of Embodied Spiritualities,” Department of Religion, Colorado College, January 31, 2019

  • “The Mikveh Multiple: The Modern Mikveh Movement and the Cultivation of Embodied Spiritualities,” Department of Religion, Syracuse University, January 23, 2019

  • “Stretch Marks: Reproducing the Women’s Health Movement in Jerusalem,” Na’amat USA in Chicago, July 2, 2018

  • “God’s Immodest Witnesses and Ritual Technologies for Creating Jewish Life,” Science and Technology Studies Colloquium, Cornell University, February 26, 2018

  • “Life of the Jewish Mind-Body-Spirit,” Leadership and Multifaith Program (LAMP), Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and Georgia Institute of Technology, February 17, 2018

  • "The Mikveh Multiple: The Modern Mikveh Movement and the Cultivation of Embodied Spiritualities in the Jewish Ritual Bath," Department of Religion, Wesleyan University, January 30, 2017.

  • “Our Bodies Our Health: Jewish Women's Healing Rituals,” Jewish Museum of Maryland, November 6, 2016

 

CONFERENCE/WORKSHOP ACTIVITY (Selected)

  •  Organizer and Participant, “The Virtual Fieldsite: Doing Jewish Digital Ethnography in 2026,” Upcoming at the Association for Jewish Studies; Philadelphia, PA, December 20-22, 2026

  • Participant, “Straightening Objects and Judaism: Anthropological Perspectives,” Upcoming at the Association for Jewish Studies; Philadelphia, PA, December 20-22, 2026

  • Organizer and Respondent, “Gestating Judaism: The Corporeal Technologies of American Jewish Religion: A Postpartum Conversation,” Upcoming at American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting; Science, Technology, and Religion Unit; Denver, CA, November 2026

  • Participant, “The Idea of Diaspora in the Study of American Religion,” AAR Collaborative Research Grant Workshop, Upcoming at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne, October 13-15, 2026

  • “A Living Superscript: Post-Genomic Prophecy and the Reinvention of Jewish Theology,” Oxford Summer Institute on Modern and Contemporary Judaism, Oxford University, June 28-July 2, 2026

  • “A Living Superscript: Epigenetic Memoirs, Biologized Trauma, and the Reinvention of Jewish Theology,” AJHS Biennial Scholars’ Conference, Cleveland, OH, May 31-June 2 2026

  • Organizer and Participant, “Re-Inherit the Wind,” Association for Jewish Studies; Washington, DC, December 16, 2025

  • Organizer and Participant, “Re-Inherit the Wind,” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting; Science, Technology, and Religion Unit; Boston, MA, November 24, 2025

  • Participant, “Motherhood Encountered/in Times of Encounter,” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting; Motherhood and Religion Unit; Boston, MA, November 23, 2025

  • Organizer, Presenter, and Respondent, Thinking With and Against Jewish Reproduction, Workshop at the University of Michigan, May 7-8, 2025

  • "Sour Grapes: Epigenetics, Trauma, and Reappropriating the Prophets," Jews and Health Workshop, Fordham University, March 17, 2025

  • Panelist, “Judaism and Science: New Directions,” Association for Jewish Studies, December 19, 2024

  • Panelist, “Contemporary Experiences of Mikveh Immersion,” Association for Jewish Studies, December 18, 2024

  • “Holding a Whole World: Reflections On the Weight of Jewish Motherhood,” for Exploratory Session for Motherhood and Religion session “Maternal Agency and Choice: Raising Children In/Against Religion/s,” American Academy of Religion, San Diego, CA, November 23, 2024

  • Panelist, “Lived Religion and Jewish Studies: Possibilities, Politics, and Publics,” American Academy of Religion; Study of Judaism Unit; San Diego, CA, November 25, 2024

  • Panelist, “Religion and Popular Culture,” First Annual University of Michigan Religion Symposium, October 18, 2024

  • “Reproductive Time and Jewish Temporalities,” Jewish Reproduction Working Group, Center for Jewish History (Online), January 23, 2024

  • Participant and Presenter, Women and Jewish Thought Workshop, Bloomington Indiana, Indiana University, October 15, 2023 (Zoom) and March 2024

  • Presenter, “Amphibious Traditions: Birth Workers and the Political Theology of Metamorphosis,” Works in Progress Session, San Francisco, CA, December 17, 2023

  • Organizer and Panelist, “How Reproduction is Generating New Directions in Jewish Studies: A Roundtable,” San Francisco, CA, Forthcoming December 17, 2023

  • Organizer and Panelist, “Women’s Health and Religion,” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting; American Religions Unit; San Antonio, TX, November 21, 2023

  • Panelist, “No Time for Tradition,” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting; Religion, Affect, and Emotion Unit; San Antonio, TX, November 18, 2023

  • Organizer and Panelist, “Ethnographic Approaches to Classic Categories in Jewish Studies,” The Association for Jewish Studies, Boston, MA, December 2022

  • Organizer and Panelist, “Gendering Jewish Tradition,” The Association for Jewish Studies, Boston, MA, December 2022

  • Panelist, “On Whose Terms?: Daoist Studies and the Study of Judaism, Collaborative Efforts to Redress Categories of Religion,” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting; Daoist Studies Unit; Denver, CO, November 2022

  • “Jewish Thought and Women’s Lives,” Respondent, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting; Study of Judaism Unit; Denver, CO, November 2022

 MEDIA AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT (selected)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

  • Writing Science and Religion in Uncertain Times, Graduate Course (Fall 2026, University of Michigan)

  • Jews, Gender, and American Religion, Graduate Reading Course (Fall 2025, University of Michigan)

  • Religion and Technology (UW-Madison: Fall 2022, Fall 2023; University of Michigan: Fall 2025)

  • The American Jewish Life of DNA (Cornell University: Spring 2019; UW-Madison: Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024; University of Michigan: Winter 2025, Winter 2026)

  • Religious Studies Capstone Seminar (UW-Madison: Spring 2021, Spring 2022) 

  • Religion in Critical Perspective (UW-Madison: Fall 2020, Fall 2021)

  • Religion, Science, and Medicine (UW-Madison: Spring 2020, Spring 2024)

  • Women, Gender, and Religion (UW-Madison: Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023; University of Michigan: Fall 2024, Winter 2026)

  • Scientific Controversies (Cornell University: Spring 2018)

  • Gendering Science, Technology, and Religion in America (Cornell University: Spring 2018)

  • Jewish Women and the Body of Tradition (Cornell University: Fall 2017; UW-Madison: Spring 2023; University of Michigan: Fall 2024, Fall 2025, Fall 2026)

  • Atoms and Eve: Science and Religion in America (Columbia University: Summer 2014, Spring 2016)

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

American Academy of Religion, Association for Jewish Studies, American Jewish Historical Society, Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry, Society for the Social Study of Science, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion