Draft:Leo Mock

Leon Mock (born 11 August 1968 in Amsterdam; died 31 August 2023 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch academic, author, theologian and rabbi.

Biography
Leon (in short referred to as 'Leo') Mock grew up in the Netherlands, in the city of Amstelveen. He is the son of Minny Mock-Degen, who was a cultural anthropologist, and Harry Mock. In 1978 his parents established 'Amphora Books', a nonprofit publisher for Jewish books in the Netherlands. Leo Mock contributed to this nonprofit by publishing various books.

He studied Judaism at various yeshivot in Israel. Afterwards, he studied Jewish history at the Bar-Ilan University and ancient history at the University of Amsterdam. He started his academic career while working as a university lecturer in 1999.

Mock was married and had four daughters with his wife.

Career
Throughout his career Mock was a lecturer at various universities in the Netherlands, mainly at Tilburg University and the University of Amsterdam. He was also a lecturer for some courses at Ghent University. His expertise included (among others) ancient Jewish texts, rabbinical sources and Talmud.

Mock published numerous books and articles, and wrote for the Dutch Jewish newspaper (NIW) and Crescas blogpage. He also provided courses and lectures about Judaism, among others at Crescas and Limmoed Nederland (Limmud Netherlands). He was strongly involved in inter-religious dialogue, through various organizations in the Netherlands (among others: PaRDeS, OJEC and Sha'ar).

In 2015, he was awarded with the 'cum laude' defense of his PhD at Tilburg University, titled: 'The Concept of ›Ruach Ra‘ah‹ in Contemporary Rabbinic Responsa (1945–2000): Possible Relations between Knowledge of the Physical World and Traditional Knowledge in Rabbinic Judaism'. He proceeded to conduct academic research and publish within his area of expertise until his sudden death in August 2023.

Publications
Mock published various books and articles in Dutch. He also wrote a selection of articles and contributions in English.

Books (in English)

 * The Concept of ›Ruach Ra‘ah‹ in Contemporary Rabbinic Responsa (1945–2000): Possible Relations between Knowledge of the Physical World and Traditional Knowledge in Rabbinic Judaism is the English translation of his PhD dissertation (2021)

Chapters in books (in English)

 * "We do not pray, we invent: Jews, Judaism and Jewish mysticism in the video game Wolfenstein. The New Order" in: Religious stories in transformation: Conflict, revision and reception (2016)
 * "'A Common Minhag' – on the Custom Not to Drink Water during the Tequfah in Contemporary Rabbinic Orthodox Responsa" in: Oriental Studies and Interfaith Dialogue: Essays in Honour of József Szécsi (2018)
 * "'Stay Here with the Ass': A Comparing Exegetical Study between Cyril's Fifth Festal Letter and Rabbinic Exegesis in Babylonian Talmud and Genesis Rabbah 56:1–2" in: Hebrew Texts in Jewish, Christian and Muslim Surroundings (2018)
 * "From Church to Synagogue: the Bankras Church (Amstelveen, the Netherlands) as a Case from the Responsa" in: Jerusalem and Other Holy Places as Foci of Multireligious and Ideological Confrontation (2020)
 * "'I Will Wash My Hands in Innocence; so I Will Go around Your Altar' (Ps 26:6): The Washing of Hands in Rabbinic Judaism" in: Rituals in Early Christianity (2020)
 * "Some Observations on the Importance of Questions in Rabbinic Tradition and Halakhah" in: Asking Questions in Biblical Texts (2022)
 * "'Idolatry' in Rabbinic Discussion: To Destroy, to Bury or Something Else? Some Observations on the Subject of 'Idolatry' in Rabbinic Questions and Answers on the Internet" in: Religiously Exclusive, Socially Inclusive – A Religious Response (2023)

Academic articles (in English)

 * "Were the Rabbis Troubled by Witches?" (Zutot vol. 1, 2001, pp 33–43)
 * "The Synagogue as a Stage for Magic" (Zutot vol. 3, 2003, pp 8–14)
 * "The Magic of Halakhah. A Study in the Ritual of Washing Hands in the Morning After Rising as Described in the Shulhan 'Arukh (OH4)" (Zutot vol. 4, 2004, pp 134–141)
 * "Oral Law, Oral Magic: Some observations on Talmudic Magic" (Zutot vol. 5, 2008, pp 9–14)
 * "Praying Towards the Shekhinah. Some Observations in Maimonides' Laws of Prayer" (Zutot vol. 6, 2009, pp 11–16)
 * "Three Dangerous weeks... Talmudic Perils and (Some) Contemporary Orthodox Rabbi's" (Zutot vol. 7, 2010, pp 57–63)