Prof. (Emerita) Yael Bentor
Professor Emerita, Department of Comparative Religion

Ph.d (1991) - Indiana University
Room: Hum 6320
Office Tel: 02-5883679
Higher Education
- 1991 - Ph.D. in Tibetan Studies from the Department of Uralic and Altaic Studies at Indiana University. Minors in Religious Studies and Sanskrit Religious Literature in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University. Dissertation Director: Prof. Gregory Schopen. Co-director: Prof. Christopher I. Beckwith. Dissertation title: The Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Consecration Ritual for Stupas, Images, Books and Temples.
- 1987 - M.A. in Inner Asian Studies at the Department of Uralic and Altaic Studies. Director: Prof. Gregory Schopen. Thesis title: Miniature Stupas, Images and Relics - the Sanskrit Manuscripts of the Adbhutadharma-paryaya from Gilgit and its Tibetan Translation.
- 1976 - M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry, The Department of Organic Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Director: Prof. Israel Agranat. Thesis topic: Reversibility in Aromatic Friedel-Crafts Acylations.
- 1974 - B.Sc. Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Academic Employment
- 2003-2005 - Chair of the Department of Indian, Iranian and Armenian Studies, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
- 1999-present - Senior Lecturer in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, teaching classes on Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Culture, as well as Classical Tibetan language.
- 1994-1999 - Lecturer in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, teaching classes on Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Culture, as well as Classical Tibetan and Buddhist Sanskrit languages.
- 1991-1993 - Post-Doctoral Fellowship (with teaching duties as above) in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
- 1986-1987 - Graduate Assistantship in the Tibetan program, Indiana University.
List of Publications
- “The Redactions of the Adbhutadharmaparyaya from Gilgit”, The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 11 (1988) 21-52.
- “Sutra-style Consecration in Tibet and Its Importance for Understanding the Historical Development of the Indo-Tibetan Consecration Ritual for Stupas and Images”, Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 5th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Narita, 1989 eds., Ihara Shoren and Yamagucchi Zuiho (Narita: Naritasan Shinshoji, 1992) 1-12.
- “Tibetan Tourist Thangkas in the Kathmandu Valley”, Annals of Tourism Research 20.1 (1993) 107-137.
- “Downpour of Virtue and Goodness: The Consecration Ritual Based on the Dge-legs Char-'bebs Composed by the First Panchen Lama”, A Turning of the Wheel (New Delhi: Tibet House, 1993) 18-24.
- “Tibetan Classifications of Relics”, Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 6th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Fagernes, 1992 ed., Per Kvaerne (Oslo: The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture, 1994) vol. 1, pp. 16-30.
- “Inside Tibetan Images”, Arts of Asia 24.3 (1994) 102-109.
- “On the Symbolism of the Mirror in Indo-Tibetan Consecration Rituals”, Journal of Indian Philosophy 23 (1995) 57-71.
- “In Praise of Stupas: The Tibetan Eulogy at Chu-yung-kuan Reconsidered”, Indo-Iranian Journal 38 (1995) 31-54.
- “On the Indian Origins of the Tibetan Practice of Depositing Relics and Dharais in Stupas and Images”, Journal of the American Oriental Society 115.2 (1995) 248-261.
- “Literature on Consecration (rab-gnas)”, Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre eds., Roger Jackson and Jose I. Cabezon (Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1996) 290-311.
- Consecration of Images and Stupas in Indo-Tibetan Tantric Buddhism (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996) 415p.
- “The Horseback Consecration Ritual”, Religions in Tibet in Practice ed., Donald Lopez (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997) 234-254.
- “Interiorized Fire Offerings of Breathing, Inner Heat and the Subtle Body”, Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 7th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Schloss Seggau - Graz, 1995 eds., Helmut Krasser, Michael T. Much, Ernst Steinkellner and Helmut Tauscher (Wien: osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Institut fur Kultur und Geistesgeschichte Asiens, 1997) vol. 1, 51-58.
- Dan Martin in collaboration with Yael Bentor, Tibetan Histories: A Bibliography of Tibetan-Language Historical Works (London: Serindia Publications 1997) 295p.
- “Interiorized Fire Rituals in India and in Tibet”, Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.4 (2000) 594-613.
- “The Practice of the Mantric Path by Lce-sgom-pa”, Tantra in Practice ed., David Gordon White (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000) pp. 326-346.
- “Fourfold Meditations: Outer, Inner, Secret and Suchness”, Religion and Secular Culture in Tibet: Tibetan Studies II ed., Henk Blezer (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2002) pp. 41-55.
- “The Content of Stupas and Images and the Indo-Tibetan Concept of Relics”, The Tibet Journal 28.1&2 (2003) 21-48.
- “The Consecration of A Buddha Image”, Buddhist Scriptures ed., Donald S. Lopez (London: Penguin Books, 2004) pp. 200-211.
- “Transforming Death into Buddhahood”, Buddhist Scriptures ed., Donald S. Lopez (London: Penguin Books, 2004) pp. 430-438.
- “Identifying the Unnamed Opponents of Tsong-kha-pa and Mkhas-grub-rje Concerning the Transforming Ordinary Birth, Death and The Intermediate State into the Three Bodies”, Tibetan Buddhist Literature and Praxis: Studies in Its Formative Period 900-1400 eds., Ronald M. Davidson and Christian K. Wedemeyer (Leiden: Brill, 2006) pp. 185-200.
- “Developing the Creative Power of the Mind: Bskyed-rim and Its Antecedents”, Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 8th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Bloomington, Indiana 1998 ed., Elliot Sperling, forthcoming.