Mira Z Amiras has taught Jewish mysticism, magic, and folklore along with many other topics in Jewish and Islamic studies and the anthropology of religion. She founded the Middle East Studies Program at San Jose State University, where she was Professor of Comparative Religious Studies for over twenty-five years. She received her PhD in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and served as president of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness and on the Executive Board of the American Anthropological Association. Her parents, Seymour and Rebecca Fromer founded the Magnes Museum in Berkeley, and Malkah’s Notebook is dedicated to them and their very different approaches to Jewish identity and culture.