Brandon J. Simonson is a Ph.D. student in Judaic Studies studying Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Languages under the direction of Alejandro F. Botta. His research interests surround the corpus of legal documents from the Jewish community at Elephantine and the influence of law on life in ancient Israel, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. He received a master’s degree in Hebrew Bible from Vanderbilt University, and a bachelor’s degree in Biblical Languages, Religion, and Classics from Luther College. At Vanderbilt University, Brandon received the W. Kendrick Grobel Award for outstanding achievement in biblical studies.