Dr Willem F. Smelik did his MA and PhD (1991, 1995, both with highest honours) at the Theologische Universiteit Kampen, the Netherlands, where he studied under Johannes de Moor. He is currently lecturer in Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic at the department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London. He has held fellowships from the Theologische Universiteit Kampen (Netherlands), the Lady Davis foundation (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and the Yad Hanadiv/Beracha Foundation (2003/2004). In 2005/2006 he chaired the panel for Other European Languages and the Middle East for the Quality Assessment Netherlands Universities (QANU) under the authority of the Nederlands-Vlaamse Accreditatie Organisatie (NVAO). Since July 2007 he is the President of the International Organisation for Targum Studies (IOTS), for which he was Vice-President since 2001.

His first monograph focused on the Targum of Judges. He is currently involved in an AHRC funded project entitled "Late Aramaic: The Literary and Linguistic Context of the Zohar". His other research focuses are Rabbinic Ideas about Language and Translation in Late Antiquity and a study of the reception of Moses' death and burial in classical rabbinic literature: Moses, Dead or Alive. Further research interests include Talmud, stemmatology, Aramaic dialectology, language selection and code-switching, and textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible.

Together with Prof. Bas ter Haar Romeny, he is joint editor of the journal Aramaic Studies, published twice a year (from 2007 onwards by E.J. Brill). Further functions include memberships of the Bilingual Concordance to the Targum of the Prophets (Leiden: E.J. Brill), of which he was chief editor between 1995 and 1999, and of the series Studies in the Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture (Leiden: E.J. Brill). Further memberships: the Advisory Board of the series "Textos y Estudios Cardenal Cisneros" (TECC), published by the Consejo superior de investigaciones científicas (CSIC) on behalf of the Departamento de Filología Bíblica y de Oriente Antiguo (Madrid); the Steering Committee for the Consultation on Midrash, Society of Biblical Literature, and the International Targum Text Edition Project (ITTEP); advisory board of TURGAMA (a computer-assisted linguistic analysis of the Peshitta).

• Rabbinic Ideas about Language and Translation in Late Antiquity (in preparation).
• Judges (A Bilingual Concordance to the Targum of the Prophets, 2; Leiden: E.J. Brill , 1996).
• The Targum of Judges (OTS. 36; Leiden: E.J. Brill , 1995).

• Aramaic Studies 1.1-2 (2003), 2.1-2 (2004), 3.1-2 (2005), 4.1-2 (2006), 5.1-2 (2007), 6.1-2 (2008), 7.1 (2009) (Leiden: E.J. Brill )
• Journal for the Aramaic Bible 2.1-2 (2000), 3.1-2 (2001)
• Paratext and Megatext as Channels of Jewish and Christian Traditions (JCP; Leiden: E.J. Brill , 2003), edited together with A. den Hollander and U. Schmid. ISSN 1388-2074, ISBN 90 04 12882 4.
• Ezekiel (chief editor; ed. T. Finley; 3 vols.; BCTP, 15-17; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1999); Jeremiah (chief editor; ed. F. Sepmeijer; 3 vols.; BCTP, 12-14; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1998); Kings (chief editor; ed. B. Grossfeld; 3 vols.; BCTP, 6-8; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1997); Samuel (chief editor; ed. E. van Staalduine-Sulman; 3 vols.; BCTP, 3-5; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996)

• "Language Distribution", in Catherine Hezser (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Palestine (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
• "A Biblical Aramaic Pastiche from the Cairo Genizah", in S. Bhayro and B.M. Outhwaite (eds.), ‘From a Sacred Source’: Genizah Studies in Honour of Professor Stefan C. Reif (Cambridge Genizah Studies, 1; Leiden: Brill, 2010), forthcoming.
• "Language Selection and the Holy Tongue in Early Rabbinic Literature", in L. Teugels and R. Ulmer (eds.), Interpretation, Religion and Culture in Midrash and Beyond: Proceedings of the 2006 and 2007 SBL Midrash Sessions (Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2008), pp. 91-151.
• "Code-switching: The Public Reading of the Bible in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek", in L. Morenz and S. Schorch (eds.), Was ist ein Text? Alttestamentliche, ägyptologische und altorientalistische Perspektiven (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2007), pp. 123-51.
• "Translation as Innovation in b. Meg. 3a", in L. Teugels and R. Ulmer (eds.), New Developments in Midrash Research (Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2004), pp. 25-49.
• "Targum Jonathan to the Prophets", in J. Neusner and A.J. Avery-Peck (eds.), Dictionary of Religious Writings in Antiquity, 300 B.C.E. TO 600 C.E. (Leiden: Brill, 2005).
• "Tosefta-Targum to the Prophets", in J. Neusner and A.J. Avery-Peck (eds.), Dictionary of Religious Writings in Antiquity, 300 B.C.E. TO 600 C.E. (Leiden: Brill, 2005).
• גולה, ים, כף, מרקחה, פך, in B. Becking and J.C. de Moor (eds), כלי : Utensils in the Hebrew Bible (OTS 50; Leiden: E.J. Brill, forthcoming).
• "Orality, the Targums, and Manuscript Reproduction", in A. den Hollander, U. Schmidt and W.F. Smelik (eds.), Paratext and Megatext in Jewish and Christian Traditions (JCP; Leiden: E.J. Brill , 2003), pp. 49-81.
• "How To Grow a Tree: Variant Selection and Computerised Stemmatology in Targum Studies", in J. Cook (ed.), Bible And Computer --- The Stellenbosch AIBI-6 Conference. Proceedings of the Association Internationale Bible et Informatique "From Alpha to Byte" University of Stellenbosch 17-21 July 2000 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2002), pp. 495-518.
• "Twin Targums: Psalm 18 and 2 Samuel 22", in A. Rapaport-Albert and G. Greenberg (eds.), Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Texts: Essays in Memory of Michael P. Weitzman (JSOT.S, 333; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), pp. 244-81; written together with Marian Smelik.

• "The Aramaic Dialect(s) of the Cairo Geniza Toldot Yeshu Fragments", Aramaic Studies 7.1 (2009), pp. 39-73.
• "Trouble in the Trees: Variant Selection and Tree Construction Illustrated by the Texts of Targum Judges", Aramaic Studies 1.2 (2003), pp. 247-85 (reprinted in P. van Reenen, A. den Hollander and M. van Mulken (eds), Studies in Stemmatology 2 [Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2004], pp. 167-206).
• "Language, Locus and Translation between the Talmudim", Journal for the Aramaic Bible 3 (2001), pp. 199-224.
• "The Rabbinic Reception of Early Bible Translations as Holy Writings and Oral Torah", Journal for the Aramaic Bible 1 (1999), pp. 249-72.
• "The Use of הזכיר בשם in Classical Hebrew: Josh 23:7, Isa 48:1, Amos 6:10, Ps. 20:8, 4Q504 iii 4, 1QS 6.27", Journal of Biblical Literature 118 (1999), pp. 321-332.
• "Concordance and Consistency: Translation Studies and Targum Jonathan", Journal of Jewish Studies 49 (1998), pp. 286-305.
• "Translation and Commentary in One: The Interplay of Pluses and Substitutions in the Targum of the Prophets", Journal for the Study of Judaism 29 (1998), pp. 245-260.
• "On Mystical Transformation of the Righteous into Light in Judaism",Journal for the Study of Judaism 26 (1995), pp. 122-44.
• "Parafraserende Expansie in de Targum op Richteren 4 en 5", in I.E. Zwiep and A. Kuyt (eds), Dutch Studies in the Targum: Papers Read at a Workshop Held at the Juda Palache Institute (University of Amsterdam (18 March 1991) (Amsterdam: Juda Palache Institute, 1993), pp. 39-77.

• Sources for Manuscripts of Targumic Literature in Public Collections, Selective Bibliography: Catalogues
• Extant Manuscripts of the Targum to Psalms, London 2003 (downloadable pdf-file).