Yael Leokumovich is a PhD candidate in the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, The Hebrew University. 

Her Ph.D. research focuses on the cuneiform textual tradition of the lunar eclipse cult during the first millennium BCE.The lunar eclipse was perceived as a meaningful event in the cuneiform culture and prompted various cultic procedures, affecting mainly the king and the royal court. However, during the first millennium BCE, Babylonian underwent significant changes, and in the Late Babylonian period, it was conquered by foreign empires and lost local kingship. At that time, different cultures and languages also entered the geographical space. In her dissertation, Yael examines the continuity and change of the cultic texts given these circumstances, emphasizing symbolism, language, meaning production, and textualization. 

Yael received her MA (Assyriology) and BA (Linguistics and Assyriology, with honors) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.