Professor
Nehama Leibowitz (1905–1997) , winner of the Israel Prize in Education,
was a unique figure in the twentieth-century Jewish landscape. She
wrote a best-selling series, Studies in the Weekly Torah Portion, and provided a one-woman correspondence course in Bible, using her famous gilyonot (worksheets), for more than thirty years.
A brilliant teacher, erudite scholar, and forthright, warm and humorous human being, she left her mark on tens of thousands of people around the world: taxi drivers, waitresses, professors, rabbis, kibbutzniks and more. This biography by Yael Unterman documents her life story, inspiring personality and scholarship. It discusses her strong views on such issues as Zionism, humanism and feminism, as well as the influences that shaped her. Other topics covered include her pioneering approach to Bible and commentaries that changed the face of Jewish Bible study, her acceptance as a prominent Torah scholar despite her gender, and the future of her work in light of recent scholarship. Nehama Leibowitz’s story is not only that of an accomplished woman or even of a great Jewish personality, but also touches upon some of the major developments and concerns of twentieth-century Jewish life. * * * “I hear lectures on the weekly portion all over Israel, and think of Nehama. I see women studying Tanach as Talmud is studied, and I think of her. I go to Alon Shvut, a vibrant center for Tanach learning, and witness creative students of Tanach who want to go further than the classic Jewish commentaries to experience the biblical text in fresh ways, and again I see her influence. And in the Diaspora, I think of the Limmud conferences, thousands of people learning Torah for the love of it, and I feel Nehama’s presence in this Torah li-shmah.” – Dr. Gabriel Cohn “I do not think I exaggerate in saying that we may divide the study of Bible throughout Jewish history into two periods: Pre- and Post-Leibowitz.”– Gedalyah Nigal “She was the Grande Dame of Bible teaching.” – Professor Michael Rosenak “Just as R. Hayyim Soleveitchik of Brisk established a conceptual method for learning Talmud that transformed the yeshiva world, just as Professor Gershom Scholem created a scientific approach to learning Jewish mysticism, so Nehama paved an innovative pathway toward understanding Torah through midrash, commentaries, and translations into the vernaculars as well.” – Rabbi Aryeh Strikovsky “The Midrash states that teachers go straight to heaven because they have more than their fair share of hell on earth But this is one of the few times I disagree with the Sages, because I think that teachers have more than their fair share of heaven on earth!” –Professor Nehama Leibowitz |