Nehama Leibowitz Biography

From Urim Publications:

We are pleased to announce the release of Nehama Leibowitz: Teacher and Bible Scholar.

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, an erudite scholar, and a 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 students.

This book 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.

Nechama 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.

Nehama Leibowitz bio Nehama Leibowitz: Teacher and Bible Scholar
By Yael Unterman

“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 Soloveitchik 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

Hardcover, 607 pages, includes 50 photos.
list price: $39.95 US (130 NIS in Israel)
special time-limited sale price: $33.00 US (100 NIS in Israel)
ISBN 13: 978-965-524-019-1

About Luke Ford

I've written five books (see Amazon.com). My work has been covered in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and on 60 Minutes. I teach Alexander Technique in Beverly Hills (Alexander90210.com).
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