The Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Center for the Study of Women in Judaism

New Publication!

Women's Torah Study: The Idea and the Meaning
By Dr. Hanah Kehat

Center Updates

"Gender and Jewish Identity Conference", June 2-3, 2010 with HBI at Bar-Ilan University. Applicants will be notified by email in February.

Applications for a "Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Student Research Grant" are currently being processed. Applicants will be notified of acceptance by email in March.

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Co-Publications

Relevant Links

Photo credit: Chana Cromer from the grant project
Disguises, Secrets, Veils: Leah's Eyes

Dr. Elisheva Baumgarten, Acting Director

Dr. Elisheva Baumgarten holds an appointment in the department of Jewish History and the Gender Studies Graduate Program at Bar Ilan University. She has been the head of the Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Center for the Study of Women in Judaism at Bar Ilan University since 2006.

Dr. Baumgarten is a social historian who specializes in the history of the Jews in medieval Germany and Northern France.

Dr. Baumgarten has published articles that discuss medieval life cycle rituals, midwifery and medicine, as well as children and their education. Her book Mothers and Children. Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe was published by Princeton University Press in 2004 and won the Koret Award for the best book in Jewish History in 2005.

Dr. Baumgarten is currently working on a monograph on the topic of Gender and Piety: Religious Practice in the Jewish Communities of Medieval Europe.

Email: baumgae@mail.biu.ac.il

Professor Tova Cohen

Professor Tova Cohen teaches in the Department of the Literature of the Jewish people and is also director of the Program in gender Studies at Bar-Ilan University. She was the founder and first head of the "Center for the Study of Women in Judaism."

During the past decade, Professor Cohen's research has focused on 19th century Hebrew literature. Initially, her work in this area studied the formation of the image of women in 19th century Hebrew haskalah literature, a subject on which she published her book One Beloved, the other hated: Between Reality and Imagination in Depictions of Women in haskalah Literature (Hebrew: Jerusalem 2002).

In 2006 she published (together with professor Shemuel Feiner) The Voice of the Hebrew Maiden: Writings by 19th century Hebrew maskilot (Hebrew: Tel-Aviv), an anthology of Hebrew writings by women, most of whom were thereto unknown.

Professor Cohen is presently engaged on writing her third study of women in Hebrew haskalah literature – a comprehensive monograph on the Jewish poetess, Rachel Morporgu, who lived in Trieste in the 19th century.

Rivka Hindin, Program Coordinator

Rivka Hindin, our coordinator, is currently finishing a Masters degree in Political Science at Bar-Ilan University with a concentration in Communications.

Rivka's experience in public relations as well as training in marketing and graphic design has helped the center grow, since she became the center coordinator in 2006.

Before that, Rivka worked with the center by organizing our major international conference “Gender, Religion and Society”.

Email: jwmn@mail.biu.ac.il

Orit Kandel, Program Coordinator

Ms. Orit Kandel has a BA in Political Science and communication from Bar- Ilan University and is working towards her MA in Jewish History. She has worked as a research coordinator for a number of projects that study the topics of women in Judaism. Orit has been part of our team since 2006 and joins us this year (2009) as our coordinator.