Nechama Leibowitz ( he, נחמה ליבוביץ׳; September 3, 1905 – April 12, 1997 ) was a noted

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

scholar and commentator who rekindled interest in Bible study.

Biography

Nechama Leibowitz was born to an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

family in Riga two years after her elder brother, the philosopher

Yeshayahu Leibowitz Yeshayahu Leibowitz ( he, ישעיהו ליבוביץ; 29 January 1903 – 18 August 1994) was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish public intellectual and polymath. He was a professor of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurophysiology at the Hebrew ...

. The family moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in 1919. In 1930, Leibowitz received a doctorate from the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

for her thesis, ''Techniques in the Translations of German-Jewish Biblical Translations''. That same year 1930, she immigrated to

Mandate Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

with her husband Yedidya Lipman Lebowitz. She taught at a

religious Zionist Religious Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת דָּתִית, translit. ''Tziyonut Datit'') is an ideology that combines Zionism and Orthodox Judaism. Its adherents are also referred to as ''Dati Leumi'' ( "National Religious"), and in Israel, the ...

teachers' seminar for the next twenty-five years. In 1957 she began lecturing at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

, and became a full professor eleven years later. She also gave classes at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and other educational institutions around the country. In addition to her writings, Leibowitz commented on the Torah readings regularly for the

Voice of Israel Voice of Israel was a Jerusalem-based private global broadcast network staffed by media professionals with a Zionist and often religious orientation, who saw their mission in pro-Israel advocacy (''hasbara'') and combating the global pro-Palesti ...

radio station. Her husband, Yedidya Lipman Leibowitz, was also her uncle and they did not have any children. At her funeral, her nephew said that he is like a son to her and many of her students said kaddish for her together with her nephew. She is seen as a great religious role model for young religious children in Israel, and the Ne'emanei Torah Va'Avodah organization has encouraged the public school system in Israel to incorporate her into the selection of biographies that are studied by Israeli children in primary schools.

Study sheets

In 1942, Leibowitz began mailing out stencils of questions on the weekly

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

reading to anyone who requested them. These worksheets, which she called ''gilyonot'' (pages) would be sent back to her, and she would personally review them and return them with corrections and comments. They became very popular and in demand by people from all sectors of Israeli society. In 1954, Leibowitz began publishing her "Studies", which included many of the questions that appeared on her study sheets, along with selected traditional commentaries and her own notes on them. Over time, these studies were collected into five books, one for each book of the Torah. These books were subsequently translated into English by Rabbi Dr. Aryeh (Laibel/Leonard) Newman.

Teaching style

When asked to describe her methods she replied, "I have no ''derech''... I only teach what the commentaries say. Nothing is my own.” She was noted for her modest demeanor coupled with wry wit, and always preferred the title of "teacher" over the more prestigious "professor." In accordance with her request, "מורה" (''morah'', "teacher") is the only word inscribed on her tombstone, other than her name and dates. She was strict on marking mistakes in Hebrew test papers, and hated the

code-switching In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation or situation. Code-switching is different from plurilingualis ...

" Heblish" of some anglophone immigrants.Unterman 2009 p25
Heblish
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Awards and recognition

* In 1956, Leibowitz was awarded the Israel Prize in education, for her work in furthering understanding and appreciation of the Bible. * In 1983, she was a co-recipient (jointly with Ephraim Elimelech Urbach) of the

Bialik Prize The Bialik Prize is an annual literary award given by the municipality of Tel Aviv, Israel, for significant accomplishments in Hebrew literature. The prize is named in memory of Israel's national poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik Hayim Nahman Bialik ...

for Jewish thought.

Published works

* ''ʻIyunim be-Sefer Bereshit : be-ʻiḳvot parshanenu ha-rishonim ṿeha-aḥaronim'', 1966; English: ''Studies in Bereshit (Genesis) in the context of ancient and modern Jewish Bible commentary'', 1971 * ''ʻIyunim be-Sefer Shemot: be-ʻiḳvot parshanenu ha-rishonim ṿeha-aḥaronim'', 1969; Eng. ''Studies in Shemot (Exodus)'', 1976 * ''ʻIyunim be-Sefer Yayikra: be-ʻiḳvot parshanenu ha-rishonim ṿeha-aḥaronim'', 1982; Eng. ''Studies in Vayikra (Leviticus)'', 1980 * ''ʻIyunim be-Sefer BaMidbar: be-ʻiḳvot parshanenu ha-rishonim ṿeha-aḥaronim'', 1994; Eng. ''Studies in Bamidbar (Numbers)'', 1980 * ''ʻIyunim be-Sefer Devarim: be-ʻiḳvot parshanenu ha-rishonim ṿeha-aḥaronim'', 1996; Eng. ''Studies in Devarim (Deuteronomy)'', 1980 * ''Torah insights'', 1995 * ''Studies on the Haggadah from the teachings of Nechama Leibowitz'', 2002

References

External links

Biography of Nechama Leibowitz by the Jewish Agency

Nechama Leibowitz's insights on the parsha
- discussions on the weekly Torah portion
The ''gilyonot''
collected on sefaria
''Iyunim'' with suggested answers
Rabbi Mordechai Shpigelman, {{DEFAULTSORT:Leibowitz, Nechama 1905 births 1997 deaths Writers from Riga People from the Governorate of Livonia Jewish biblical scholars German biblical scholars Israeli biblical scholars Bible commentators Jewish educators Israeli educators Israeli women educators Orthodox Jews in Mandatory Palestine Israeli Orthodox Jews Latvian Orthodox Jews German Orthodox Jews Israeli people of Latvian-Jewish descent Latvian emigrants to Germany German emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israel Prize in education recipients Israel Prize women recipients Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Tel Aviv University alumni Female biblical scholars 20th-century Jewish biblical scholars Women rabbis and Torah scholars Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums alumni Jewish women writers