Nechama Leibowitz (; September 3, 1905 – April 12, 1997) was

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

laureate and Israeli Bible scholar and commentator who rekindled interest in Bible study.

Biography

Nechama Leibowitz was born to an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

family in

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two years after her elder brother, the philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz. The family moved to Berlin in 1919. In 1930, Leibowitz received a doctorate from the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

for her thesis, ''Techniques in the Translations of German-Jewish Biblical Translations''. She was advised by philologist Karl Helm. That same year 1930, she immigrated to

Mandate Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordanwhich had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuriesfollowing the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in Wo ...

with her husband Yedidya Lipman Lebowitz. She taught at a

religious Zionist Religious Zionism () is a religious denomination that views Zionism as a fundamental component of Orthodox Judaism. Its adherents are also referred to as ''Dati Leumi'' (), and in Israel, they are most commonly known by the plural form of the fi ...

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

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

, and became a full professor eleven years later. She also gave classes at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

and other educational institutions around the country. In addition to her writings, Leibowitz commented on the Torah readings regularly for the Voice of Israel radio station. Her husband, Yedidya Lipman Leibowitz, was also her uncle. 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

stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object. The holes allow the pigment to reach only some parts of the surface creatin ...

s of questions on the weekly

Torah The Torah ( , "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. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

reading to anyone who requested them. These worksheets, which she called ''gilyonot'' (pages), were sent back to her, and she personally reviewed them and returned them with corrections and comments. 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 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 formal "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. These alternations are generally intended to ...

Heblish Jewish English is a cover term for varieties of the English language spoken by Jews. They may include significant amounts of vocabulary and syntax taken from Yiddish, and both classical Hebrew, classical and modern Hebrew. These varieties can b ...

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

* In 1956, Leibowitz was awarded the

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. There are two separate p ...

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 Vayikra: 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 Sefaria is an online open source, free content, digital library of Jewish texts. It was founded in 2011 by former Google project manager Brett Lockspeiser and journalist-author Joshua Foer. Promoted as a "living library of Jewish texts", Sefaria ...

''Iyunim'' with suggested answers
Rabbi Mordechai Shpigelman
Online
Gilyonot {{DEFAULTSORT:Leibowitz, Nechama 1905 births 1997 deaths Writers from Riga People from Riga county Latvian Orthodox Jews Latvian emigrants to Germany German Orthodox Jews German emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Orthodox Jews in Mandatory Palestine Israeli Orthodox Jews Israeli people of Latvian-Jewish descent Jewish biblical scholars German biblical scholars Israeli biblical scholars Bible commentators Jewish educators Israeli educators 20th-century Israeli women educators Women biblical scholars 20th-century Jewish biblical scholars Women rabbis and Torah scholars Jewish women writers Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Tel Aviv University alumni Bialik Prize recipients Israel Prize in education recipients Israel Prize women recipients Burials at Har HaMenuchot