Shulamit Reinharz

Last updated

Shulamit Reinharz
Shulamit Reinharz.JPG
Born
Shulamit Tirzah Rothschild

1946 (age 78–79)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
NationalityAmerican
Other namesShula Rothschild, Shula Reinharz
Occupation(s)academic, professor emerita, Brandeis sociologist, speaker, writer, author
Years active1970–2017
Notable workHiding in Holland: A Resistance Memoir (Amsterdam Publishers, 2024);

Shulamit Reinharz (born 1946) was the Jacob Potofsky Professor of Sociology at Brandeis University until 2017. During her tenure at Brandeis, she was director of the women's studies program from 1991 to 2001 and launched The Scholars Program, the first graduate program to focus on Jewish women. She was the founding director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute in 1997 and founder and director of the Women's Studies Research Center in 2001.

Contents

Early life

Shulamit Tirzah "Shula" [1] Rothschild was born in 1946 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands to Ilse Hertha (née Strauss) and Max Michael Rothschild. [2] She was named after the Shulamite to whom the biblical Solomon sung the Song of Songs. [1] Rothschild's family were of German-Jewish heritage and as teenagers her parents became involved in the Socialist-Zionist youth movement known as Habonim to learn the agricultural skills which might be needed for life on a kibbutz. [3] During World War II both of Rothschild's parents' families were scattered. Her father's sisters were rescued through the Kindertransport program, which sent them to England, [4] and his parents, fled to Malden, Massachusetts. [5] Her mother's parents were transported from Germany to the Gurs concentration camp near Pau, France. Rothschild's maternal grandfather died from starvation in Gurs before her maternal grandmother was sent to Auschwitz and exterminated. Two maternal aunts managed to escape to Palestine and survived The Holocaust. [4]

After Kristallnacht and Max's detention in Buchenwald, Rothschild's parents fled their homeland with the help of Habonim, which secured Max's release. [3] Hoping to pass through Holland and make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael, they were unable to leave the country because of the limits on immigration imposed by the British White Paper of 1939. When the Nazis invaded in 1940, the couple were forced into hiding. [5] [6] Thirteen months after the war ended, Rothschild was born [4] and when she was one year old, her family migrated to the United States to join her paternal grandparents in Massachusetts. [5] [3] They did not remain long, but immigrated to Israel within a year and a half, where Rothschild's sister, Tova Chaya "Toby" was born. [1] [7] Plans did not go as expected and the family soon returned to Massachusetts. [8] A brother, Yonatan Efraim "Jonathan", joined the family [1] and Rothschild attended first grade in suburban Boston. [9]

In 1951 the family moved to Bergen County, New Jersey, where the remainder of Rothschild's schooling occurred. [1] [5] In addition to her secular education, from a young age Rothschild received Jewish instruction in Teaneck and celebrated her bat mitzva in 1959. [10] In high school, at River Edge, New Jersey, she met Jehuda Reinharz, a German immigrant who had recently arrived in the U.S. speaking only Hebrew and German. [11] [12] As she spoke both, Rothschild helped Jehuda acclimate to the United States. [12] Furthering her education, Rothschild graduated with a BA in sociology from Barnard College in 1967. [13] [11] Later that year, on 26 November 1967 in New York City, she married Reinharz and subsequently the couple had two daughters: Yael Dalia, Naomi Carla. [2] [11]

Career

Reinharz began her career in 1970 at Simmons School of Social Work. [11] Between 1972 and 1983, she taught psychology, as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan. [5] [14] During this time, she earned her master's degree in sociology and completed a PhD from Brandeis University in 1977. [5] [15] During her studies, she recognized how "inadequate" the representations of women's lives were in social science and was drawn to examine women history had forgotten. She taught her first course in women's studies at Michigan in 1979. [11] In 1982, she became an assistant professor of sociology at Brandeis; [16] [17] earned a full professorship in 1991, the only woman to hold the rank at the university; [11] [18] and became the women's studies program director 1992. [11] [12] That year she launched an interdisciplinary graduate program, known as The Scholars Program, allowing students to earn a dual master's degree in women's studies and another field, [19] [20] which was the first graduate program to focus on Jewish women. [15] [21]

In 1997, Reinharz was chosen as founding director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, after she had chaired the National Commission on American Jewish Women for the organization. [12] [22] The Institute was founded to focus on publishing research and organizing conferences and lectures regarding Jewish women's roles in various eras, but did not offer academic courses. [23] The Institute, devoted to the study of Jewish women, was the first of its kind [20] and aimed as a feminist enterprise to bring "women into the scholarship" of Jewish studies. [24] In 1998, Reinharz and the Institute partnered with the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies to found Nashim , a journal on Jewish gender studies, for which she became co-editor. [25] [26] Between 1997 and 2000, Reinharz, after being denied help from Brandeis administrators, raised over $2.4 million to renovate a derelict building and oversaw its design and construction to house the Women's Studies Research Center. [27] The Center, which opened 19 November 2000 was created to house both the graduate program in Women's Studies and the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, [20] as well as research office space, and a reference library. [28]

In 2001, Reinharz stepped down as director of the women's studies program, when she became founding director of the Center, though she continued to publish and edit the research of others, authoring over 60 articles and a dozen books throughout her career. [26] During her academic career, Reinharz strove to develop new methodologies for social sciences. [29] Using holistic and interdisciplinary methods, she analyzed subjects in their context and argued that methods used in the natural sciences were inadequate for studying behavior, bias and the purpose of actions. [30] She retired in 2017 from her post as the Jacob Potofsky Professor of Sociology and as director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute [26] [24] and in honor of the occasion Nashim dedicated its 32nd, 33rd, and 34th issues to her. [25] Reinharz also currently serves as a member of the advisory board of the Remember the Women Institute [31]

Selected works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waltham, Massachusetts</span> City in Massachusetts, United States

Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning, spawning what became known as the Waltham-Lowell system of labor and production. The city is now a center for research and higher education as home to Brandeis University and Bentley University. The population was 65,218 at the census in 2020. Waltham is part of the Greater Boston area and lies 9 miles (14 km) west of Downtown Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandeis University</span> Private university in Waltham, Massachusetts, US

Brandeis University is a private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a non-sectarian, coeducational university, Brandeis was established on the site of the former Middlesex University. The university is named after Louis Brandeis, a former Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henrietta Szold</span> American Zionist leader, political activist and editor

Henrietta Szold was an American-born Jewish Zionist leader and founder of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. In 1942, she co-founded Ihud, a political party in Mandatory Palestine dedicated to a binational solution.

Jehuda Reinharz served as President of Brandeis University from 1994–2010. He was the Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History and Director of the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry at Brandeis. He is the president and CEO of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation. On September 25, 2009, Reinharz announced his retirement as President of Brandeis, but at the request of the Board of Trustees, he stayed on until a replacement could be hired. On January 1, 2011, Reinharz became president and CEO of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America</span> Jewish-American volunteer womens organization

Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jewish volunteer women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is one of the largest international Jewish organizations, with nearly 300,000 members in the United States. Hadassah fundraises for community programs and health initiatives in Israel, including the Hadassah Medical Organization, two leading research hospitals in Jerusalem. In the US, the organization advocates on behalf of women's rights, religious autonomy and US–Israel diplomacy. In Israel, Hadassah supports health education and research, women's initiatives, schools and programs for underprivileged youth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anita Diamant</span> American author

Anita Diamant is an American author of fiction and non-fiction books. She has published five novels, the most recent of which is The Boston Girl, a New York Times best seller. She is best known for her 1997 novel The Red Tent, which eventually became a best seller and book club favorite. She has also written six guides to contemporary Jewish practice, including The New Jewish Wedding,Living a Jewish Life, and The New Jewish Baby Book, as well as a collection of personal essays, Pitching My Tent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bashka Paeff</span> American artist

Bashka Paeff, was an American sculptor active near Boston, Massachusetts.

Ruth Lomon was a Canadian classical composer.

Elinor W. Gadon was an American cultural historian, Indologist, art historian and author notable for her examination of women in myth and culture in history.

Gender and Jewish Studies is an emerging subfield at the intersection of gender studies, queer studies, and Jewish studies. Gender studies centers on interdisciplinary research on the phenomenon of gender. It focuses on cultural representations of gender and people's lived experience. Similarly, queer studies focuses on the cultural representations and lived experiences of queer identities to critique hetero-normative values of sex and sexuality. Jewish studies is a field that looks at Jews and Judaism, through such disciplines as history, anthropology, literary studies, linguistics, and sociology. As such, scholars of gender and Jewish studies are considering gender as the basis for understanding historical and contemporary Jewish societies. This field recognizes that much of recorded Jewish history and academic writing is told from the perspective of “the male Jew” and fails to accurately represent the diverse experiences of Jews with non-dominant gender identities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandeis/Roberts station</span> Railroad station in Waltham, Massachusetts, US

Brandeis/Roberts station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Waltham, Massachusetts. It serves the Fitchburg Line and is located on the edge of the campus of Brandeis University. The station is fully accessible, with mini-high platforms serving both tracks.

Myra Hiatt Kraft was an American philanthropist and the wife of New England Patriots and New England Revolution owner Robert Kraft.

Esther David is an Indian Jewish author, an artist and a sculptor. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Schwalb</span> American painter

Susan Schwalb is a contemporary silverpoint artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith D. Sally</span> American mathematician (1937–2024)

Judith D. Sally was an American mathematician who was Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Northwestern University. Her research was in commutative algebra, particularly in the study of Noetherian local rings and graded rings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irma Lindheim</span>

Irma L. Lindheim (1886–1978), born in New York, was a Zionist fund-raiser and educator.

Di Tsayt was a Yiddish language daily newspaper published in New York City, United States 1920-1922. Di Tsayt was a national organ of the Labor Zionist Poale Zion movement in the United States. It was published by the Poale Zion Publishing Association. The playwright David Pinski was the editor of Di Tsayt.

Jacob "Jack" Hiatt was a Lithuanian-American businessman and philanthropist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chantal Ringuet</span> Canadian scholar, author and translator

Chantal Ringuet is a Canadian scholar, award-winning author and translator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leah Lowenstein</span> American nephrologist, academic administrator, and cellist

Leah Miriam Lowenstein was an American nephrologist, academic administrator, and cellist. In 1982, she became the first woman dean of a co-educational, medical school in the United States upon her appointment at Jefferson Medical College. Lowenstein was previously associate dean and professor of medicine and biochemistry at the Boston University School of Medicine. She served in the Carter administration as a medical advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health. Lowenstein was an advocate for women in medicine.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Reinharz 2013.
  2. 1 2 Robert D. Farber University Archives 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Brandeis n.d., p. 3.
  4. 1 2 3 Brandeis n.d., p. 1.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 2015.
  6. ↑ Lebovits 2005, p. West 11.
  7. ↑ Brandeis n.d., pp. 3–4.
  8. ↑ Brandeis n.d., p. 4.
  9. ↑ Brandeis n.d., p. 2.
  10. ↑ Vinick & Reinharz 2011, p. 268.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Matchan 2000, p. D8.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Schabb 2005.
  13. ↑ The Vienna Project 2013.
  14. ↑ University of Michigan 2011.
  15. 1 2 The Berkshire Eagle 2002, p. 9.
  16. ↑ The Palm Beach Post 1985, p. C2.
  17. ↑ Goodman 2017.
  18. ↑ Brookins 1996, p. 6.
  19. ↑ The Boston Globe 1992, p. 15.
  20. 1 2 3 Kocian 2000, p. West 1.
  21. ↑ Hebrew at the Center 2016.
  22. ↑ Chacón 1997, p. 1.
  23. ↑ Chacón 1997, p. 9.
  24. 1 2 Danailova 2017.
  25. 1 2 Melammed & Greniman 2018, p. 7.
  26. 1 2 3 Jewish Women's Archive 2010.
  27. ↑ Matchan 2000, pp. D1, D8.
  28. ↑ Kocian 2000, p. West 6.
  29. ↑ Buker 2003, p. 81.
  30. ↑ Arango 1984, pp. 132–133.
  31. ↑ "About the Institute". Remember the Women Institute. Archived from the original on 26 May 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.