Tziporah Heller

Last updated
Rebbetzin

Tziporah Heller
Tziporah Heller.jpg
Heller at the Dirshu Siyum HaShas in Jerusalem, July 2012
Born
Tziporah Krasner

Brooklyn, New York, United States
Occupation(s) Jewish studies teacher, author, speaker
Years active1980–present
Employer Neve Yerushalayim
Spouses
Website web.archive.org/web/20220105094411/http://www.tziporahheller.com/

Tziporah Heller Gottlieb is an American-born Haredi educator, author, and speaker based in Jerusalem. She is a senior faculty member at the Neve Yerushalayim College for Women, principal of the Bnos Avigail seminary on the Neve campus, and a lecturer for the online Jewish college, Naaleh.com. She specializes in textual analysis of Biblical literature and Jewish philosophy, and exploration of the role of women in Judaism. The author of eight books, she is also a weekly columnist for the Hamodia newspaper.

Contents

Early life and education

Born Tziporah Krasner in Brooklyn, New York, she studied at the Bais Yaakov elementary school. [1] From 1966 to 1967, she attended the Rav Wolf Seminary in Bnei Brak. [2]

Career

Following her marriage in 1967, she and her husband, Avraham Dovid Heller, resided for two years in the Galilee community of Segev, in an effort to establish a kollel there. [3] After their return to Jerusalem, her husband became a lecturer at Ohr Somayach, and, later, the administrator of Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok, located near their home in Har Nof. [3] In 1970, she began teaching at the Neve Yerushalayim College of Jewish Studies for Women in the same neighborhood, becoming a full-time faculty member in 1980. [4] In 2015, she became principal of the Bnos Avigail seminary on the Neve campus.

Heller specializes in textual analysis of Biblical literature and Jewish philosophy, with a focus on the commentaries of Rambam and Maharal. She also lectures on women in Judaism, [5] and "the lives of women in the Bible and Prophets". [6] She is noted for her ability to bring "lofty concepts" down to a practical level, embellished with true-life stories and a sense of humor. [7] [8] Her views on the role of women in Judaism are frequently cited. [9] [10] [11] [12]

She is also a lecturer for the online Jewish college Naaleh.com, [7] and a weekly columnist for the Hamodia newspaper. Her 2000 book, This Way Up: Torah essays on spiritual growth, was culled from her columns in that newspaper in the 1990s. [13] She conducts international speaking tours twice yearly. [7] She has thousands of students around the globe, [3] and her approbation is valued in the Jewish publishing world. [14] [15] [16] [17] In 2011, she was nominated for the Jewish Community Heroes award presented by the Jewish Federations of North America. [18]

Personal

In 1967, she married Avraham Dovid Heller (1944–2013), and the two made aliyah to Israel. [3] The couple had 14 children, [5] and hosted many guests for Shabbat and Jewish holidays. [3] [18] They were married for 46 years, until Rabbi Heller's death in 2013.

On Lag BaOmer 2020, she remarried to Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb. [19]

Heller's son-in-law, Shmuel Goldstein, was seriously injured in the 2014 Jerusalem synagogue attack. [20] Following the attack, Heller widely disseminated a letter that she had written to her family and friends describing the event, [21] [22] and also spoke to the media. [20]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Rebbetzin Bruria David was an American-born Israeli Haredi Jewish rebbetzin and Torah scholar. She was the founder and dean of Beth Jacob Jerusalem, a prestigious Haredi religious girls seminary located in the Unsdorf neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel. She was the only child of Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner (1906–1980), Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, and the wife of Rabbi Yonasan David, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok in Jerusalem's Har Nof neighborhood. Together with her husband and parents, she was on one of the airplanes hijacked by the Black September terrorists in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim</span> Orthodox yeshiva based in Queens, New York

Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim is an Orthodox yeshiva based in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York, United States. It is primarily an American, non-chasidic ultra-orthodox Talmudic yeshiva. The yeshiva is legally titled Rabbinical Seminary of America (RSA) but is often referred to as just Chofetz Chaim as that was the nickname of its namesake, Yisroel Meir Kagan. It has affiliate branches in Israel and North America.

<i>Hamodia</i> Hebrew-language daily newspaper based in Jerusalem for a Haredi readership

Hamodia is a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in Jerusalem. A daily English-language edition is also published in the United States, and weekly English-language editions in England and Israel. A weekly edition for French-speaking readers debuted in 2008. The newspaper's slogan is "The Newspaper of Torah Jewry". It comes with two magazines, Inyan and Prime. Haaretz, the newspaper of Israel's secular left, describes Hamodia as one of the "most powerful" newspapers in the Haredi community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg</span>

Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg was a Polish-born, American-raised, Israeli Haredi rabbi and rosh yeshiva who, from 1965, made his home in the Kiryat Mattersdorf neighborhood of Jerusalem. He was the rosh yeshiva of the Torah Ore yeshiva in Kiryat Mattersdorf and Yeshivas Derech Chaim in Brooklyn. He was a posek, Gadol HaDor, and one of the last living Torah scholars to have been educated in the yeshivas of prewar Europe. He was often consulted on a range of communal and personal halachic issues. He was one of the rabbinic leaders of Kiryat Mattersdorf, together with Rabbi Yisroel Gans and Rabbi Yitzchok Yechiel Ehrenfeld. He was also a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Israel.

Feldheim Publishers is an American Orthodox Jewish publisher of Torah books and literature. Its extensive catalog of titles includes books on Jewish law, Torah, Talmud, Jewish lifestyle, Shabbat and Jewish holidays, Jewish history, biography, and kosher cookbooks. It also publishes children's books. The company's headquarters is located in New York, with publishing and sales divisions in Jerusalem. Its president is Yitzchak Feldheim.

Hanoch Teller is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, author, lecturer, and producer who popularized the Jewish literary genre of true, contemporary stories to convey inspirational and ethical themes. Author of 28 books, Teller is also a tour guide in Jerusalem, Israel.

Shem Mishmuel is a nine-volume collection of homiletical teachings on the Torah and Jewish holidays delivered by Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain, the second Sochatchover Rebbe, between the years 1910–1926. A major work in Hasidic thought, it synthesizes the Hasidism of Pshischa and Kotzk in the style of Sochatchov, and is frequently cited in Torah shiurim (lectures) and articles to this day.

Dovid Gottlieb is a senior faculty member at Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem. An author and lecturer, Rabbi Gottlieb received his Ph.D. in mathematical logic at Brandeis University and later become (visiting) Associate Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. A student of Jean Van Heijenoort, he received a doctorate in 1970 for his thesis The Use of Formal Systems in Logic and Mathematics. The Informed Soul was published by Artscroll in 1990, and has recently been reprinted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neve Yerushalayim</span> School in Jerusalem, Israel

Neve Yerushalayim is the oldest and largest college for Jewish women in the world. Founded in 1970 to educate baalot teshuva in the why and how of living an Orthodox Jewish life, Neve has approximately 35,000 alumni. Its campus in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem is also home to 11 schools and seminaries for post-high school, undergraduate, and graduate students from religious backgrounds.

Orthodox Jewish outreach, often referred to as Kiruv or Qiruv, is the collective work or movement of Orthodox Judaism that reaches out to non-observant Jews to encourage belief in God and life according to Jewish law. The process of a Jew becoming more observant of Orthodox Judaism is called teshuva making the "returnee" a baal teshuva. Orthodox Jewish outreach has worked to enhance the rise of the baal teshuva movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mendel Weinbach</span>

Chona Menachem Mendel (Mendel) Weinbach was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, educator, author, and speaker. As the co-founder and dean of Ohr Somayach Institutions, a Jerusalem-based yeshiva for newly-observant Jewish men, he was considered one of the fathers of the modern-day baal teshuva movement.

Denah Weinberg was an Orthodox Jewish Rebbetzin and founder and dean of EYAHT College of Jewish Studies for Women in Jerusalem. EYAHT has over 2,000 alumnae. She was also a speaker on women's issues in Israel and abroad, and published several essays in Jewish women's anthologies. She was married to Rabbi Noah Weinberg, founder of Yeshivat Aish HaTorah. She died in Jerusalem on March 12, 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yitzchok Zilberstein</span>

Yitzchok Zilberstein is a prominent Orthodox rabbi, posek and expert in medical ethics. He is the av beis din of the Ramat Elchanan neighborhood of Bnei Brak, the Rosh Kollel of Kollel Bais David in Holon, and the Rav of Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak. His opinion is frequently sought and quoted on all matters of halakha for the Israeli Lithuanian yeshiva community.

The Jerusalem Kollel is a rabbinic education program with the stated goal of training kollel couples to assume positions of leadership in Jewish communities worldwide. The intensive 3-year program covers the laws of Shabbat, Nidah, and Issur v'Heteras well as a large body of other legal areas and in addition to Jewish Philosophy and Ethics. There is also an additional training component which includes such areas as public speaking, rabbinic counselling, kashrus, non-profit management among other things.

Lori Palatnik is the founding director of Momentum. Formerly called The JWRP, Momentum works to strengthen Jewish identity and connection to Israel through young mothers in their communities. She is an educator, public speaker, and community activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayer Alter Horowitz</span> American Hasidic rabbi

Mayer Alter Horowitz is an American Hasidic rabbi. Since 2009, he has been the Bostoner rebbe of Jerusalem.

Vichna Kaplan was an Orthodox Jewish teacher and school dean who, together with her husband Rabbi Boruch Kaplan, brought the Bais Yaakov movement to America. A prize pupil of Sarah Schenirer, the founder of Bais Yaakov in Poland, Kaplan opened the first Bais Yaakov High School in Williamsburg, New York, in 1938. She later opened the first Bais Yaakov Teachers Seminary, which provided teachers for all Bais Yaakov schools that subsequently opened in America and Israel.

Dovid Kaplan is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, kiruv educator, author, and speaker. He is known for his inspirational and humorous storytelling both in his international speaking engagements and in his Impact! series of books.

Ruchoma Shain (6 December 1914 – 16 March 2013) was an American-born rebbetzin, English teacher, and author. She is best known for her first book, All for the Boss (1984), a biography of her father, Yaakov Yosef Herman, which she wrote in her late sixties. In detailing her father's life, she also describes Orthodox Jewish life in America in the early 1900s. All for the Boss became one of the all-time best-sellers for Feldheim Publishers, and Shain's stories and observations are quoted by numerous authors.

References

  1. Heller 1993, p. 71.
  2. Massry, Sarah. "Worth the Price? Is going to seminary in Eretz Yisrael a luxury or a necessity?" Ami Living , May 20, 2015, p. 114.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Ansh, Tamar (1 October 2013). "Harav Avraham Dovid Heller, z"l". Hamodia . Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  4. Levine 2005, p. 104.
  5. 1 2 Krengel, Sharon (May 4, 1996). "Judaism: a women's perspective". Central New Jersey Home News . p. 14 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  6. "About Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller". tziporahheller.com. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 "Community News From Around The World". Five Towns Jewish Times . 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  8. "Rebbetzin Tzipora Heller Speaks at SKA". SKAppenings. 27 April 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  9. Levine 2005, p. 104ff.
  10. Miller, Yvette (2011). "Finding Heroes for Our Children". chabad.org.
  11. Rubinstein 2002, pp. 230–231.
  12. Shalit 2007, pp. 104–105.
  13. Heller 1993, p. vi.
  14. Gray 2004, p. 6.
  15. Hager 2006, p. 8.
  16. Einhorn & Zimmerman 2001, p. 7.
  17. Bell 2012, pp. 12–14.
  18. 1 2 "Tziporah Heller, Brooklyn, New York". Jewish Federations of North America. 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22.
  19. Neve Yerushalayim (12 May 2020). "Mazal Tov Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller & Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb". Facebook . Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  20. 1 2 Silverman, Anav (28 November 2014). "Counting the Blessings". The Jerusalem Post . Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  21. "A Grandmother's Report from Har Nof". The Forward . 20 November 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  22. "Details of Yesterday's Attack in Har Nof From Rebbetzin Tzipporah Heller". Yeshiva World News . 19 November 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2015.

Sources