Giving Thanks: Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz on her new role as JTS Chancellor

Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz is the eighth Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and, with her appointment in 2020, she is the first woman to lead the institution in its 134-year history.

 

Dr. Schwartz, who earned her PhD at JTS, was instrumental in the addition of Jewish gender studies to the JTS curriculum. As a scholar of American Jewish history, she brought to light the previously overlooked contributions of women to the development of American Judaism and expanded our understanding of modern American Jewish society and culture. During her career, she has taught courses exploring Jewish identity, the Jewish family, the depiction of Jews in American popular culture, and Jewish gender studies. Her award-winning book, The Rabbi’s Wife, examines the role of rabbis’ wives in the development of American Jewish life. She is also the author of The Emergence of Jewish Scholarship in America: The Publication of the Jewish Encyclopedia and numerous articles on modern Jewish life, including pioneering research into the founding of the Ramah Camping Movement. 
 

Dr. Schwartz’s teacher, Dr. Ismar Schorsch, was the sixth Chancellor of JTS. Read his bio here.

 

Dr. Schwartz’s immediate predecessor is Dr. Arnold Eisen, the seventh Chancellor of JTS.
 

Dr. Schwartz’s grandparents Morris and Edith Rubin owned the historic Rubin’s Delicatessen in Brookline, MA, the only kosher deli in New England. After 90 years of operation, the deli closed in 2019. Read more here.

 

See Dr. Schwartz’s 2020 High Holidays message on YouTube.

 

Listen to Dr. Schwartz’s interview “Mourning in Public” on JTS’s “What Now?” Podcast with Sara Beth Berman. 

 

For questions and comments, email Rabbi Ed Bernstein at [e-mail].

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