Aliza Shenhar

Professor Aliza Shenhar is the provost of the Max Stern Yezreel Valley College.

Moses receives God’s Holy Commandments, in a woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld from ‘Die Bibel in Bildern,’ 1860.

Women, too, were redeemed in Egypt

It is Moses who sings a long and festive song with the children of Israel; the reader is never told the content of the song sung by Miriam and the women she sweeps up in her enthusiasm.

MARCH 31, 2015

Vashti: The first feminist

The threatening and loathsome woman, Vashti, was the very same woman who fought to defend her honor and her modesty.

MARCH 4, 2015

On heroines

The much-admired heroine of the Esther story is Esther, who saves her nation in an act that becomes known for all future generations as the miracle of Purim.

OCTOBER 29, 2014

The News from China: Female Solidarity in the Academy

I was thrilled to learn that the Chinese have a tremendous appreciation for the Jewish and Israeli mind, particularly at a time when new waves of anti-Semitism are washing over Europe.

OCTOBER 6, 2014

Three women pose for a selfie as tourists crowd on a bridge above the West Lake, on the third day of the seven-day national holiday in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province

The miracle of Rosh Hashana

New year, old jealousies - Beauty and fertility are the central criteria in the contest between women in a polygamous society, where the goal is to preserve male supremacy.

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

A Rosh Hashana themed stainedglass window by the artist David Hillman, at the St. John’s Wood Synagogue in London.

The Fifteenth of Av

This is not love - According to Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, “There were no better days for the people of Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur.

AUGUST 11, 2014

There was a man in Israel whose name was Bar Kochba

There are those who claim, with legitimate grounds, that the origin of the mourning practices associated with the Omer can be traced back to the Crusades, a period of riots and persecution.

MAY 15, 2014