Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has nominated Dr Ruth Calderon to be the next head of the Jewish Agency.
Dr Calderon is an educator and Talmud scholar who holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in Talmud from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 2013-2015, she was a Knesset Member from the Yesh Atid Party, where she was Deputy Speaker, member of the education and state control committees, and Chairperson of the Lobby for Jewish Renewal.
She founded Beit Midrash Elul in Jerusalem and Alma – Home for Hebrew Culture in Tel Aviv. She also served as the head of the culture and education department of the National Library of Israel.
Dr Calderon was awarded the AVI CHAI Prize for Jewish Education, the Samuel Rothberg Prize for Jewish Education, and honorary doctorates from Brandeis University, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and Hebrew College in Boston.
She is the author of A Bride for One Night: Talmud Tales and A Talmudic Alpha Beta, which present personal readings of Talmudic stories. Her children’s books, The Princess and the Rock and A Rainy Day Story, present adaptations of Talmudic and Chassidic stories for children.
Minister Lapid stated, “I’ve proposed Dr Ruth Calderon to serve as Jewish Agency Chair. Dr Calderon, who holds a PhD in Talmud and today leads ALMA, a Tel Aviv-based cultural & intellectual centre is an exemplary leader who will serve Israel and the Jewish people with distinction.”
TPS