Professor Susannah Heschel

Professor Susannah Heschel
Name	Susannah Heschel
Birth date	1956
Nationality	American
Occupation	Professor, Scholar
Known for	Scholarship on Judaism and Jewish-Christian relations, history of Jewish studies

Professor Susannah Heschel is an American scholar of Jewish studies and modern Jewish history who specializes in Jewish-Christian relations, Jewish mysticism, and the history of Jewish thought. She has taught at prominent institutions and produced influential works on liturgy, theology, and interreligious dialogue while engaging in public debates on religion and politics.

Early life and education

Born in 1956 into a family prominent in American Jewish intellectual life, she is the daughter of Abraham Joshua Heschel and grew up amid figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Elie Wiesel, Ralph Ellison, Pope John Paul II, and Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg. She completed undergraduate studies at Radcliffe College and pursued graduate studies at Harvard University and the University of London, studying under scholars associated with Yale University, Columbia University, Princeton University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv University. Her doctoral work engaged sources from the collections of the Bodleian Library, the British Library, and archives tied to YIVO and the Leo Baeck Institute.

Academic career

Heschel joined the faculty of Dartmouth College as a professor in the Department of Religious Studies and the Program in Jewish Studies, holding appointments in programs that collaborate with Drew University, Brandeis University, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, and New York University. She has been a visiting professor at Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Hebrew Union College, Princeton Theological Seminary, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, and the Pontifical Gregorian University. Her teaching and mentorship connected students with research resources at Harvard Divinity School, Columbia University Libraries, and the archives of Yad Vashem and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Scholarship and major works

Heschel's scholarship addresses modern Jewish thought, liturgy, and Christian-Jewish relations, engaging debates rooted in texts by Moses Mendelssohn, Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, Isaiah Berlin, Hannah Arendt, and Gershom Scholem. Her books include studies that interact with primary sources from Medieval and Modern periods and analyses of figures such as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (her father), Cardinal Lustiger, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, and theologians like Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Hans Urs von Balthasar. She edited and authored volumes that cite manuscripts from Cambridge University Library, Vatican Library, and the collections of Princeton University and Yale University Press.

Her monographs and essays engage with issues raised in works by Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Bousset, Ernest Renan, Theodor Herzl, Leo Strauss, and Salo Baron. She has published in journals associated with Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Rutgers University Press, and periodicals connected to The New Republic, The Nation, Commentary, and First Things.

Activism and public engagement

Beyond academia, Heschel has been active in interfaith dialogue and political advocacy, participating in forums with leaders from World Council of Churches, American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, National Council of Churches, and representatives of Palestinian Liberation Organization and Israeli Knesset members. She has participated in events alongside activists and intellectuals such as Cornel West, Noam Chomsky, Ariel Sharon critics, Yitzhak Rabin supporters, and leaders in movements influenced by the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Her public interventions have addressed controversies involving Pope John Paul II gestures toward Judaism, debates over Christian Zionism, and disputes in university settings involving Student Senate motions and campus organizations like Hillel International.

Honors and awards

Heschel's work has been recognized with fellowships and prizes from institutions including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy for Jewish Research, American Council of Learned Societies, and awards administered by Harvard University and the American Jewish Historical Society. She has delivered named lectures at Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the University of Chicago, and has been a fellow at centers such as the Institute for Advanced Study and the Center for Jewish History.

Personal life and family background

Heschel is part of an intellectual family linked to European and American Jewish networks that include figures like Zionism leaders and scholars associated with Poland, Germany, Lithuania, and Russia who influenced 20th-century Jewish thought, including interactions with Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Abba Hillel Silver, and S. Ansky. Her family connections placed her in contact with leaders and institutions across the Jewish world, encompassing relationships with Hebrew Union College, Yeshiva University, and communal organizations such as American Jewish Committee and Board of Deputies of British Jews.

Category:American historians Category:Jewish studies scholars