Yael Feldman
Yael S. Feldman (Hebrew: יעל פלדמן, née Keren-Or) is an Israeli-born American scholar and academic particularly known for her work in comparative literature and feminist Hebrew literary criticism. She is the Abraham I. Katsh Professor Emerita of Hebrew Culture and Education in the Judaic Studies Department at New York University and an Affiliated Professor of Comparative Literature and Gender Studies. She is also a Fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research, and a Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge. Feldman has lectured and published internationally, and served as editor of both general and academic journals . Her research interests include Hebrew culture (biblical and modern); history of ideas (particularly of Zionism and its contexts); gender and cultural studies; and psychoanalytic criticism. Biography. Feldman received her B.A. in Hebrew Literature and Language and English Literature from Tel Aviv University in 1967 and her M.A. in Medieval Hebrew Literature from Hebrew College in 1976. Her Ph.D. dissertation at Columbia University was on the Hebrew-American poet Gabriel Preil who was to become the subject of her first book, "Modernism and Cultural Transfer": "Gabriel Preil and the Tradition of Jewish Literary Bilingualism" (1986). Her MA thesis formed the basis  of her second book, in Hebrew, "Polarity and Parallel": "Semantic Patterns in the Medieval Hebrew Qasida" (1987). After receiving her Ph.D. in 1981, she completed postdoctoral study at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. Psychoanalytic theory has continued to inform her literary criticism as well as her studies on gender and biblical and Zionist narratives, beginning with her third publication, "Teaching the Hebrew Bible as Literature in Translation" (1989) and subsequent articles. According to Glenda Abramson, writing in "The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies", by the 1980s Feldman was seen as one of the leaders of the  study of Israeli literary feminism along with Anne Golomb Hoffman and Naomi Sokoloff. Her "No Room of Their Own: Gender and Nation in Israeli Women's Fiction", published in 1999, was the first book-length treatment devoted to Israeli women writers and written from a feminist perspective, especially the work of Virginia Woolf and Simon de Beauvoir. It was a finalist in the 2000 National Jewish Book Awards and its 2003 Hebrew translation, ללא חדר משלהן: מגדר ולאומיות ביצירתן של סופרות ישראליות: שולמית לפיד, עמליה כהנא-כרמון, שולמית הראבן, נתיבה בן-יהודה, רות אלמוג won the Abraham Friedman Award for  Hebrew Literature. Her fifth book, "Glory and Agony: Isaac's Sacrifice and National Narrative", is the first book-length study of the ethos of national sacrifice in modern Hebrew culture. Growing out of her abiding interest in the impact of the Bible on contemporary psycho-politics, gender, and violence, it explores the biblical and classical stories of potential and enacted sacrifice (Isaac, Jephthah’s daughter, Iphigenia, Jesus) that have nourished myths of altruist heroism over the last century. This study was a finalist in the 2010 National Jewish Book Awards (Scholarship–Nahum M. Sarna Memorial Award). It was described by  Perry Meisel as “a dazzling synthesis of political and religious history, particularly the history of the State of Israel and the tradition of Biblical interpretation" and as an "essential reading for American readers" by Alicia Ostriker. "Glory and Agony" has been praised in "Review of Biblical Literature", where Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer wrote "This fascinating, multifaceted, and erudite book... is both very enjoyable and highly thought provoking, and I can recommend it whole-heartedly." Grants and awards. Feldman’s scholarship—twice a Finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards and the winner of the Abraham Friedman Award for Hebrew Literature-was  supported by various grants and fellowships, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, Fulbright-Hays Program, Littauer Foundation, Centers for Advanced Jewish Studies at Oxford and PENN Universities, Lady Davis Fellowship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Yad Vashem International Holocaust Research Center. Editorial and other professional activities. Feldman served for 17 years (1985–2002) as the Culture and Art Editor of "Ha-do'ar", an American Hebrew Journal of long standing (1921–2005). She has also served on the editorial boards of the academic journals "Prooftexts", "Hebrew Studies", "Contemporary Women's Writings", and "Women in Judaism". In 1992 she founded the  Discussion Group for Modern Hebrew Literature at the Modern Language Association of America and served as its first Chair. Selected publications. Articles. The following is a selection of the more than 90 refereed journal articles and book chapters authored by Yael Feldman. Books. A National Jewish Book Award Finalist, 1999 [category: Women Studies]. [Lelo heder mishelahen: Migdar uleumiut biyetziratan shel sofrot israeliyot", Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuhad, 2002] Abraham Friedman Memorial Prize, 2003 A National Jewish Book Award Finalist, 2010 [category: Scholarship]