the gruss scholar-in-residence
General Information
The Gruss Scholar-in-Residence will spend a year in full-time residence at NYU School of Law while researching and writing significant and publishable scholarship in an area related to Jewish law and/or the interaction between Jewish and American law. It is expected that at least one published article will result from the Scholar's year of residence; this article will be considered for publication in The Tikvah Center Working Paper Series or another working paper series of the Law School.
In addition, the Gruss Scholar will familiarize him/herself with the Gruss Library, so as to serve as a resource on its contents for members of the Law School community. The Scholar will supervise the continual updating and enriching of the Gruss Library and will act as the resident liaison between the library, the main Law School library and the rest of the Law School community. The Scholar will become fully integrated with the intellectual community of the Law School, regularly attending events of both The Tikvah Center in particular and NYU School of Law in general, including the faculty colloquia and other similar events.
Application Details
Candidates who wish to apply to be the Gruss Scholar-in-Residence should fill out the Tikvah Scholars application form, and indicate your preference. An applicant must have a Doctorate or Rabbinical ordination to qualify.
2011-2012 Gruss Scholar-in-Residence
Ruth Kaniel Kara-Ivanov
Ruth was born in Moscow in 1979, an immigrant from Russia and a daughter of a 'Refusenik' family. She is a Lecturer in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. She received her BA, MA, and PhD in Jewish Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Ruth’s research, entitled, “Motherhood and Seduction in the Myth of David's Messianic Dynasty, The Hebrew Bible, Rabbinic Literature and the Zoharic Corpus,” focuses on Jewish Mysticism, Messianic Myth, Gender Theory and Psychoanalysis. Her dissertation analyzes the myth of the birth of the Messiah, and the dominant role of his mothers from the perspective of gender theory. The study examines the metamorphoses of the commentaries to these maternal narratives, including the Hebrew Bible, Rabbinic Midrash, and Zohar literature.
Ruth teaches Jewish Philosophy and Bible in Keshet high-school, the Binah Center, Ein Prat Youth Academy for Leadership, and other institutes. Ruth writes poetry and translates Russian poets into Hebrew. She won the Rachel Negev literature award for publishing an original book of poetry: ‘The World Has No Silence’ [Hakibbutz Hameuhad, 2011], and is co-editor of the magazine Mashiv Haruach- Jewish Israeli Poetry.
She lives in Jerusalem with her husband Asaf, and their daughters Halel and Talya.Previous Gruss Scholars-in-Residence
