Rabbi Dvora Weisberg, Ph.D.

Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Rabbinics; HUC-JIR Rabbinical School Director

Contact Information

school/program: Rabbinical School (US)
academic field: Rabbinics and Liturgy
campus: Los Angeles, National
email: deweisberg@huc.edu
phone: (213) 765-2103
extension: 4203

Rabbi Dvora Weisberg is the Rabbi Aaron Panken Professor of Rabbinics and the Director of the Rabbinical School at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Rabbi Weisberg was raised in San Francisco. She received her B.A. summa cum laude from Brandeis University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Her undergraduate thesis, for which she was awarded highest honors in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, was entitled “Can the Demands of Jewish Feminists Be Met Within the Halakhic System?” She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Talmud and Rabbinic Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and was ordained at HUC-JIR in Los Angeles. Before coming to HUC-JIR, Rabbi Weisberg taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the College of William and Mary, and the University of Pittsburgh.  

Rabbi Weisberg is the author of Levirate Marriage and the Family in Ancient Judaism (2008), a study of the ancient rabbis’ vision of the family and its members, and Tractate Menahot: A Feminist Commentary (2020). Her book on levirate marriage and the family was a finalist for the 2009 National Jewish Book Awards in the category of Women’s Studies. 

Rabbi Weisberg is married to Rabbi Neal Scheindlin and is the mother of Micah (& Elana) and Noah Scheindlin, and the savta of Orli Maya Scheindlin.

Rabbinic Judaism and Rabbinic Literature

The Origins and Aims of Rabbinic Judaism

Rabbinic Visions of “The Good Life”

Rabbinic Reflections on Good and Evil

Who is Rich? Understandings of Wealth in Rabbinic Judaism

Conversion, Covenant, and Community in Rabbinic Judaism

Creating Holiness: An Introduction to the Mishnah

Levirate Marriage in Judaism

The Value and Limits of Dispute in Rabbinic Tradition

Rabbinic Literature as a Resource for Reform Jews

Abraham as a Religious Seeker

Rabbinic “Heroes”

Hillel

Yohanan ben Zakkai

Beruriah

Rabbi Akiba

Biblical Characters as Rabbinic Jews

Why Study Talmud?

The Study of Torah as a Jewish (Pre-)Occupation

Kedushah and Kehillah: Community and Holiness in the Talmud

What Does the Talmud Say About? (Astrology OR Dreams OR The Soul)

The Evolution of Jewish Law

Abortion

Capital Punishment

Children and Parents

Procreation

Social Justice and Rabbinic Judaism

Tzedek and Tzedakah in Rabbinic Tradition

The Origins of Tikkun Olam

Women and the Study of Torah

Mikveh and the Modern Woman

The Status of Women in Jewish Tradition

Images of Women in the Talmud

Women’s Prayers in the Midrash

Desirable But Dangerous: Rabbis’ Daughters in the Talmud

Gender Fluidity, Transitioning, and Judaism

Imagining God, Imagining Ourselves: God-Language as a Reflection of Values

Do We Speak a Common Language? Rethinking Jewish-Christian Dialogue

Rabbinic Reflections on Good and Evil

The Development of Prayer in Judaism

Reform Judaism and the Liturgy

Hannah as a Model of “Proper” Praying

Audacious Prayer: Prayer as a Challenge to God

Talmudic Aramaic

Talmud 1 & 2

Reform Responsa

Prayer and Pray-er in Rabbinic Literature

Learning and teaching Talmud

Ph.D. in Talmud and Rabbinics, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Dissertation: “Tradition and Transformation: The Appropriation of Festival Law in Bavli Betsa.”

M.A. in Talmud and Rabbinics, Jewish Theological Seminary of America

B.A. summa cum laude and highest honors in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University; Phi Beta Kappa
Senior Thesis: “Can the Demands of Jewish Feminists be Met Within the Halakhic System?”