Rachel Feldhay Brenner (1946 – February 4, 2021) was a Polish-born college professor, writer, and scholar of Jewish literature. She was president of the
Association for Israel Studies 'Association for Israel Studies'' (AIS) is an international, interdisciplinary scholarly society devoted to the academic and professional study of modern Israel.
History
Formed and charted in the US in 1985, the Association is open to all individua ...
from 2007 to 2009.
Early life and education
Rachel Feldhay was born in
Zabrze
Zabrze (; German: 1915–1945: ''Hindenburg O.S.'', full form: ''Hindenburg in Oberschlesien'', Silesian: ''Zŏbrze'', yi, זאַבזשע, Zabzhe) is an industrial city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. The west district of the Sil ...
, Poland, the daughter of Michael Feldhay and Helena Feldhay. She moved to Israel with her family in 1956.
She earned a bachelor's degree at
Hebrew University
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
, a master's degree at
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...
, and a PhD at
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...
.
Career
Brenner joined the faculty of the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
in 1992, in the Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies. She chaired the department from 2004 to 2007. She was a senior fellow at the Institute for Research in the Humanities,
a fellow at the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...
, and president of the Association for Israel Studies from 2007 to 2009. She served on the board of the
Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) is a Polish-American scholarly institution headquartered in Manhattan (New York City), at 208 East 30th Street.
History
The Institute was founded during the height of World War II, in 1 ...
(PIASA).
"It is my belief," she explained of her work, "that literature affects human consciousness and effects change in social practices, yet its impact is imperceptible, often delayed, and hard to measure."
Publications
Brenner published seven books, and more than 80 articles in academic journals
including ''
Modern Judaism'',
''
Comparative Literature Studies
''Comparative Literature Studies'' (CLS) is an academic journal in the field of comparative literature. It publishes essays ranging across the traditions of Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. Articles also explore movements, themes ...
'',
''Studies in American Jewish Literature'',
''
Israel Studies
''Israel Studies'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering the history, politics, society, and culture of the modern state of Israel. It was established in 1996 S. Ilan Troen as founding editor(Brandeis University). It is publishe ...
'',
''
Slavic Review
The ''Slavic Review'' is a major peer-reviewed academic journal publishing scholarly studies, book and film reviews, and review essays in all disciplines concerned with Russia, Central Eurasia, and Eastern and Central Europe. The journal's title ...
'',
''
AJS Review
''AJS Review'', published on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies, publishes scholarly articles and book reviews covering the field of Jewish Studies. From biblical and rabbinic textual and historical studies to modern history, social sc ...
,''
''Jewish Studies Quarterly'',
''Discourse'',
''
Studies in Religion'',
''Holocaust and Genocide Studies'',
and ''
Critical Inquiry
''Critical Inquiry'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal in the humanities published by the University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Department of English Language and Literature (University of Chicago). While the topics and historica ...
''.
In 1992 she won the
Canadian Jewish Book Award The Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards were a Canadian program of literary awards, managed, produced and presented annually by the Koffler Centre of the Arts to works judged to be the year's best works of literature by Jewish Canadian ...
for literary criticism.
Books
* ''Assimilation and Assertion: The Response to the Holocaust in
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are ''The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (novel), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and ''Barney's Version (novel), Barney's Versi ...
’s Writing'' (1989)
* ''
A.M. Klein
Abraham Moses Klein (14 February 1909 – 20 August 1972) was a Canadian poet, journalist, novelist, short story writer and lawyer. He has been called "one of Canada's greatest poets and a leading figure in Jewish-Canadian culture."
Best known ...
, The Father of Canadian Jewish Literature: Essays in the Poetics of Humanistic Passion'' (1990)
* ''Writing as Resistance: Four Women Confronting the Holocaust:
Edith Stein
Edith Stein (religious name Saint Teresia Benedicta a Cruce ; also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross or Saint Edith Stein; 12 October 1891 – 9 August 1942) was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Christianity and became a ...
,
Simone Weil
Simone Adolphine Weil ( , ; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. Over 2,500 scholarly works have been published about her, including close analyses and readings of her work, since 1995.
...
,
Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...
, and
Etty Hillesum
Esther (Etty) Hillesum (15 January 1914 – 30 November 1943) was the Dutch author of confessional letters and diaries which describe both her religious awakening and the persecutions of Jewish people in Amsterdam during the German occupation. I ...
'' (1997)
* ''Inextricably Bonded—Israel Jewish and Arab Writers Re-Visioning Culture'' (2003)
* ''The Freedom to Write: The Woman-Artist and the World in
Ruth Almog
Ruth Almog ( he, רות אלמוג) is an Israeli novelist.
Life
Almog was born 15 May 1936 in Petah Tikva, Mandatory Palestine to parents who immigrated from Hamburg in 1933. She studied at the David Yellin Teachers College, and at Tel Aviv Uni ...
’s Fiction'' (2008, in Hebrew)
* ''The Ethics of Witnessing: The Holocaust in Polish Writers’ Diaries from Warsaw, 1939-1945'' (2014)
* ''Polish Literature and the Holocaust: Eyewitness Testimonies, 1942–1947'' (2019)
Selected articles
* "A. M. Klein's 'The Hitleriad': Against the Silence of the Apocalypse" (1990)
* "Edith Stein: A reading of her feminist thought" (1994)
* "Between Identity and Anonymity: Art and History in
Aharon Megged
Aharon Megged () (10 August 1920 – 23 March 2016) ( Hebrew year 5680) was an Israeli author and playwright. In 2003, he was awarded the Israel Prize for literature.
Biography
Aharon Greenberg (later Megged) was born in Włocławek, Poland. I ...
's ''Foiglman''" (1995)
* "Back to the Future: Evolution of the A/Teleological in Recent Israeli Fiction" (1996)
* "Writing Herself against History: Anne Frank's Self-Portrait as a Young Artist" (1996)
* "Mother's Curse or Cursed Mother: Forgotten Stories in Forbidden Languages in
Meir Shalev
Meir Shalev ( he, מאיר שלו; born 29 July 1948) is an Israeli writer and newspaper columnist for the daily Yedioth Ahronoth . Shalev's books have been translated into 26 languages.
Biography
Shalev was born in Nahalal, Israel. Later he ...
's ''Esau''" (1997)
* "'Hidden Transcripts' Made Public: Israeli Arab Fiction and Its Reception" (1999)
* "The Search for Identity in Israeli Arab Fiction: Atallah Mansour,
Emile Habiby
Emile Shukri Habibi ( ar, إميل حبيبي, he, אמיל חביבי, 28 January 1922 – 2 May 1996) was a Palestinian-Israeli , and
Anton Shammas
Anton Shammas ( ar, أنطون شماس, he, אנטון שמאס; born 1950), is a Palestinian writer, poet and translator of Arabic, Hebrew and English.
Biography
Anton Shammas was one of six children born to a Palestinian father and a Lebanese ...
" (2001)
* "Voices from Destruction: Two Eyewitness Testimonies from the
Stanisławów Ghetto" (2008)
* "Ideology and Its Ethics:
Maria Dąbrowska’s Jewish (and Polish) Problem" (2011)
Personal life and legacy
Brenner died from cancer in 2021, aged 74 years, in
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...
.
The Rachel Feldhay Brenner Award in Polish-Jewish Studies was founded in 2021, in her memory, by the PIASA.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brenner, Rachel Feldhay
1946 births
2021 deaths
People from Zabrze
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
Tel Aviv University alumni
York University alumni
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
Jewish literature
Jewish women writers
Literary scholars