Carole B. Balin
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Carole Beth Balin (born 1964) is a
Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...
rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
and professor of
Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jews, and their nation, religion, and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions, and cultures. Although Judaism as a religion first appears in Greek records during the Hellenisti ...
at
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Her research interests include
Eastern European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
and
American Jewish history ''American Jewish History'' is an academic journal and the official publication of the American Jewish Historical Society. The journal was established in 1892 and focuses on all aspects of the history of Jews in the United States. The journal was ...
, the history of Reform Judaism, and
gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...
. She received laudatory reviews for her 2003 book ''To Reveal Our Hearts: Jewish Women Writers in Tsarist Russia'', and has co-edited two other books. She is a co-curator of "Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age", a traveling exhibition sponsored by the Smithsonian-affiliated
National Museum of American Jewish History The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History (The Weitzman) is a Smithsonian-affiliated museum at 101 South Independence Mall East (S. 5th Street) at Market Street in Center City Philadelphia. It was founded in 1976. History With ...
and the Moving Traditions Jewish non-profit.


Early life and education

Carole Beth Balin grew up in
Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...
, the daughter of Theodore G. Balin, a defense engineer, and Marcia Balin, a telemarketing sales trainer. She became bat mitzvah in 1977; her mother celebrated her own bat mitzvah in 1979. She earned her bachelor's degree in history at
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
in 1986. Her senior honors thesis was "Unraveling an American-Jewish Synthesis: Rosa Sonneschein's ''The American Jewess'', 1895–1899". In 1989 she earned a master's degree in Hebrew letters at
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, followed by
rabbinic ordination Semikhah ( he, סמיכה) is the traditional Jewish name for rabbinic ordination. The original ''semikhah'' was the formal "transmission of authority" from Moses through the generations. This form of ''semikhah'' ceased between 360 and 425 C ...
in 1991 at the same institute. In 1994 she earned a
Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...
degree at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, and in 1998 completed her PhD in history at Columbia. Her doctoral advisors were
Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi (May 20, 1932 – December 8, 2009) was the Salo Wittmayer Baron Professor of Jewish History, Culture and Society at Columbia University, a position he held from 1980 to 2008. Early life and education Yerushalmi was born in t ...
and
Michael Stanislawski Michael F. Stanislawski (born 1952) is the Nathan J. Miller Professor of Jewish History at Columbia University. He obtained his B.A. (1973), M.A. (1975) Ph.D. (1979) from Harvard University, and has been at Columbia since 1980. His dissertation, ...
.


Academic career

Balin was a visiting instructor at the Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
in 1995. She joined the faculty of her alma mater, the Hebrew Union College, in 1997 as assistant professor of Jewish history, advancing to associate professor in 2004 and full professor in 2006. She was also a faculty member of the Wexner Heritage Foundation from 1999 to 2003.


Works

Balin's 2003 book ''To Reveal Our Hearts: Jewish Women Writers in Tsarist Russia'' was noted for its "pioneering" research by several reviewers, as she rediscovered the existence of 67 Jewish women writers (44 Russian-language, 17 Hebrew-language, and six Yiddish-language) in the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through archival material in Russia, Israel, and North America. The book explores in-depth the lives of five of these writers. Balin has written numerous book chapters and articles, including several biographies for the
Jewish Women's Archive The Jewish Women's Archive (JWA) is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to document "Jewish women's stories, elevate their voices, and inspire them to be agents of change." JWA was founded by Gail Twersky Reimer in 1995 in Brookli ...
. She wrote the pieces "
Betty Friedan Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...
’s 'Spiritual Daughters,' the
ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...
, and the CCAR" and "From Periphery to Center: A History of the
Women's Rabbinic Network Women's Rabbinic Network is an American national organization for female Reform rabbis. It was founded in 1980; Rabbi Deborah Prinz was its first overall coordinator, and Rabbi Myra Soifer was the first editor of its newsletter. In 2010 Ellen Wei ...
", which appear in the book ''The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate'', published in 2016. She also
blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
s for ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
''.


Other activities

In 1991 Balin became the spiritual leader of the Jewish Congregation of Kinnelon, New Jersey, which conducts joint worship services at St. David's, an Episcopal church. Her duties for the 300-member Reform congregation included officiating at religious services, planning seminars on religion, preparing youth for their bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah, and visiting hospitalized and homebound Jewish patients. In 2008 she was one of the interviewees on the
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
documentary ''The Jewish People: A Story of Survival''. Balin is the co-curator, with Josh Perelman and Lori Perlow, of the traveling exhibition "Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age", which opened in April 2012 at the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan. The exhibition, a collaboration between the Smithsonian-affiliated
National Museum of American Jewish History The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History (The Weitzman) is a Smithsonian-affiliated museum at 101 South Independence Mall East (S. 5th Street) at Market Street in Center City Philadelphia. It was founded in 1976. History With ...
and the Moving Traditions Jewish non-profit, traces the history of bat mitzvahs in the United States through the stories of 150 American women, depicted in images and oral histories. It has since visited eight other locales. She is a member of the board of Moving Traditions.


Personal life

Balin married Michael Eric Gertzman, a
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
law student, in August 1988. From 1992 to 1996 Gertzman served as Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He is currently a partner at
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (known as Paul, Weiss) is an American multinational law firm headquartered on Sixth Avenue in New York City. By profits per equity partner, it is the fifth most profitable law firm in the world. ...
in New York City. They have three children.


Bibliography


Books

* (co-edited with Wendy I. Zierler) * (co-edited with Dana Herman and Jonathan D. Sarna) *


Selected chapters

* * * *


Selected articles

* * *


References


External links


"Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age" homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balin, Carole E. 1964 births Living people American Reform rabbis Reform women rabbis Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion faculty Wellesley College alumni Columbia University alumni Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion alumni People from Andover, Massachusetts 21st-century American rabbis