Shulamit Shahar
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Shulamith Shahar ( Hebrew: שולמית שחר; born 1928) is an Israeli historian. Shahar's 1981 study ''Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages'' was the first to specifically examine the role of women in the medieval period. The book is used as a text for gender studies and medieval history classes. This, and her subsequent books, have been published in both Hebrew and English. She has written historical articles in these languages as well as French, and has translated three books from Latin to Hebrew.


Biography

Shulamith Shahar was born in
Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
in 1928, the youngest of three daughters of industrialist Moshe Weinstock and his wife Deborah. In 1933, the family emigrated to Mandate Palestine, moving to Haifa. At the time, Shahar spoke only Russian. Her middle sister, Dina, died in the early 1940s during a German massacre of Jews outside
Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
. In high school, Shahar served in the
Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...
, a defence force, where she was in charge of an arms depot. After graduating, she attended
Hebrew University of Jerusalem 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 ...
, where she soon earned her bachelor's degree in history. At age 19, Shahar married Yitzhak Cohen. They had one child, Evyatar, and divorced when he was two. Shahar then returned to Jerusalem to pursue a master's degree. To support herself, Shahar taught at a high school. In 1954, Shahar met writer
David Shahar David Shahar (1926-1997) was an Israeli fiction writer, translator, and editor best known for his depiction of old Jerusalem in the multi-volume historical saga ''The Palace of Shattered Vessels'' (1968–94). Life and work He was born in Jerusa ...
at a Purim Party. They lived together for two years before marrying. The couple had two children, a boy and a girl. The day after the birth of their daughter, Shulamith's son Evyatar was killed in an army training accident. After her second marriage, Shulamith Shahar continued her education, and received a scholarship to the Sorbonne. She wrote her doctoral dissertation while living in Paris. On her return to Israel, Shahar became a professor at Tel Aviv University, eventually becoming department head. She retired at age 64 to pursue the career she had always wanted: social work. Shahar is now chairman of a non-profit association which manages a home for battered wives in Jerusalem. David Shahar died in 1997. For the last few years of his life, he divided his time between Israel and Paris; Shulamith Shahar remained in Israel, in the home they shared for decades.


Academic career

In 1981, Shahar published a groundbreaking study, ''Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages''. The study was published in book form in 1983, and subsequently translated into English. "The first historical work that dealt with history and way of life of women in an era that was always told from a male perspective", ''Fourth Estate'' is often used in gender studies and medieval history courses. Her work has made Shahar a feminist role model, although she claims to be uninterested in the theory of feminism. In an interview, Shahar explained: "I always preferred to study things that interest me personally. To produce good writing one needs genuine emotion, and there can be no such emotion if the writer does not identify deeply with the subject of the writing." Shahar's second book, ''Childhood and the Middle Ages'', was published in 1990 and released in both English and Hebrew. It was translated in German in 1991. According to Shahar, her research disproved the previously popular notion that medieval infant mortality rates caused parents of the time to love their children less than modern parents do. Her third book, ''Growing Old in the Middle Ages: Winter Clothes Us in Shadow and Pain'' (1995) was also published in Hebrew and English. Both have proved very popular in Israel. She has also published dozens of articles in Hebrew, French, and English. In addition to her original works, Shahar translated ''
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' into Hebrew from Latin. She has also translated into Hebrew 2 twelfth-century autobiographies, one by a Catholic monk and one by a Jew who converted to Christianity.


Awards

In 2003, Shahar was awarded the
Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...
, for general history.


See also

*
List of Israel Prize recipients This is a complete list of recipients of the Israel Prize from the inception of the Prize in 1953 through to 2022. List For each year, the recipients are, in most instances, listed in the order in which they appear on the official Israel Prize ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shahar, Shulamith 1928 births Living people Latvian Jews Latvian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Jews in Mandatory Palestine Israeli Jews Israeli historians Israeli women historians Israeli medievalists Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni University of Paris alumni Academic staff of Tel Aviv University Israel Prize in history recipients Israel Prize women recipients Women medievalists Israeli schoolteachers Israeli translators Latin–Hebrew translators Jewish translators Jewish women writers