Anne Lapidus Lerner

Dr. Anne Lapidus Lerner is director of the Jewish Feminist Research Group and assistant professor of Jewish Literature at The Jewish Theological Seminary. Founding director of the Jewish Women's Studies Program, Dr. Lerner teaches courses on the portrayal of women in Jewish literature, Hebrew and American Jewish poetry, and modern Jewish literature, and leads a seminar designed to help first-year rabbinical students integrate their experience. Dr. Lerner served as the chair and organizer of the groundbreaking conference "This Is My Prayer—Va'ani Tefillati: Jewish Women in Prayer" in March 2009, which brought together women from the various denominations of Judaism to explore prayer in their lives. View videos from the conference.

A member of the JTS faculty since 1969, Dr. Lerner has served as associate dean of The Graduate School, dean of List College, and vice chancellor at The Jewish Theological Seminary. The first woman to hold the post of vice chancellor at JTS, Dr. Lerner was one of the highest-ranking women in American Jewish institutional life. As vice chancellor, she focused on bringing Jewish knowledge to the lay community through adult education.

Dr. Lerner's most recent book, Eternally Eve: Images of Eve in the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, and Modern Jewish Poetry, was published in September 2007 by Brandeis University Press. Her publications include Who Has Not Made Me a Man: The Movement for Equal Rights for Women in American Judaism, which has become a classic study of the interaction between the second wave of American feminism and Judaism and Passing the Love of Women: A Study of Gide's "Saül" and Its Biblical Root, an examination of the ways in which the French writer André Gide reinterpreted the Saul stories in I Samuel. Dr. Lerner is an editor of the volume Gender and Text: Feminist Approaches to Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature, published by JTS.

During the 2001–2002 academic year, Dr. Lerner served as visiting lecturer and research associate for Harvard University Divinity School's Women's Studies in Religion program. Her community involvement includes the editorial boards of Hadassah, Judaism, Nashim, and Lilith.

Dr. Lerner is a popular lecturer and scholar-in-residence in a variety of Jewish contexts. At its 2002 convention, Women's League for Conservative Judaism honored Dr. Lerner as a "Woman of Distinction."

Dr. Lerner earned bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from Harvard University. She received a bachelor's degree in Jewish Education and a master's degree in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew College in Boston.

Dr. Lerner's husband, Rabbi Stephen C. Lerner, is the founder and director of the Center for Conversion to Judaism and rabbi of Congregation Kanfei Shahar in Teaneck, New Jersey. Their son, Rabbi David Lerner, is rabbi of Temple Emunah in Lexington, Massachusetts. Their daughter, Rahel Lerner, teaches Jewish Studies at the Krieger Schechter Day School of Chizuk Amuno Congregation in Baltimore.

View Dr. Lerner's speaker's bureau bio.

September 2009

Published Works

Eternally Eve: Images of Eve in the Hebrew Bible, Midrash and Modern Jewish Poetry

Gender and Text: Feminist Approaches to Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature

Who Has Not Made Me a Man: The Movement for Equal Rights for Women in American Judaism

Passing the Love of Women: A Study of Gide's "Saül" and Its Biblical Roots