Nechama Leibowitz: A Scholar in Her Own Right

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“I have no derech…I only teach what the commentaries say. Nothing is my own.”¹ A modest, yet witty woman paved the way for female educators and learners alike. Although she had the intelligence to be called “professor”, or even noted as a scholar in her own right, Nechama Leibowitz preferred the humble title of “teacher”. Nechama was born September 3, 1905 to an Orthodox Jewish family in Riga, the largest city in Latvia. The name of her older brother, Yeshayahu Leibowitz, became known throughout the Jewish world and linked to controversial views on Jewish law, or halacha, as well as his approach to faith.

While Yeshayahu prided himself in composing ideas and philosophies, Nechama saw herself as merely a vessel to share the insights of those before her. Nechama felt that students “don’t remember anything anyway,” and that understanding the happenings (of Jewish history), and specific facts related in the text (the Torah and its commentaries) was paramount. Her brother, on the other hand, believed that the Torah should not be read as a purely factual historical account, that the inclusion of any actual historical information in the Torah would be merely coincidental, and that all descriptions of G-d intervening in human life or nature were not to be seen as truthful but rather interpreted as metaphors². Ultimately, Yeshayahu held that G-d’s transcendence was such that holiness and “the world of the profane” could not coexist, whereas his sister reckoned otherwise.

The two shared a passion for learning the all-encompassing lessons of the Torah, but their understandings manifested themselves differently. Yeshayahu believed that the Torah was the source of the mitzvot and how Jews are to serve G-d. He believed that “from the standpoint of religious faith, the Torah and the entirety of the Holy Scriptures must be conceived as a demand which transcends the range of cognition – the demand to know G-d and serve Him.”³ On the other hand, he did not believe that G-d was involved in nature, let alone human matters. Nechama, opposing this denial of attribution to G-d’s total involvement, which included His appointing the Land of Israel to the Jewish people, decided to immigrate. This understanding led her and her husband, Yedidya, in moving to Mandate Palestine in 1930.⁴

Whether in her humble Jerusalem apartment, or a seat in either her Hebrew University of Jerusalem or Mizrachi Women’s Teacher Seminary classroom, students drank her life-giving words of Torah for insight and connection. Although she and her husband never had children, her nephew, Yoram, said he was like a son to her when attending her funeral in 1997.⁵ Nechama died at 91 years old on April 12, and although she did not leave behind blood-children, many of her students said kaddish for her, alongside her nephew. Her teachings act as sturdy roots to the many branches, or individuals, which sprouted from her. As Rabbi Elazar quotes Rabbi Hanina: “Torah scholars increase peace in the world, as it is said: And all your children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children). It is instructed to not read “your children”⁶, but rather “your builders”⁷. Indeed, this lesson is appropriate to assign to Nechama, who although herself did not have blood-children, planted many builders of Torah study throughout the generations.

We can learn from morah Nechama, as she preferred to be called and as was written on her tombstone, many strengths behind Jewish faith. In one of his books, Rabbi Breuer said the following: “Her fear (of God) preceded her wisdom.” Nechama avoided kefirah, denial of the authenticity of the Torah, at all costs – including her reputability amongst scholars. Although she had the wisdom and skills to both study text in depth and teach them in a comprehensible way, she had no interest in applying her knowledge to debate. Her firm emunah, often called “stubbornness”, proves that belief in G-d cannot always be reasoned.

Nechama rekindled interest in Torah study, particularly amongst women. She is known for her works Iyunim, or Insights on the Weekly Torah Reading⁸. As mentioned, Nechama held her students grasping concepts to the utmost importance. Leibowitz’s method was to teach understanding, havana, in contrast to accumulation of knowledge, yeda. If her students understood the texts on a deeper level, rather than memorizing information, it would maintain their authenticity as they were meant to be read. The Israeli testing system adopted this approach which left prominent educational figures insisting that, “sixty percent of a test was on material never learned”, as well as other accusations. Many of her critics pinned, or rather blamed, this change in curriculum on Nechama’s revolutionary teaching method.

In 1956, Nechama won the Israel Prize, an award bestowed on Israeli Independence Day in Jerusalem, and regarded as the nation’s highest cultural honor⁹. In addition to the attendance of recipients, who in the past included Golda Meir and organizations such as Yad Vashem and Jewish Agency, include the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Knesset, and the Supreme Court President. Although Leibowitz received pushback for the novel ways of educating, no one could deny her brilliance and devotion to Jewish historical and biblical continuity. Throughout his career, her brother remained loyal to the “Ideas of Tanach” mentality – why was Nechama so unwavering in her ways? From her youth in the Old Country, where ever changing, non-Jewish insights often negated the authenticity of the Torah, she learned a powerful lesson. It is not enough to take the Torah and its teachings as metaphors, and it is hazardous to provide “modern-day proofs” to G-d given text. As explained in Rabbi Shlomo ibn Gabriol’s song of praise, Adon Olam, which has been recited by Jews for hundreds of years: “He is One – and there is no unity like His Oneness. Inscrutable and infinite is His Oneness…G-d will never amend nor exchange His law for any other one, for all eternity.” The song emphasizes that G-d is timeless, all-involved, and that His Word is irrefutable, which were all ideas Nechama held onto.

One of her strongest critics accused Leibowitz’s approach of ignoring archeology, anthropology, history, and geography – all of which they believed added critical understanding to Tanach. “She was not interested in taking a Tanach and going on a tour.”¹⁰ Another reason being, besides her vulnerable upbringing around those who would twist and turn the words of G-d, was simply stated by Leibowitz herself: “Ein stirot ba’Torah – there are no contradictions in the Torah.” Any modern-day findings, even if further proving the historical validity of Judaism (to both the Land of Israel and to the Torah), were but additional points of contention for heretics and secular minds to dispute. In Nechama’s eyes, the validity and ultimate truth of Tanach was not to be challenged.