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Tamara Cohn Eskenazi is The Effie Wise Ochs Professor of Biblical Literature and History at the Reform Jewish seminary Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles.

She was the first woman hired by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion as a full-time tenure track faculty member for their rabbinical school in 1990, and became the first female tenured full professor in their rabbinical school in 1995.

She was also the chief editor of The Torah: A Women’s Commentary (Andrea Weiss was associate editor), which won the 2008 Jewish Book of the Year Award from the Jewish Book Council.

On May 19, 2013, Eskenazi was ordained as a rabbi by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

In November of 2022, Eskenazi was elected vice president of the Society of Biblical Literature; in November 2023, Eskenazi was elevated to president of the society.

Recognition

In 2011, Eskenazi and the late Tikva Frymer-Kensky won the 2011 National Jewish Book Award in Women’s Studies for The JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth.

The 2022 art exhibit “Holy Sparks”, shown among other places at the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, featured art about twenty-four female rabbis who were firsts in some way; Carol Hamoy created the artwork about Eskenazi that was in that exhibit.

Selected works

• In an age of prose : a literary approach to Ezra-Nehemiah, 1986
• Second Temple studies. Temple and community in the Persian period , 1991
• The Torah : a women's commentary , 2008
• Ruth : the traditional Hebrew text with the new JPS translation , 2011

References

1. "Rabbi Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, Ph.D., Appointed The Effie Wise Ochs Professor of Biblical Literature and History - Hebrew Union College | Jewish Institute of Religion". Huc.edu. 2015-07-06. Retrieved 2015-08-05.
2. "Google Drive Viewer". Retrieved 2013-10-14.
3. "The Jewish Publication Society: Authors + Speakers: Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi". Jewishpub.org. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
4. "Past Winners". Jewish Book Council. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
5. "HUC-JIR: Press Room - HUC-JIR Announces 2013 Graduation and Ordination Ceremonies in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and New York". Huc.edu. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
6. "Society of Biblical Literature". www.sbl-site.org. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
7. "The Jewish Publication Society: Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Tikva Frymer-Kensky Awarded 2011 National Jewish Book Award for JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth". Jewishpub.org. 2012-01-12. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
8. "Past Winners". Jewish Book Council. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
9. Eckerling, Debra L. (March 31, 2022). ""Holy Sparks" Exhibition Celebrates 50 Years of Women in the Rabbinate". Jewish Journal.
10. "Holy Sparks: Celebrating Fifty Years of Women in the Rabbinate". HUC.
11. "VIDEO: HOLY SPARKS – Celebrating 50 Years of Women in the Rabbinate". Jewish Art Salon. January 30, 2022.

v t e Women rabbis and Torah scholars
Timeline of women rabbis
Pre-modern figures	Bible and Talmud Deborah (1107–1067 BCE) Bruriah (2nd century) Medieval and early modern era Rashi's daughters (11th–12th century) Bat ha-Levi (12th century) Paula Dei Mansi (13th century) Miriam Shapira-Luria (14th century) Fioretta of Modena (1522–1580) Bayla Falk (16th century) Eva Bacharach (1580–1651) Asenath Barzani (1590–1670) Frehat Bat Avraham (d. 1756) Maiden of Ludmir (1805–1888)
Modern figures	Ray Frank (1861–1948) Lily Montagu (1873–1963) Regina Jonas (1902–1944) Tehilla Lichtenstein (1893–1973) Paula Ackerman (1893–1989) Martha Neumark (1904–1981) Avis Clamitz (1908-1991) Helen Levinthal (1910–1989) Sally Priesand (b. 1946) Mimi Feigelson (b. 1963) First ordination by denomination Regina Jonas (Reform, 1935) Sandy Sasso (Reconstructionist, 1974) Lynn Gottlieb (Renewal, 1981) Amy Eilberg (Conservative, 1985) Tamara Kolton (Humanistic, 1999) Sara Hurwitz (Orthodox, 2009)
Alternate rabbinical roles	Yoetzet halacha Toanot Rabniyot
Organisations and midrashot	Women's Rabbinic Network Yeshivat Maharat Matan Women's Institute Midreshet Lindenbaum Nishmat Center Hadran
Category: Women rabbis

• Living people
• American biblical scholars
• Jewish American academics
• Judaic scholars
• Reform women rabbis
• Rabbis from Los Angeles
• Old Testament scholars
• Female biblical scholars
• 21st-century Jewish biblical scholars
• 21st-century American rabbis
• Presidents of the Society of Biblical Literature
• American Reform rabbis