To Shulamit Reinharz

In the 1990s, with the blooming of feminist scholarship, the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and what is now the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (then the International Research Institute on Jewish Women) at Brandeis University more or less simultaneously pioneered programs in Jewish women’s studies: IRIJW with its research program, and Schechter with the world’s first-ever MA program in the field, which inspired the founding of Nashim. With the preparation of the first issue already in the works, we heard that Shulamit Reinharz was in town, and it seemed natural to extend a hand to her with an offer for IRIJW, the institute she had just co-founded, to partner with us in the new journal. Shula responded with characteristic enthusiasm, and so was born the partnership that has yielded, to date, 32 issues of Nashim.

Shula immediately “got” what we were trying to do, including the partnering of women’s studies and feminist art that, at the suggestion of Alice Shalvi and under the guidance of Art Editor Judith Margolis, has distinguished every issue of Nashim. Over the years, Shula’s enthusiasm for Nashim has never flagged, as, with her usual warmth, she urges on the editorial office on the Schechter side, often coming up with new ideas for themes based on HBI’s activities.

When we heard that Shula was retiring as Co-Director of HBI, it again seemed natural to dedicate an issue of Nashim to her for the occasion, and to invite her fellow Co-Director, Sylvia Barack Fishman, to serve as its consulting editor. The response of her colleagues and of the numerous younger scholars whose careers she has furthered was so overwhelming that the Festschrift issue has burgeoned into three. It is a pleasure and a privilege, Shula, to dedicate issues 32, 33 and 34 of Nashim to you upon your retirement. We look forward to working together for many more years.