Dr. Orit Avnery
The David & Judith Lobel Core Curriculum
Master of Arts (cum laude), Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Teachers Certificate, Chemistry; Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
BSc (Chemistry), Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Dr. Orit Avnery is a biblical scholar and a lecturer in the Lobel Core Curriculum and in the Department of Philosophy and Jewish Thought at Shalem College.
Dr. Avnery is a researcher at the Kogod Center for the Study of Jewish Thought and Contemporary Thought at the Shalom Hartman Institute, and is the director of the Hartman Institute’s “Reshit” Bible Project, which is intended for Bible teachers in public schools.
Dr. Avnery received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she wrote her master’s thesis under the supervision of Prof. Yair Zakovitz. She wrote her doctorate in the Department of Bible Studies at Bar-Ilan University under the supervision of Prof. Ed Greenstein.
Her research concerns intertextual literary analysis, using feminist theories for biblical research. Her book Liminal Women: Belonging and Otherness in the Books of Ruth and Esther was published by Keter and the Shalom Hartman Institute and deals with the issue of otherness and strangeness in the Scrolls of Esther and Ruth.
Selected Publications
Book
Liminal Women: Belonging and Otherness in the Books of Ruth and Esther, Keter and Shalom Hartman Institute, 2015.
Articles and Book Chapters
“On the Threshold: Liminality in the Stories of the Concubine of Gibeah and Ruth,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 46(2) (2021), pp. 230–248.
“Gender, Ethnicity, Identity: Duality in the Book of Esther,” Ve-‘Ed Ya’aleh (Gen 2:6): Essays in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Edward L. Greenstein (Writings from the Ancient World Supplement Series) (SBL Press, 2020).
“Ruth and Esther: A Journey through Gender, Ethnicity, and Identity,” Megilloth Studies: The Shape of Contemporary Scholarship, B. Embry (ed.) (Sheffield: Phoenix Press, 2016), pp. 43-71.