Nima Adlerblum
Nima Adlerblum’s scholarship and Zionist activism helped shape worldwide perspectives about the land where she was born. Raised in Jerusalem, Adlerblum studied in Paris at the Alliance Israelite Francaise before earning her PhD at Columbia University with a thesis arguing that Jewish philosophy had to be understood on its own terms instead of through the lens of Greek or medieval Christian philosophy. She went on to write a book on Jewish holidays and contribute heavily to the Jewish Heritage series edited by Leo Jung, which created a foundation for scholarship about Orthodox Judaism and rabbinic literature. Adlerblum also founded Hadassah’s national cultural and educational program and served as its national and cultural chair from 1922–1935. According to family stories, she flew to Rome during the Holocaust to secure the release of 250 Jewish refugees. Her outlook on life is best captured in her posthumous Memoirs of Childhood: An Approach to Jewish Philosophy, where she interwove philosophy with an account of her experiences growing up in an environment steeped in ethics, philosophy and religion, offering this as an ideal for Jewish and Zionist life.
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Jewish Women's Archive. "Nima Adlerblum." (Viewed on December 10, 2019) <https://qa.jwa.org/people/adlerblum-nima>.