Carole B. Balin

Rabbi Carole B. Balin PhD
Born	Carole Beth Balin 1964 (age 51–52) Andover, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Education	B.A. history, Wellesley College, 1986 M.A. Hebrew letters, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 1989 M. Phil., Columbia University, 1994 PhD, history, Columbia University, 1998
Occupation	Professor of Jewish history
Years active	1997–present
Employer	Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Notable work	To Reveal Our Hearts: Jewish Women Writers in Tsarist Russia (2003)
Spouse(s)	Michael E. Gertzman
Children	3
Parent(s)	Theodore G. Balin Marcia Balin

Carole Beth Balin (born 1964) is a Reform Jewish rabbi and professor of Jewish history at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. Her research interests include Eastern European and American Jewish history, the history of Reform Judaism, and gender studies. She received laudatory reviews for her 2003 book To Reveal Our Hearts: Jewish Women Writers in Tsarist Russia, and has co-edited two other books. She is a co-curator of "Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age", a traveling exhibition sponsored by the Smithsonian-affiliated National Museum of American Jewish History and the Moving Traditions Jewish non-profit.

Early life and education

Carole Beth Balin grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, the daughter of Theodore G. Balin, a defense engineer, and Marcia Balin, a telemarketing sales trainer.^[1] She became bat mitzvah in 1977; her mother celebrated her own bat mitzvah in 1979.^[2]

She earned her bachelor's degree in history at Wellesley College in 1986.^[3] Her senior honors thesis was "Unraveling an American-Jewish Synthesis: Rosa Sonneschein's The American Jewess, 1895–1899".^[4] In 1989 she earned a master's degree in Hebrew letters at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, followed by rabbinic ordination in 1991 at the same institute. In 1994 she earned a Master of Philosophy degree at Columbia University, and in 1998 completed her PhD in history at Columbia. Her doctoral advisors were Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi and Michael Stanislawski.^[3]

Academic career

Balin was a visiting instructor at the Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies in Moscow in 1995. She joined the faculty of her alma mater, the Hebrew Union College, in 1997 as assistant professor of Jewish history, advancing to associate professor in 2004 and full professor in 2006. She was also a faculty member of the Wexner Heritage Foundation from 1999 to 2003.^[3]

Works

Balin's 2003 book To Reveal Our Hearts: Jewish Women Writers in Tsarist Russia was noted for its "pioneering" research by several reviewers, as she rediscovered the existence of 67 Jewish women writers (44 Russian-language, 17 Hebrew-language, and six Yiddish-language) in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through archival material in Russia, Israel, and North America.^[5][6] The book explores in-depth the lives of five of these writers.^[6]

Balin has written numerous book chapters and articles, including several biographies for the Jewish Women's Archive.^[7] She also blogs for The Huffington Post.^[3]

Other activities

In 1991 Balin became the spiritual leader of the Jewish Congregation of Kinnelon, New Jersey, which conducts joint worship services at St. David's, an Episcopal church. Her duties for the 300-member Reform congregation included officiating at religious services, planning seminars on religion, preparing youth for their bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah, and visiting hospitalized and homebound Jewish patients.^[8]

In 2008 she was one of the interviewees on the PBS documentary The Jewish People: A Story of Survival.^[9]

Balin is the co-curator, with Josh Perelman and Lori Perlow,^[10] of the traveling exhibition "Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age", which opened in April 2012 at the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan.^[11][12] The exhibition, a collaboration between the Smithsonian-affiliated National Museum of American Jewish History and the Moving Traditions Jewish non-profit, traces the history of bat mitzvahs in the United States through the stories of 150 American women, depicted in images and oral histories.^[13] It has since visited eight other locales.^[12]

She is a member of the board of Moving Traditions.^[3]

Personal life

Balin married Michael Eric Gertzman, a Harvard law student, in August 1988.^[1] From 1992 to 1996 Gertzman served as Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.^[14] He is currently a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City.^[14] They have three children.^[3]

Bibliography

Books

• 'To Tread on New Ground': Selected Hebrew Writings of Hava Shapiro. Wayne State University Press. 2014. ISBN 0814338704. (co-edited with Wendy I. Zierler)
• Sisterhood: A Centennial History of Women of Reform Judaism. Hebrew Union College Press. 2013. ISBN 0878202544. (co-edited with Dana Herman and Jonathan D. Sarna)
• To Reveal Our Hearts: Jewish Women Writers in Tsarist Russia. Hebrew Union College Press. 2003. ISBN 0878204563.

Selected chapters

• Balin, Carole B. (2012). "Preface". In Cosgrove, Elliot J.; Wolpe, David J. Jewish Theology in Our Time: A New Generation Explores the Foundations and Future of Jewish Belief. Jewish Lights Publishing. ISBN 1580236308.
• Balin, Carole B. (2011). "Making Every Forkful Count: Reform Jews, Kashrut, and Mindful Eating, 1840–2010". In Zamore, Mary L. The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic. CCAR Press. pp. 50–59. ISBN 088123186X.
• Balin, Carole B. (2008). "Moving Through the Movements: American denominations and their Haggadot". In Arnow, David. My People's Passover Haggadah: Traditional texts, modern commentaries 1. Jewish Lights Publishing. pp. 79–84. ISBN 1580233546.
• Balin, Carole B. (2008). "'Good to the Last Drop': The proliferation of the Maxwell House Haggadah". In Arnow, David. My People's Passover Haggadah: Traditional texts, modern commentaries 1. Jewish Lights Publishing. pp. 85–90. ISBN 1580233546.

Selected articles

• "Leaning In to the Presidency: Hillary, Sheryl and Me". The Huffington Post. 11 June 2014.
• "The Uniongram and the Cookie". Women of Reform Judaism. 10 September 2013.
• "Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age: 90 Years of Transforming Jewish Girls to Women". The Huffington Post. 12 March 2012.

References

1. "August Wedding for Carole Balin". The New York Times. 17 January 1988. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
2. "Rabbi Carole B. Balin, PhD". The Huffington Post. 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
3. "Carole B. Balin (curriculum vitae)" (PDF). Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
4. Wertheimer, Jack (2007). Imagining the American Jewish Community. UPNE. p. 207. ISBN 1584656700. (footnote 12)
5. Shrayer, Maxim D. (January 2002). "To Reveal Our Hearts: Jewish Women Writers in Tsarist Russia by Carole B. Balin". The Modern Language Review 97 (1): 243–245. doi:10.2307/3735695 – via JSTOR. (subscription required (help)).
6. Safran, Hannah (October 2003). "Book Review". Jewish History 17 (3): 349–351.
7. "Carole B. Balin". Jewish Women's Archive. 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
8. Tuohey, Patrick (6 February 1991). "Saint David, Star of David". The Record. Retrieved 25 April 2016 – via HighBeam. (subscription required (help)).
9. "The Jewish people [videorecording] : a story of survival / directed by Andrew Goldberg". National Library of Australia. 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
10. "Home". Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
11. Balin, Carole B. (12 March 2012). "Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age: 90 Years of Transforming Jewish Girls to Women". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
12. "Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age". Moving Traditions. 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
13. "Museum Collaborates on Bat Mitzvah Exhibition with Moving Traditions" (PDF). Only in America (National Museum of American Jewish History): 1–2. Spring 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
14. "Michael E. Gertzman, Partner". Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.

External links

• "Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age" homepage