Award-winning author Savyon Liebrecht, lauded as an outstanding voice in contemporary Hebrew literature and one of Israel's leading women writers of fiction, inaugurated The Dr. Gila Ramras-Rauch Memorial Lecture Series on November 22 while on tour for her new book,
A Good Place for the Night: Stories (Persea Books, 2006). The event, co-sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel to New England, honored the former Lewis H. and Selma Weinstein Professor of Jewish Literature at Hebrew College-a close friend of Liebrecht's and one of Hebrew College's most cherished professors.
Photo by Ben Harmon |
Each year, the Ramras-Rauch Memorial Lecture Series will present prominent Israeli or Jewish literary figures to the Boston Jewish and academic communities, underscoring Ramras-Rauch's deep commitment to bringing Israeli culture to her intellectual environment. "She was the major representative of Hebrew culture to the Hebrew College community," remembers Shai Nathanson, director of Hebrew Language Programs at the College and a longtime friend and colleague of Ramras-Rauch, who worked with her to introduce Israeli intellectuals and writers to Boston. He will continue to do so in her memory.
Indeed, it was both Ramras-Rauch and Nathanson who first invited Savyon Liebrecht to Hebrew College in May 2002 to participate in Hebrew College's inaugural events for the Newton Centre campus. When Ramras- Rauch died in February 2005, Liebrecht remembered her fondly: "Gila's many friends as well as Hebrew literature lost in one instant a close, unique and profoundly knowledgeable friend."
The annual programs will be supported by The Dr. Gila Ramras-Rauch Memorial Lecture Series Fund, which will cover the cost of bringing lecturers to Greater Boston and hosting them for week- or semesterlong residencies at Hebrew College. For more information about the fund, please contact David Chivo at 617-559-8727 or
dchivo@hebrewcollege.edu.
back to top
Contents
