Paula Hyman

Paula Hyman (born 1946) is the Lucy Moses Professor of Modern Jewish History at Yale University and president of the American Academy of Jewish Research. She also served as the first female dean of the Seminary College of Jewish Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary . Her research interests include topics in modern European and American Jewish history, with a special emphasis on the history of women and gender. In addition to several books on French Jewry, she has written widely on Jewish women’s history. Among her books are The Jewish Woman in America , Gender and Assimilation in Modern Jewish History , and the two-volume encyclopedia Jewish Women in America , which she co-edited with Deborah Dash Moore. She also edited and introduced Puah Rakovsky’s My Life as a Radical Jewish Woman: Memoirs of a Zionist Feminist in Poland . She received a PhD from Columbia University in 1975. Hyman was a founding member of Ezrat Nashim, a group of Conservative Jewish women who in 1972 lobbied for change in the role of women in Conservative Judaism, leading to changes including inclusion of women in a minyan , equal participation in prayer leadership, and ordination as Rabbis .

She served as the president of the American Academy for Jewish Research from 2004 to 2008. She also was the first female dean of the Seminary College of Jewish Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary from 1981 to 1986. Hyman was a pioneer for gender equality in Jewish religious practice, helping push for women's ordination as Conservative rabbis . During her time, Hyman was one of the most prominent Jewish women’s activists and her work is still widely read and cited today in the field of Jewish Studies . Jewish Historian Hasia Diner credits Hyman as the originator of the study of Jewish women’s history.

She served as the president of the American Academy for Jewish Research from 2004 to 2008. She also was the first female dean of the Seminary College of Jewish Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary from 1981 to 1986. Hyman was a pioneer for gender equality in Jewish religious practice, helping push for women's ordination as Conservative rabbis . Jewish historian Hasia Diner credits Hyman as the originator of the study of Jewish women’s history.

American social historian Paula Hyman (September 30, 1946 – December 15, 2011) was an American social historian who served as the Lucy Moses Professor of Modern Jewish History at Yale University . She served as the president of the American Academy for Jewish Research from 2004 to 2008. She also was the first female dean of the Seminary College of Jewish Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary from 1981 to 1986. Hyman was a pioneer for gender equality in Jewish religious practice, helping push for women's ordination as Conservative rabbis . Jewish historian Hasia Diner credits Hyman as the originator of the study of Jewish women’s history.