Richard Seidman

Naomi Seidman is a distinguished academic with a career focused on Jewish culture, literature, gender studies, and translation. She holds the position of Chancellor Jackman Professor in the Arts at the University of Toronto, having previously served as the Koret Professor of Jewish Culture and Director of the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union. Her academic achievements include a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2016 and a National Jewish Book Award in 2019.

Seidman's background is rooted in an Orthodox, Yiddish-speaking rabbinic family. Her father, Dr. Hillel Seidman, was a writer, and her parents met in a displaced persons camp after World War II. Raised in Brooklyn and educated in Bais Yaakov schools, she departed from Orthodoxy at age 18. She pursued higher education, earning degrees from Brooklyn College, UC Davis, and UC Berkeley, where she completed her Ph.D. in 1993.

Her scholarly work explores the intersections of Judaism, literature, gender, translation, and sexuality. She has made significant contributions to the study of Yiddish literature, the Haskalah period, and the Bais Yaakov movement, particularly the life of Sarah Schenirer. Seidman also hosted a podcast discussing the experience of leaving Orthodox Judaism and published a recent work on psychoanalysis in Hebrew and Yiddish.

Naomi Seidman is a prominent academic figure in the field of Jewish studies. She currently serves as the Chancellor Jackman Professor in the Arts at the University of Toronto. Prior to this, she held the position of Koret Professor of Jewish Culture and directed the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Her scholarly contributions have been recognized with prestigious awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2016 and a National Jewish Book Award in 2019.

Seidman's upbringing was within an Orthodox, Yiddish-speaking rabbinic family. Her father, Dr. Hillel Seidman, was a writer, and her parents met in a post-war displaced persons camp. She received her early education in Bais Yaakov schools in Brooklyn. At the age of 18, she left the Orthodox community. Her academic journey includes a B.A. from Brooklyn College (1981), an M.A. from UC Davis (1984), and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (1993).

The research and writings of Naomi Seidman center on the complex relationships between Judaism, literature, gender studies, translation, and sexuality. She is particularly noted for her extensive work on Yiddish literature, the intellectual movement known as the Haskalah, and the study of translation. Furthermore, she is recognized as a leading scholar of the Bais Yaakov movement and the life and work of its founder, Sarah Schenirer. In 2022, she explored the theme of leaving Orthodox Judaism in a podcast series, and her 2024 publication, 'Translating the Jewish Freud,' delves into psychoanalysis within Hebrew and Yiddish contexts.