Rabbi Dr.Tamara Cohn Eskenazi is the Effie Weiss Ochs Professor of Biblical Literature and History at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. She is the first woman appointed as professor to the rabbinical faculty in HUC-JIR’s long history. Earlier she served on the faculty of the University of Denver, as well as directed the Institute of Interfaith Studies, and co-founded Denver's Jewish Women’s Resource Center.

 

Rabbi Dr. Eskenazi is the Editor of The Torah: A Women’s Commentary (URJ Press, 2008, with Andrea L. Weiss, Associate Editor), the winner of the 2008 Jewish Book of the Year Award given by the National Jewish Book Council. This unique and 1,400 page commentary purposes itself to bring the voices and visions of women to the interpretation of the Torah in the 21st century. She also authored The JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth (with T. Frymer-Kensky), which won the Women Studies Award by the National Jewish Book Council (2012).

 

Rabbi Dr. Eskenazi has served on the Executive Committee of the Society of Biblical Literature and has been President of the Pacific Coast Region chapter of the Society of Biblical Literature. She has also chaired several committees in the Society of Biblical Literature, and has delivered papers in numerous national and international scholarly conferences, including meetings in Jerusalem, Sheffield, Heidelberg, Vienna, Copenhagen, and Rome. In addition, she has taught widely in synagogues and churches. She is the proud mother of five children and grandmother of five.