Memoir of East Lansing Professor Finalist for Jewish Literature Prize

Michigan State University (MSU) Assistant Professor Ilana Blumberg is one of five finalists nominated for the 2008 Sami Rohr Prize in Jewish literature. Blumberg will know if her first published book will take the prize by the end of February.

According to excerpts from the article:

Blumberg’s memoir “Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman among Books” follows her life as a young woman in the Orthodox Jewish community. She said it was challenging to find a happy medium between her religious life and her life as an American woman.

“(The book is) about trying to put together a traditional Jewish upbringing with values of the secular American world,” she said. “I describe getting a double education in Jewish schools … and the more typical American curriculum.”

As an Orthodox Jewish woman, Blumberg said she didn’t have a difficult time figuring out what career to pursue because of her aspirations to lead an intellectual life.

“Part of the reason I found my profession in American academia is because there were not a lot of options in the traditional Jewish world,” she said. “If you grow up male and traditionally Jewish, you’re likely to become a rabbi. In the Orthodox Jewish world, there isn’t a parallel position for women. A teacher is the closest thing.”

Blumberg has two young children. She said she plans to give them the happy medium she struggled to achieve.

“As a mother, I want to educate them and give them a traditional Jewish lifestyle, but at the same time realize their potential,” she said.

Blumberg said her book also focuses on how Orthodox Judaism has changed since she was educated.

Read the entire article here.