Bonna Devora Haberman
Dr. Bonna Devora Haberman is a theologian, educator, social critic and entrepreneur living in Jerusalem. She combines academic rigor with innovation to pursue the refinement of human society in many dimensions.
Bonna Devora Haberman earned her doctorate in Ethics and Education at the University of London. Having grown up in Canada, studied in the USA, Israel, and England, her work in and out of the academy fuses critical interpretation of texts and culture with passion for social betterment. She has published widely and taught at the Hebrew University, at the Harvard University Divinity School and at Brandeis University where she founded and directed the “Mistabra Institute for Jewish Textual Activism” – addressing difficult texts and social problems using performance arts. With Mistabra, she created and performed two full-length theater pieces, Inner Fire—about Jewish peoplehood, Israel, and territory, and Unmasking Esther. She studied with Augusto Boal, the Brazilian founder of Theater of the Oppressed.
In Jerusalem, Bonna initiated a 23-year strong Israeli movement for religious pluralism and women’s public participation and leadership, “Women of the Wall”. She is currently co-directing a community theater project, YTheater together with a Palestinian partner.
Dr. Haberman’s two books explore Israel and Judaism from intriguing new perspectives that relate to large questions about human life and meaning:
Israeli Feminism Liberating Judaism: Blood and Ink (Maryland: Lexington Books, Rowman Littlefield), a Jewish feminist liberation theology; and ReReading Israel: The Spirit of the Matter (Jerusalem: Urim), opens Jewish sources to interpret Israel in critical, innovative, and inspiring way.
Bonna, her spouse, Shmuel Browns and five children live in Israel.
website: bonnadevorahaberman.wordpress.com