Faculty Profile: Ruth Sandberg, Leonard and Ethel Landau Associate Professor of Rabbinics at Gratz College By Paula Jacobs Dr. Ruth Sandberg , Leonard and Ethel Landau Associate Professor of Rabbinics at Gratz College, has a unique ability to make serious text study accessible to students from different backgrounds across the globe. Her students appreciate her candor, the depth of knowledge she has of the rabbinic period in Jewish history, and openness to discuss any issue at any time with any student who has a question. She is known to be late for meetings if a student shows up at her office and wants to talk. An ordained rabbi and Ph.D., she loves to engage her students at Gratz College in heated discussions about morality and what the ancient rabbis had to say about human existence. Dr. Sandberg transmits this passion to her students at the Gratz College campus in Philadelphia as well as at Gratz Online, the school’s virtual campus. “Through her classes I have discovered a real love of midrash and a connection with the teaching of the ancient rabbis,” says one M.A. in Jewish Studies candidate at Gratz Online. Students enter her class expecting to learn about “the” rabbinic interpretation of Genesis and creation. Instead, they come to understand the true nature of rabbinic midrash -- that there is no such thing as “one” authentic meaning to the Biblical text, but, in fact, there are many different interpretations that have been considered and debated by the ancient rabbis and contemporary scholars. “They [students] soon are quite surprised and delighted to learn that the rabbis are quite open to a variety of interpretations,” she says. “This allows modern Jews to harmonize both the scientific and the Jewish understandings of creation, without having to see them as antithetical to each other.” Dr. Sandberg has a time-tested methodology for teaching rabbinics: First, she helps students understand the historical period of the ancient rabbis and gain a basic familiarity with classical rabbinic literature. Then, she teaches how to analyze texts, by reviewing a biblical passage and examining how the rabbis understand the biblical text. Next, the class discusses what issues were important to the rabbis and how the rabbis use their understanding of the biblical text to make a statement about their world and own lives. Finally, the class examines the biblical passage and talks about issues applicable today to the biblical text. “By this process, the students come to understand that the rabbis did much more than simply explain the biblical text; they interpreted it so that it had relevance and meaning to Jews in their own day,” she says, Dr. Sandberg is appreciated for her patience and dedication to her students. She credits her role model and mentor, Judah Goldin, z”l, her professor and dissertation advisor at the University of Pennsylvania where she received her Ph.D. “Dr. Goldin epitomized for me the Rabbinic model of the teacher - patient, humble, loving, and devoted to his students.” Dr. Sandberg has a special gift for teaching. As one Gratz Online student puts it, “She is respectful of her students and encourages us even when we may have an interpretation that is new to her (that happened to me last semester!). She is a gifted and talented teacher and any student would be fortunate to learn from her.” Dr. Sandberg feels the same way about her students -- and especially about teaching online. She taught the first online course offered by Gratz College in Fall, 2000 and has been hooked ever since. “There is something special about teaching people from all over the world, who would have no other way to receive a Jewish education if not for online learning. It is a great mitzvah to be able to participate in Jewish learning without any borders!” She also finds that the online relationship between teacher and student can come closer to the traditional Rav/student relationship of the ancient Rabbis than in an on-campus course. “I also have found my online students to be much more intense and engaged in the online format, because our discussions do not have to end at any set time.” Though you may find this surprising, Dr. Ruth Sandberg is an avid science fiction fan. She claims to be almost as passionate about Star Trek reruns as she is about rabbinical thought. She loves to discuss the moral and ethical implications behind each episode with her husband, also a science fiction aficionado. When not teaching or performing academic responsibilities, Dr. Sandberg cherishes family time with her husband, Jack and daughter, Yonah, a first-year college student. She also enjoys taking walks with Ellen, a retired racing greyhound, whom the family adopted six years ago as part of her daughter's Bat Mitzvah project. Currently, Dr. Sandberg is researching the interrelationship between ancient Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity. She plans to write a book which compares and contrasts beliefs and concepts in the two traditions by placing and interpreting their foundational texts side by side. Close this article