Sarah Bunin Benor

American linguist
  • Columbia University (BA)
  • Stanford University (PhD)
Academic workDisciplineJewish studiesInstitutions

Sarah Bunin Benor is an American linguist and scholar of Jewish languages. She is a professor of contemporary Jewish studies and linguistics and vice provost of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion.[1]

Biography

Benor graduated from Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in North Bethesda, Maryland.[2] She received her B.A. from Columbia University in comparative literature in 1997 and Ph.D. from Stanford University in linguistics in 2004.[1][3] While working at the Columbia University Libraries as a college student, she stumbled across references to rare languages such as Judeo-Italian and Judaeo-Spanish, which led to her interest in studying linguistics, especially Jewish languages.[4] Her research has focused on Jewish languages, Yiddish, and American Jews.[1] She directs the Jewish Language Project at Hebrew Union College, which runs the Jewish Language Website and the Jewish English Lexicon.[5][6]

Benor is author of Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism (2012), which won the 2013 Sami Rohr Choice Award for Jewish Literature.[7] In 2021, she received a National Jewish Book Award in Education and Jewish Identity for her book Hebrew Infusion (2020), a book on language infusion at Jewish summer camps co-authored with Jonathan Krasner and Sharon Avni.[8][9][10]

Benor is an Ashkenazi Jew.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Sarah Bunin Benor, Ph.D." huc.edu. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  2. ^ "Alumni Spotlight Profile - Charles E Smith Jewish Day School". www.cesjds.org. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  3. ^ "Bookshelf | Columbia College Today". www.college.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  4. ^ "Sarah Bunin Benor". The Forward. 2013-11-11. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  5. ^ "A New Crowd-Sourced Jewish English Lexicon Believes in Google". Tablet Magazine. 2013-01-10. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  6. ^ "The Best Virtual Seder Tips". Jewish Journal. 2020-03-27. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  7. ^ Firestone-Teeter, Naomi (2013-10-09). "Meet Sami Rohr Prize Finalist Sarah Bunin Benor". www.jewishbookcouncil.org. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  8. ^ "HUC Faculty Receive 2020 National Jewish Book Awards by Jewish Book Council". huc.edu. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  9. ^ "Hebrew Infusion | Jewish Book Council". www.jewishbookcouncil.org. 2020. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  10. ^ "Hebrew Infusion Wins National Jewish Book Award – Hebrew at the Center". Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  11. ^ "We're running out of time to preserve endangered Jewish languages. Here's how we can stop them from being lost forever". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2021-02-08. Retrieved 2022-06-19.