Page 6 - HaMizrachi02-04( #12)2019RoshHaShanaYomKippurUSA

DR. LEILA BRONNER ל"ז
bible scholar and historian
This article appeared previously in the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. It was written by Julie Gruenbaum
Fax, a writer in Los Angeles, who co-authored Bronner’s 2017 memoirs, “The Eternal Students.” This
edition of HaMizrachi and page are dedicated in Dr. Leila Leah Bronner’s memory by her family.
abbi Joseph Bronner and Dr.
Leila Bronner were leaders
Rin both the Johannesburg
and Los Angeles Jewish commu-
nities. She was president of Miz-
rachi Women in South Africa. In
Los Angeles, Dr. Leila Bronner was
president of Emunah Women and
helped establish its Achuzat Sarah
Children’s Home. She was also
active in AMIT Women.
Leila Leah Bronner, a Jewish history
and Bible scholar, died in Los Ange- Studies at Witwatersrand Univer-
les on July 2. She was 89.
Bronner was a community leader
and Orthodox feminist and the first
woman to receive a doctorate in
Bible and Jewish Studies in South
Africa. The author of eight books,
Bronner contributed hundreds of
articles to scholarly and popular
publications. She was an assistant
professor at the University of Juda-
ism (now American Jewish Uni-
versity) in Los Angeles, a visiting
professor at Harvard University,
Bar Ilan University in Israel and
USC, and a frequent presenter at
academic conferences around the
world. A resident of Hancock Park
for the past 35 years, Bronner also
taught a women’s Shabbat afternoon
class in her home.
Born Leila Amsel in Czechoslova-
kia in 1930, she was the youngest of
seven children. In 1936, her father,
Rabbi Yitzhak Amsel, a respected
Hungarian Chassidic leader and
scholar, perceived the growing
threat of anti-Semitism and pro-
cured visas for his family. With aid
from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid
Society, the family settled on the
Lower East Side of New York in
1937, before moving to Williams-
burg, Brooklyn.
At 10, Leila convinced her father
that, like her brothers, she
should receive a Jewish educa-
tion. She attended Bais Yaakov in
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Williamsburg, and in 1948 delivered
the school’s valedictory address
in modern Hebrew. She attended
teacher’s seminary and took classes
at Hunter College, and in 1949 mar-
ried Rabbi Joseph Bronner, who had
escaped Berlin with his family in
1941. They moved with their new-
born daughter to Johannesburg in
1951.
Bronner had two more children
while earning her bachelor’s in Bible
sity in 1955 and a Masters in Jewish
History in 1960. When she was told
that women were not welcome in
the doctoral program at Witwa-
tersrand, she transferred to Preto-
ria University, where in 1964 she
earned her doctorate in Northwest taken over in Johannesburg. In 1984,
Semitic Languages. She became a they moved to Los Angeles, where
professor of Bible and Jewish Stud-
ies at Witwatersrand University. Bronner taught at the University of
Judaism and several other venues.
The Bronners were founders of She became president of Emunah
Yeshiva College, the first and still Women and was involved in Amit
largest Orthodox day school in Women, Builders of Jewish Educa-
South Africa. By 1974, Bronner had tion and Jewish Federation.
published four books and was a In 1994, Bronner published her
celebrity in the South African Jewish most successful book, “From Eve
community, and regularly filled to Esther,” one of the first books to
auditoriums and synagogues for
standing-room-only lectures. analyze midrashic and rabbinic atti-
tudes toward Biblical women. She
She became a pioneering Jewish was an early member of the Jewish
feminist, writing in a South African Orthodox Feminist Alliance, and
newspaper in 1974: “Let us have wrote often about women’s issues.
less sermons, speeches and articles Her book “Stories of Biblical Moth-
teeming with apologetics trying to ers” was published in 2004.
prove that Judaism places woman
on a pedestal, and more concrete Bronner never retired, publishing
actions showing that she has equal a book on the afterlife, “Journey to
opportunity with her male counter- Heaven,” in 2011, and her personal
part to develop her talents and make memoirs, “The Eternal Students,” in
a meaningful contribution to every 2017. She continued teaching until
sphere of Jewish life.” just a few months before her death.
In 1984, Yeshiva College rededi- Bronner is survived by her husband,
cated the Leila Bronner Girl’s High Joseph; her children Temi (Bernard)
School. Monderer, Esther (Walter) Feinblum
and Moshe (Amira); nine grandchil-
The Bronners opposed apartheid, dren and many great-grandchildren;
but feared the violence that had and her brother, Avraham.