Ruth Calderon

Calderon was born in Tel Aviv in 1961 to a Sephardic father who emigrated to British controlled Mandatory Palestine from Bulgaria and an Ashkenazi mother originally from Germany. She grew up in what she describes as "a very Jewish, very Zionist, secular-traditional-religious home that combined Ashkenaz and Sepharad, Betar and Hashomer Hatzair," and attended public schools.[1]

She earned a BA at Oranim Academic College and the University of Haifa, and went on to earn her MA and Ph.D. degrees in Talmud from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1989, she established the first Israeli secular, pluralistic and egalitarian Beth Midrash for women and men.[2] In 1996 she founded ALMA, which seeks to acquaint secular Israelis with Hebrew culture. She hosted a TV show on Channel 2 that invited guests to discuss classic and modern Jewish texts.

In 2012 Calderon joined the new Yesh Atid party, and was placed thirteenth on the party's list for the 2013 elections.[3] She subsequently became a Knesset member after the party won 19 seats.[4] Her initial speech on the floor of the Knesset included personal anecdotes and talmudic quotations in a plea for mutual understanding and respect, and became a YouTube sensation.[5] She was placed fifteenth on the party's list for the 2015 elections,[6] and lost her seat as Yesh Atid were reduced to eleven seats.

MK Yair Lapid nominated Calderon to be the president of the WZO in November 2020, making her the first woman president or chair of a major Zionist organization.[7]

Calderon has been recognized for her scholastic achievements and civic leadership. Awards have included: the Avi Chai Prize for Jewish Education, the Samuel Rothberg Prize for Jewish Education, and honorary degrees from Brandeis, JTS, Hebrew College in Boston, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.[7]

Calderon has three children.[5]

• Ruth Calderon on the Knesset website
• maiden speech in Knesset