Professor Ada Rapoport-Albert of Blessed Memory

The academic Jewish community has lost one of its brightest lights this week. Professor Ada Rapoport-Albert has passed away. Ada was a former Quest lecturer at New London and, in some ways a colleague, and in some ways a student of our founder Rabbi, Louis Jacobs.

They shared a love of Hasidism, and Louis was an invited contributor to a major collection of articles Ada edited, Hasidism Reappraised. Louis’ contribution, was typical of his scholarship; a gracious presentation of a range of connected sources all set in context. Ada’s own contribution to the volume is a masterpiece; dismantling virtually every previous attempt at explaining the early history of the movement. The story of Hasidism I was taught involved a radical transformation from an individual to a movement at a specific point in time. It turns out that that wasn’t the case. Thank you Ada.

At her Quest lecture at New London, Ada presented brilliantly on women in Sabbateanism and Hasidism. Her contributions on women in the Jewish mystical tradition is unparalleled in world scholarship. She arrived, reminding me, as she always did, of Morticia Addams (flowing hair, gothic costume, black-painted lips and nails), and proceeded to unfold a mesmerising web of insight. Aside from anything else she had the most magnificent command of the English language.

She started, as our Quest lecturers were wont to do, by paying homage to our founding Rabbi. Ada studied Talmud with Louis. She was a historian, not a religious leader, but you could feel the warmth with which she referred to our Louis.

I last met Ada at a conference hosted by the Friends of Louis Jacobs earlier this year. She took the stage, drew from the deep well of knowledge at her disposal and gracefully paid tribute to Louis. She concluded to warm applause and came to sit at the back of the room for the following contribution; next to me. The next lecturer, also a professional academic, had sent in their contribution by video. They weren’t in the room to see Ada’s presentation, which was a shame – it would have saved them from making a major error. The second academic specialised in modern Jewish thought but chose to share insights not from their own area of specialisation, but from Ada’s, and they messed up, in a room full of people who had just heard the leading scholar of the field. There was a sharp intake of breath and some stifled giggles. I turned to look at Ada. She looked at me, raised one eyebrow and returned her gaze to the front of the room.

Professor Rapoport-Albert was a magnificent scholar who combined total command of a sprawling and complex field with the capacity to deconstruct and reconstruct sweeping theses. She was classy, stylish and warm-hearted. And she will absolutely confound the male founders of the Hasidic movement she understood so well when she gets a chance to sit with them in the World to Come.

You can watch Ada sharing some insights into the founder of modern Hasidism, the Baal Shem Tov, here. (She's being interviewed by my colleague Rabbi Marc Soloway)

May her memory be for a blessing,