Gila Ramras-Rauch, internationally distinguished scholar of Hebrew, Israeli and Holocaust literature and leading authority on the writings of Aharon Appelfeld, died on February 16, 2005, in her home in Brookline, Mass. She was 71.
The Lewis H. and Selma Weinstein Professor of Jewish Literature at Hebrew College, Boston, where she taught for 23 years, Ramras-Rauch believed that Jewish literature is a window on the human condition and the creative mind at work. "Hebrew is my language," she once told an interviewer. "I'm fascinated by the fact that people can create works of art from words we all use."
"She was a spellbinding personality who was both an impeccable, world-renowned scholar and brilliant teacher," said David M. Gordis, president of Hebrew College. "She had the ability to connect with a wide range of students of all ages, without a touch of arrogance or condescension. At the same time, she did not suffer fools gladly."
In the midst of writing a book about the work of Holocaust survivor Ida Fink at the time of her death, Ramras-Rauch was perhaps best known for her definitive analysis of the writings of another survivor, who, like Fink, writes modernistic parables—Aharon Appelfeld, winner of the 1983 Israel Prize for Literature.
"Miraculously, through the verbal path paved by one individual, we connect with past reality through fiction," wrote Ramras-Rauch, in the preface of
Aharon Appelfeld: The Holocaust and Beyond (Indiana University Press, 1994). By poetic coincidence, such paths converged in Ramras-Rauch's first encounter with Appelfeld. They met at Ohio State University, where she was teaching in the early 1980s, and he had come to give a lecture. While walking together across campus, they talked about Bukovinia, Appelfeld's homeland, and she mentioned that her mother was born in Czernowitz.
"Actually," she recalled telling him, "'it's not Czernowitz exactly, it was a very small village.' Sweetly—he's a very sweet person—he asked, 'Yes, what's the name of it?' So I said 'Jadova,' and he stopped and said 'I was born in Jadova.'" These shared roots add a layer of depth to Ramras-Rauch's meticulously crafted
Aharon Appelfeld, which was the first book to appear in English on Appelfeld's work and marks a decade in print this year.
Trying to understand the human struggle against tremendous odds is what led Ramras-Rauch to her study of Holocaust literature. Author of six books, she emphasized the power of metaphor to convey what descriptions of horror and suffering cannot fully express. Focusing on writers like Appelfeld and Fink, she taught her students to uncover literary metaphors, such as smoke, that can evoke both the personal and universal pain of the Holocaust by connecting at a deep emotional level with the reader.
"By deconstructing and reconstructing texts," she said, "my role is to give students the tools so they can understand and analyze text and literature on their own. I hope after my courses that they will read differently, as independent thinkers."
In addition to her scholarship on Appelfeld, she was the author of
The Arab in Israeli Literature (Indiana University Press, 1989), which she wrote under the sponsorship of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and
The Protagonist in Transition: Studies in Modern Fiction (Peter Lang Publishers, Inc., 1982), as well as co-editor of an anthology on contemporary Israeli writing about the Holocaust,
Facing the Holocaust: Selected Israeli Fiction (Jewish Publication Society, 1985). Her Hebrew publications included a book on the Israeli novelist L.A. Arieli and a study of the early 20th century novelist J.C. Brenner.
Born in Tel-Aviv, Israel, in 1933, Ramras-Rauch received her MA from Hunter College, City University of New York, and her PhD from Bar-Ilan University in Israel. During her career, she taught at Bar-Ilan University, Indiana University, the University of Texas, Ohio State University and Brandeis University.
Wife of the late Leo Rauch, who died in 1997, she leaves her sons, Michael Rauch and Daniel Rauch, both of California; her sister, Rachel, and brother, Dov, both of Israel.
The Dr. Gila Ramras-Rauch Memorial Lecture Series
In memory of Dr. Gila Ramras-Rauch, beloved teacher and scholar, Hebrew College is establishing The Dr. Gila Ramras-Rauch Memorial Lecture Series and creating a fund to support the program.
The lecture series will celebrate the achievements of Dr. Ramras-Rauch, an internationally distinguished scholar of Hebrew, biblical, Holocaust and modern Israeli literature, and leading authority on the writings of Aharon Appelfeld. Dr. Ramras-Rauch was the Lewis H. and Selma Weinstein Professor of Jewish Literature at Hebrew College, where she taught for 23 years. Before making her professional home at the College, she taught at Bar-Ilan University, Indiana University, the University of Texas, Ohio State University and Brandeis University.
Each year, The Dr. Gila Ramras-Rauch Memorial Lecture Series will present to the community a literary figure connected with Israeli or Jewish literature. The fund will support the cost of bringing a lecturer to the community and enabling him or her to spend a week at Hebrew College and in Greater Boston each year. The projected program for the visiting lecturer will include the following:
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A lecture to be held at Hebrew College in Hebrew |
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A lecture to be held at Hebrew College in English |
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A symposium with the faculty of Hebrew College |
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Guest teaching opportunities in Hebrew College courses as well as adult education classes |
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Participation in other communal activities, including those involving the Israeli Consulate |
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Possible guest lectures at local Jewish day schools |
In paying tribute to one of Hebrew College's most cherished professors, the lecture series also underscores Dr. Ramras-Rauch's personal commitment to introducing noted Israeli intellectuals and writers to the Boston Jewish and academic communities. During her tenure at Hebrew College, Dr. Ramras-Rauch was personally involved with bringing Israeli authors to Boston and arranging their speaking appearances throughout the city.
We invite you to contribute to the establishment of The Dr. Gila Ramras-Rauch Memorial Lecture Series Fund. For further information, please contact David Chivo at 617-559-8727 or dchivo@hebrewcollege.edu.
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Press Contact:
Elizabeth Rahaim
617-559-8734
erahaim@hebrewcollege.edu
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