Shelley S. Hebert, at The Blogs

Jan 25, 2024, 7:26 AM

Stanford Needs Holocaust Remembrance Day This Year

This year, January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a time when people around the world will come together in recognition that antisemitism allowed to metastasize in the 20th century resulted in the murder of millions. Among them, according...

Apr 12, 2023, 8:34 PM

Ketubbot Across Centuries, Continents and Cultures

As the spring wedding season approaches, a stunning new two-volume set published by the Jewish Theological Seminary Library reminds us that across centuries, continents and cultures, Jews have transformed a legal document for marriage into a cherished art form. “The...

Oct 17, 2022, 5:40 AM

Pain and Pride in Stanford’s Jewish News

I spent half of my professional career burnishing Stanford University’s reputation in the public arena, as well as nurturing and supporting its Jewish community as a volunteer leader. So it was with both pain and pride that I read...

Jan 10, 2022, 5:19 AM

Campus Anti-Semitism and US Law

As a child growing up in the Deep South during the upheavals of the 1960s, I saw firsthand how the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became a powerful force for advancing social justice. I never would have imagined, however,...

Nov 16, 2021, 10:23 AM

Putting Words into Action for Holocaust Education

At a time of great concern about whether and how anti-Semitism is taught in educational initiatives focused on diversity and inclusion, a daughter of Holocaust survivors is demonstrating that individuals can make a difference. As the world was shutting...

Aug 27, 2021, 12:32 AM

Hebrew Typography, Printing and the Digital Age

When you open your machzor this week on Rosh Hashanah, first take a moment to consider how the Hebrew letters on the page got there. For about 200 years, Jewish communities in America had to rely on European printers...

Apr 27, 2021, 12:14 AM

New Museum Tells a Uniquely Southern Jewish Story

This 'Crazy' quilt was stitched in Canton, Mississippi by the Jewish Ladies' Sewing Circle. Museum visitors will be able to create quilt squares representing their own identities and communities in an interactive, electronic exhibit. Image courtesy of the Museum of Southern Jewish Experience

When friends say they are heading to my hometown of New Orleans, I happily share a list of my favorite places to eat. Soon, however, I’ll also be encouraging them to visit the most exciting newcomer on the city’s...

Mar 4, 2021, 6:24 PM

Featured Post

Creating the artists’ haggadah

Artist Carol Neiger's "Wilderness" was inspired by a midrash that teaches, "a person does not attain the Torah until they have made themselves empty and ownerless like the wilderness." © Carol Neiger

When the COVID-19 shutdown made the 'narrow place' more reality than metaphor, weavers, sculptors, painters, and more came together with a new vision of the ancient text

Aug 26, 2020, 9:55 PM

“Lot in Life” offers theatrical Midrash

Imagine that you are a contestant on the game show Jeopardy! and heading toward the final round. The category is “Names of Biblical Women” and you decide to go all-in, confident this is your chance to be the big...

Jul 27, 2020, 10:37 PM

A Right to Truthful Remembrance

When my great-uncle was murdered in a brutal pogrom in the Russian town of Zhuravichi just hours after finishing Shabbat dinner with his family, there were no cell phone videos or text messages to instantly spread the horrific news...

About Me

Shelley has held numerous executive and board leadership roles in the San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley Jewish community. She led development of the Palo Alto Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life as Executive Director, was board president of Hillel at Stanford, and has served on the advisory boards of the Jewish Chaplaincy at Stanford Medical Center, the Taube Center for Jewish Studies, the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture, and the Jewish Theological Seminary Library. She is past-president of the Stanford Jewish Alumni Network and was appointed to Stanford's first Jewish Advisory Committee. Email: hebert.shelleys@gmail.com

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