Pamela Nadell

Pamela S. Nadell (born 1951) is an American historian, researcher, and author focusing on Jewish history. Former President of the Association for Jewish Studies, she currently holds the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women's and Gender history at American University. Nadell has focused her research on Jewish women and their role within Jewish history as well as in shaping the history of the United States through their role in various social and political movements.

Early life and education Nadell was born to Alice and Irwin M. Nadell in 1951 and grew up in Livingston, New Jersey. After graduating from Livingston High School in 1969, where she majored in Hebraic studies and graduated with high honors. and was honored by Ohio State President, Harold Enarson, for her excellence as a teaching assistant.

Scholarship Nadell's scholarship focuses on American Jewish history, especially the history of American Jewish women.

In 1995, she was guest editor of an issue of American Jewish History devoted to research about women. She subsequently edited volumes including Women and American Judaism: Historical Perspectives (2001; with Jonathan D. Sarna), and American Jewish Women's History: A Reader, She highlights the roles women have played in changing historically set precedents. In doing so she has publicized the names of the first women to push against the established male-only rabbinates of the United States, tracing the origins of that debate in the late 19th century to an 1889 short story in the Jewish Exponent, "A Problem for Purim," by the journalist Mary M. Cohen, a member of the historic Philadelphia synagogue, Congregation Mikveh Israel.

In America's Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today, religion becomes only one of the commitments and activities of Jewish women. In this history, Nadell shows two threads binding the nation's Jewish women: a sense of self and a commitment to making the world a better place.

Informed by the shared values of America's founding and Jewish identity, Nadell highlights Jewish women's activism in the history of the nation they came to call home, from the 18th to the 20th century.

Role in public life Nadell has shared her knowledge of Jewish women in America with the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, including the stories of success highlighted in the "Only In America" gallery.

After being elected in 2014, Nadell served as president of the Association for Jewish Studies from 2015 to 2017. The amendment would increase obstacles to universities operating outside European Union (EU) countries with sister-schools inside the EU. In her letter, Nadell expressed concern that such obstacles would encumber scholarship coming out of the Budapest-based Central European University. The law would prohibit the issuing of visas to foreign nationals who have made "public calls for boycotting Israel." For Nadell, who herself identifies as a free-speech advocate, an attempt to suppress the speech of others would be seen as a deep concern. In her testimony, Nadell alleged that such a definition would only limit free speech, and stated that Jewish students "feel safe on campus" without restrictions.

On December 5, 2023, Nadell testified before the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce, along with the presidents of MIT and Harvard, at a hearing about antisemitism on university campuses.

Selected publications Books

— and Sarna, Jonathan.