Tziporah Heller

Tziporah Heller Gottlieb is an American-born Haredi educator, author, and speaker based in Jerusalem. She is a senior faculty member at the Neve Yerushalayim College for Women, principal of the Bnos Avigail seminary on the Neve campus, and a lecturer for the online Jewish college, Naaleh.com. She specializes in textual analysis of Biblical literature and Jewish philosophy, and exploration of the role of women in Judaism. The author of eight books, she is also a weekly columnist for the Hamodia newspaper.

Early life and education Born Tziporah Krasner in Brooklyn, New York, she studied at the Bais Yaakov elementary school. From 1966 to 1967, she attended the Rav Wolf Seminary in Bnei Brak.

Career Following her marriage in 1967, she and her husband, Avraham Dovid Heller, resided for two years in the Galilee community of Segev, in an effort to establish a kollel there. She is noted for her ability to bring "lofty concepts" down to a practical level, embellished with true-life stories and a sense of humor. Her views on the role of women in Judaism are frequently cited.

She is also a lecturer for the online Jewish college Naaleh.com, and a weekly columnist for the Hamodia newspaper. Her 2000 book, This Way Up: Torah essays on spiritual growth, was culled from her columns in that newspaper in the 1990s. She conducts international speaking tours twice yearly.

Personal In 1967, she married Avraham Dovid Heller (1944–2013), and the two made aliyah to Israel. The couple had 14 children, and hosted many guests for Shabbat and Jewish holidays.

Heller's son-in-law, Shmuel Goldstein, was seriously injured in the 2014 Jerusalem synagogue attack. Following the attack, Heller widely disseminated a letter that she had written to her family and friends describing the event, and also spoke to the media.