Tziporah Heller

Tziporah Heller is an American-born Jewish studies educator, author, and speaker based in Jerusalem, Israel. 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.

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.

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 kolel there. After their return to Jerusalem, her husband became a lecturer at Ohr Somayach and, later, the administrator of Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok, located near their home in Har Nof. In 1980 she became a faculty member of Neve Yerushalayim College of Jewish Studies for Women in the same neighborhood. In 2015 she became principal of the Bnos Avigail seminary on the Neve campus.

Heller specializes in textual analysis of biblical literature and Jewish philosophy, with a focus on the commentaries of Rambam and Maharal. She also lectures on women in Judaism and "the lives of women in the Bible and Prophets". 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. She has thousands of students around the globe, and her approbation is valued in the Jewish publishing world. In 2011 she was nominated for the Jewish Community Heroes award presented by the Jewish Federations of North America.

In 1967, she married Avraham Dovid Heller (1944–2013) and the two made aliyah to Israel. They raised a large family 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.