Dr. Sonia Sarah Lipsyc is the Director of the ALEPH Institute of Contemporary Jewish Studies at the CSUQ since its inception in 2009. This centre is primarily centred on an adult audience. It offers classes, conferences and colloquium in French focussing on central Jewish texts (the Torah, Talmud, and Kabbalah) and on issues found within contemporary Judaism. A Doctor in Sociology, Sonia Sarah Lipsyc has worked for years on themes focussing on gender within Judaism, the Jewish woman, and the analysis of Jewish Law (halakha) on questions focussing on Jewish law. She edited the book entitled Femmes et Judaismes aujourd’hui (2008) in which she authored an essay entitled “L’accès des femmes au Talmud: le point de vue traditionnel en question” and co-authored with Janine Elkouby, Quand les femmes lisent la Bible, Pardes, n.43, In. Press, 2007.
Her area of research focuses on the interactions of secular and religious Jews living together in Israel and in the Diaspora. She has focussed exclusively on this issue in Québec with reference to the Sociology of Contemporary Judaism and in Jewish Law. In response to this, she has created the site: Judaismes et Questions de société to serve as a resource in developing these important subjects of (conversion, religious pluralism, questions focussing on gender, etc.). For a complete list of Dr. Lipsyc’s publications, visit her website: soniasarahlipsyc.com.
Recent English publications:
- “The changing religious life of Montreal’s Sephardic community,” LVS, Montreal,June 2011, p. 34-36 (traduction Sharon Gubbay Helfer).
- “Is Feminism Compatible with Judaism?” Article originally published for International Women’s Day, March 8, in “Paroles de femmes,” Cahiers Bernard Lazare, March 2012 edition #336, (translation Sophie Pascal).
A playwright, she also specializes of Jewish theatre. She has authored an iconoclastic piece entitled Salomon Mikhoëls ou le testament d’un acteur juif, Ed du Cerf, Paris, 2002 that contains both a theatre production and two essays focussing on the history of Jewish theatre. She is also the author of multiple theatre productions such as Eve des limbes revenue ou l’interview exclusive de la première femme ou presque de l’humanité performed on the air in 2011 in France on its national radio program France Culture and produced on stage in 2012 at Brandeis University in Boston, MA. She produced the theatre production Sauver un être, sauver un monde based on the critically acclaimed novel Hitler et la fillette, Flammarion Québec, 2010 by the young Quebecoise author, Catherine Shvetz, which was played throughout many secondary schools in the Montreal area in 2012.
In 2011, Dr. Sonia Sarah Lipsyc was awarded the Award of Excellence in Jewish Education from the Samuel and Brenda Gewurtz Foundation from BJEC (Bronfman Jewish Education Centre).
