Sharon Gubbay Helfer

Sharon Gubbay Helfer is a professional oral historian, independent researcher and certified workshop facilitator with the Compassionate Listening Project (CLP) and with Compassionate Integrity Training (CIT).  She is an Affiliate Professor with the Institute of Canadian Jewish Studies and a core member at the Center for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), both at Concordia. 

For Sharon, completing her doctorate in Jewish studies in 2006, was a “beautiful experience and life-changing pivotal point.” 

Upon graduation, Sharon was awarded a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship to carry out “An oral history of pioneers of interreligious and intercultural dialogue in Quebec” in association with Dr. Patrice Brodeur, Canada Research Chair in Islam, Globalization and Pluralism at the Université de Montréal. 

Her second postdoctoral project was as  Research Associate on the COHDS project “Life Stories of Montrealers Displaced by Wars, Genocides and Other Human Rights Violations.” 

After this Sharon carried out life-story interviews with seven Montreal rabbis as part of a SSHRC-funded project headed by Dr. Ira Robinson in partnership with Dr. Patrice Brodeur: “Rabbis and Imams in 21st century Montreal: their paths to the present, towards a shared future”.  

Sharon’s current project is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and focuses on Germaine Kanova, the woman who was mentor and teacher to Sharon’s mother, Aline Gubbay.