In Memoriam: Tikva Simone Frymer-Kensky, 1943-2006

Abstract

My teacher, colleague and friend, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, died on Thursday, August 31, 2006/7 Elul 5766, at age 62, after battling misdiagnosed breast cancer for four years. At the time, she was Professor of Hebrew Bible and the History of Judaism in the University of Chicago’s Divinity School. Tikva was a tireless Bible scholar whose meticulous work was exemplary for combining the disciplines of historical critical methods, literary analysis and feminist approaches to reading the biblical text in its ancient Near Eastern cultural context. Her passion was exploring the history and present reality of women and religion. The bare bones of her academic achievements are impressive. Tikva trained at Yale, earning a doctorate in Assyriology and Sumerology in 1977, ten years after she received an M.A. in West Semitics from the same institution. She was the author of five books and an unpublished dissertation, co-editor of two other books (see the bibliography at the end of this essay), contributor of 37 book chapters and 32 articles as well as another two dozen or so encyclopedia, dictionary and commentary entries. At her death, she had a commentary on the book of Ruth almost finished, as well as the beginnings of a theological analysis of Genesis 1–11, both of which will see the light of day in some form. Tikva did all this at a time when women were not routinely considered for serious academic appointments. She often commented that for women scholars a non-traditional career path was essential, since there was no traditional academic career path for them. At the same time, Tikva was the wife for 32 years of a rabbi and scholar in his own right, Dr. Allan Kensky, and the mother of two children who are now in Ph.D. programs themselves. At her funeral, Allan, now spiritual leader of Beth Hillel Congregation in Wilmette, IL, said of her early years in the academy: