Rachel Seelig
3rd year PhD Student in the Committee on Jewish Studies: Modern Jewish Thought and Literature, University of Chicago
BA - Stanford University (2003)
I am a second year student in the Ph.D. program of the Committee on Jewish Studies working with Paul Mendes-Flohr on modern Jewish thought and literature. I am interested in the intersection of theology and literature, particularly in the reconfiguration of the traditional messianic myth in twentieth century German and Hebrew fiction and poetry. Now in my last year of coursework, I take classes in the areas of literature, philosophy, Jewish intellectual history and literary theory. I have written on a range of topics, including the relationship between modern textual practice and oral tradition in Martin Buber's Hasidic tales and the role of poetic language in Franz Rosenzweig's The Star of Redemption. I have an abiding interest in early twentieth century German and Hebrew poetry, including the work of Else Lasker-Schüler, Paul Celan, David Fogel and Avraham Ben-Yitzhak.
A native of Vancouver, Canada, I graduated from Stanford University in 2003 with a B.A. in Comparative Literature, receiving honors for my thesis, "Recovering Tomorrow: S.Y. Agnon and the Legacy of Jewish Renewal," a study of Agnon's novel Only Yesterday in the context of Martin Buber's cultural Zionism. I was a co-founder of Bent Spoon, Stanford's first and only student-run modern dance company. Before moving to Chicago, I lived in New York, where I worked for Israel Policy Forum, a non-partisan organization that aims to bolster U.S. involvement in the Arab-Israeli peace process. Later, I served as Program Director for Lishmah 2004, New York's second annual day of adult Jewish learning, held at the Skirball Center at Temple Emanu-El.
I am a lover of languages and travel and have spent extensive time in Israel, where my father was born and where both my parents reside part-time, and in Berlin, Germany, the native city of my paternal grandparents. I studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem during the summer of 2005 and at the Goethe Institut of Berlin on a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) during the summer of 2006. An avid dancer and culture buff, Rachel has studied ballet for many years and tries to take advantage of Chicago's wonderful cultural offerings.