{{short description|Israeli academic and politician|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Ruth Calderon.jpg | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1961|9|25|df=y}} | birth_place = Tel Aviv, Israel | death_date = | death_place = | office1 = Faction represented in the Knesset | suboffice1 = Yesh Atid | subterm1 = 2013–2015 }}
'''Ruth Calderon''' ({{langx|he|רות קלדרון}}; born 25 September 1961) is an Israeli academic and politician. She served as a member of Knesset for Yesh Atid between 2013 and 2015.
==Biography== Ruth Calderon was born in Tel Aviv to a Sephardic father who emigrated to British controlled Mandatory Palestine from Bulgaria and an Ashkenazi mother originally from Germany. She grew up in what she describes as "a very Jewish, very Zionist, secular-traditional-religious home that combined Ashkenaz and Sepharad, Betar and Hashomer Hatzair," and attended public schools.<ref name="Inaugspeech">{{cite web| url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial-opinion/opinion/heritage-all-israel| author=Ruth Calderon|title= The Heritage Of All Israel| work= The Jewish Week| date= 14 February 2013| language= |accessdate=14 February 2013}}</ref>
She earned a BA at Oranim Academic College and the University of Haifa, and went on to earn her MA and Ph.D. degrees in Talmud from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1989, she established the first Israeli secular, pluralistic and egalitarian Beth Midrash for women and men.<ref>{{cite web|title=Founder and chairperson, Ruth Calderon, PhD|url=https://alma.org.il/content.asp?lang=en&pageid=330|accessdate=19 February 2013|website=ALMA | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130306014949/https://alma.org.il/content.asp?lang=en&pageid=330 | archive-date=6 March 2013 }}</ref> In 1996 she founded ALMA, which seeks to acquaint secular Israelis with Hebrew culture. She hosted a TV show on Channel 2 that invited guests to discuss classic and modern Jewish texts.
Calderon has three children.<ref name=JP/> ==Political career== In 2012 Calderon joined the new Yesh Atid party, and was placed thirteenth on the party's list for the 2013 elections.<ref>[http://www.bechirot.gov.il/elections19/heb/list/List.aspx?ListId=102 Yesh Atid] Knesset website</ref> She subsequently became a Knesset member after the party won 19 seats.<ref name=Sales>{{cite news|last1=Sales|first1=Ben|title=The New Faces Of The 19th Knesset|url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/israel-news/new-faces-19th-knesset|accessdate=30 November 2014|website=The Jewish Week|date=29 January 2013}}</ref> Her initial speech on the floor of the Knesset included personal anecdotes and talmudic quotations in a plea for mutual understanding and respect, and became a YouTube sensation.<ref name=JP>[https://www.jpost.com/Features/In-Thespotlight/Meet-the-MK-Ruth-Calderon Meet the MK: Ruth Calderon] The Jerusalem Post, 21 February 2013</ref> She was placed fifteenth on the party's list for the 2015 elections,<ref>[http://www.bechirot20.gov.il/election/Candidates/Pages/OneListCandidates.aspx?LPF=Search&WebId=6adadc15-e476-480b-9746-04490aedeb0f&ListID=ba72a662-765c-45af-9d48-fb68080956af&ItemID=43&FieldID=ListNickname_GxS_Text Yesh Atid list] Central Elections Committee</ref> and lost her seat as Yesh Atid were reduced to eleven seats.
MK Yair Lapid nominated Calderon to be the president of the WZO in November 2020, making her the first woman president or chair of a major Zionist organization.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Ruth Calderon to be WZO president|url=https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/ruth-calderon-to-be-wzo-president-647411|access-date=2020-11-02|website=The Jerusalem Post|date=29 October 2020 |language=en-US |issn=0792-822X}}</ref> ==Awards and recognition== Calderon has been recognized for her scholastic achievements and civic leadership. Awards have included: the Avi Chai Prize for Jewish Education, the Samuel Rothberg Prize for Jewish Education, and honorary degrees from Brandeis, JTS, Hebrew College in Boston, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.<ref name=":0" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{MKlink|id=892}} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8nNpTf7tNo maiden speech in Knesset]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Calderon, Ruth}} Category:1961 births Category:Politicians from Tel Aviv Category:Academics from Tel Aviv Category:University of Haifa alumni Category:Oranim Academic College alumni Category:Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Category:Israeli educators Category:Israeli women educators Category:Israeli people of Bulgarian-Jewish descent Category:Israeli people of German-Jewish descent Category:Yesh Atid politicians Category:Members of the 19th Knesset (2013–2015) Category:Living people Category:Women members of the Knesset Category:Israeli Sephardi Jews Category:21st-century Israeli women politicians Category:20th-century Sephardi Jews Category:21st-century Sephardi Jews