Rachel Elior

Rachel Elior was born in 1949 in Jerusalem

Rachel Elior was born in Jerusalem on 28 December 1949, to Leah Rubinstein-Kaliko-Palagi and Shmuel Palagi. She was a member of the Scouts movement. She served in the Nahal Sinai unit from 1967 to 1969.

From 1969 to 1976 she studied at the Hebrew University, from her first degree to her doctorate, all with highest honors. Her doctoral thesis, on the theology of the second generation of Chabad Hasidism, was supervised by Rivka Schatz-Uffenheimer and completed in 1976. From 1979 to 1982 she was among the first holders of the Alon Fellowship.

Elior has taught in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University since 1978 and became a full professor in 1994. She headed the department and advised the university president on the status of women. She has taught as a visiting professor at Princeton, the University of Chicago, the University of Tokyo and other universities.

Her research covers Hekhalot and Merkavah literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Sabbatianism, Hasidism and the place of women in Jewish tradition. Her view that the Dead Sea Scrolls came from the priestly sons of Zadok, not the Essenes, has drawn both support and criticism from other scholars. She serves on the international council of the New Israel Fund and on several other public bodies.

In 2020 she was elected to the Hebrew Writers Association. In 2025 a collection of her literary essays was published. She is married to Michael Elior, and they have 3 children.