Long-time Concordian Norma Baumel Joseph receives a King Charles III Coronation Medal

Next spring, Norma Baumel Joseph, PhD 95, Concordia professor of religion and cultures, will retire after more than five decades since she first began lecturing at the university. She has been a full-time faculty member since 1992, focussing her research and teaching on, among other areas, religion and gender, Judaism, food studies, Jewish law and gender and Canadian Jewish studies.

However, last month the Government of Canada paid a fitting tribute to Baumel Joseph for her work outside her professional sphere, to honour her important volunteerism and service to the country and community.

On October 27, Baumel Joseph received a King Charles III’s Coronation Medal at a ceremony at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Shalom in Westmount. Handed out through the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, the Coronation Medal is given to living individuals who “have made a significant contribution to Canada or to a particular province, territory, region or community of Canada, or have made an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada.”

Senator Marc Gold selected Baumel Joseph as one of the medal recipients for her “influence in the Jewish community and helping people, especially helping women, and in the world at large, improving the lot of women in Canada,” Baumel Joseph relates. “I was especially honoured to be in the company of the other people Marc chose.”

Food and religion

Baumel Joseph has already received honours for her achievements in Jewish studies, such as the 2019 Louis Rosenberg Canadian Jewish Studies Distinguished Service Award.

Yet her academic path started elsewhere. Baumel Joseph earned a BA and MA in anthropology in New York City, and she soon began studies for a PhD.

But then her late husband, Rabbi Howard Joseph, landed a rabbinical position at Montreal’s Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue.

“When we ended up in Montreal, I just said, ‘I’m never going to get a PhD.’ And I walked away.”

But fate had other plans. So did Jack Lightstone, at the time a professor in Concordia’s Department of Religion, where she had already been lecturing for several years. “Jack asked my husband, ‘Why isn’t Norma getting a PhD so we can hire her?’” she recalls.

“So that began a whole process of going for a PhD again.”

Baumel Joseph decided to do a feminist critical analysis of Jewish law, something of a departure from her former discipline, anthropology. She began working as full-time Concordia faculty in 1992 and completed her PhD in 1995.

In the ensuing years, she was drawn to study Montreal’s Iraqi Jewish community, combining her interest in anthropology with gender and Jewish law.

“It’s a very vibrant and interesting community. I wanted to study how the women adapted to life in Montreal after Baghdad and what kinds of traditions they carried with them,” Baumel Joseph explains.

“But in the process, it was very hard to get them to talk about their experiences. I hit on an idea of asking the women, ‘Tell me about the food you ate in Baghdad,’” she says.

“All of a sudden, the floodgates opened.”

That sparked Baumel Joseph’s interest in food and religion, soon leading her to develop a course on the subject with Leslie Orr, professor of religions and cultures.

This term, Baumel Joseph is teaching a food and religion course, followed by a course on women in the Hebrew Bible in the winter.

“Those will be my last two courses. And then I’m finished.”

Fulfilling career

With retirement in sight, Baumel Joseph reflects on a few of her career highlights.

At one point in time, Brandeis University conducted a study to determine which universities taught courses on women in Judaism. While Brandeis taught the most, with four professors teaching the courses, “Concordia had the second highest number — and only one professor taught them all,” Baumel Joseph says.

She, of course, was that professor.

“I was proud that Concordia was a place I could develop a variety of courses. The administration and my department encouraged me, and our students registered in good numbers. The graduate students liked taking these courses, and they flourished.”

Baumel Joseph also developed the idea for an Israel studies program at Concordia. “I had long talks with Naomi Azrieli, and she said to build a structure, create a plan. And I did it with Simon Bensimon, who was in University Advancement then,” she recalls.

“Eventually the Azrieli Institute for Israel Studies was funded. It became internationally recognized almost immediately, and it was the only such place across Canada in any university.”

Ultimately, Baumel Joseph says she most cherished her relationship with her Department of Religion and Cultures colleagues.

“I worked with great people. I made great friends,” she says. “I found a place. I found a home.”

Learn more about Concordia’s Department of Religion and Cultures.