Arabic Immersion Instructors

Suha Taweel-Kadry

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Suha has taught Arabic at Hebrew University since 2015. She is an experienced instructor, teaching all levels of literary and spoken Arabic to groups and individuals. She has also taught Arabic for communication for 15 years, at institutions and organizations including the Jerusalem Intercultural Center, Haaretz, ALYN Hospital, and MachsomWatch. Suha has worked as a Hebrew-to-Arabic and Arabic-to-Hebrew translator, both in writing and simultaneous translation.

As in the Arabic saying “language is a mirror of culture,” Suha sees a natural connection between language and culture, and strives to combine them in her teaching. She holds a B.A. in Arabic Language and Literature from Hebrew University.

Amal Al Nagammy

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Amal is a lecturer of written and conversational Arabic at Hebrew University’s Rothberg International School. She is also a respected international speaker and educator in Arab women’s rights and empowerment as a gendered approach to peace-building and conflict resolution, and is an active member of the United Nations committee for Women, Peace, and Security. A native speaker of both Arabic and Hebrew who is also fluent in English, she has degrees in education and social work.

Amal is currently finishing her Ph.D. in Social Work. Her research focuses on the influence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Palestinian women in key public positions in the Palestinian Authority, their role, and the status of women in Palestinian society in the past and present and its implications for the future.

Amal says changing how people think about conflict is central to her approach to language instruction. “I teach Arabic because I think language can be a bridge for culture and conflict resolution,” she says. “You can bring a different perspective through language – you can connect people.”

Sagit Butbul

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Sagit earned a B.A. in Arabic Language and Literature and Middle Eastern Studies in 1995, and an M.A. (magna cum laude) in Arabic Language and Literature in 2002, both from Hebrew University. She is currently writing her Ph.D. thesis under the supervision of Prof. Simon Hopkins, under whose supervision she also wrote her M.A. thesis. Both theses deal with Judaeo-Arabic in general, and Judaeo-Arabic Biblical translations and commentary in particular.

Sagit’s research fields are Arabic grammar, lexicology, and philology; Classical, Modern, and Colloquial Arabic linguistics; and Middle Arabic (especially Judaeo-Arabic), including grammar, lexicology, and literature – primarily early translations, glossaries, and commentaries, particularly those of Karaite origin. These research fields also include knowledge of reading and editing medieval manuscripts.

Yael Cohen

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Yael Cohen has a B.A. in Arabic Literature and Language and Islamic Studies from Hebrew University, as well as an M.A. in Semitic Studies with an emphasis on Arabic Language and Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Yael has been a senior instructor of the Arabic language for many years at both the Institute of Asian and African Studies and HebrewU’s Rothberg International School, at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Her work experience also includes the Israel School for Excellency (Jerusalem), the Israel Foreign Office, and the Israel Police.