Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, Ph. D. is Associate Professor of Bible at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and Associate Editor of The Torah: A Women's Commentary (URJ Press, 2008), which won the Jewish Book Council's 2008 Everett Family Foundation Jewish Book of the Year Award. She received a B.A. in English from the University of California at Berkeley in 1987 and was ordained at HUC-JIR in New York in 1993. She earned her doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania, department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, in 2004.  Dr. Weiss’ other recent publications include "Figurative Language in Biblical Prose Narrative: Metaphor in the Book of Samuel" (Brill, 2006) and several articles on the subjects of metaphor and biblical poetry. She lives in the Philadelphia area with her husband and their two children.

In the book of Numbers, the five daughters of Zelophehad boldly confront Moses and the entire Israelite community, asserting their right to inherit their deceased father’s land since they have no brothers. The story of Zelphehad’s daughters provides a fitting symbol for The Torah: A Women’s Commentary. In this award winning commentary, women scholars, rabbis, and writers from around the world and from all segments of the Jewish community have come forward share their knowledge and insights about the Torah. Associate Editor, Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, Ph.D., will tell the unique story of the commentary’s inception and reception, reflecting on how the commentary was created, how it has been received, and why this project is important for us as contemporary Jewish women and men.