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PROFESSOR TSIPI WAGNER Jewish Studies Program |
The Mother of C of C's "Hebrew Family" |
By Nicolle Pufal and William Thompson |
"We call ourselves the Hebrew family," Hebrew professor Tsipi Wagner says to explain the close-knit feel of the Hebrew language classes she teaches. As the "mother" of this "Hebrew family," Wagner gives tough love. "It’s a Jewish mother thing," says one Hebrew 101 student. Wagner is a Holocaust survivor, born on the Greek island of Rhodes and during World War II was sent to the concentration camp in Feramonte, Italy at the age of one after an accident stranded her parents in the Mediterranean on their passage to Israel. After living in Feramonte for two years, Wagner and her family arrived in the promised land via Alexandria, Egypt. Wagner's cousins and grandparents were killed before she was born, never knowing them gave her a profound appreciation of the value of family. Her second degree in criminology and criminal law came from Tel Aviv University. Despite being urged by her professors, Wagner refused to become a lawyer, knowing that her destiny was to teach. Wagner accepted the challenge of leaving her son and granddaughters in Atlanta when she came to the College of Charleston. She felt there were opportunities to do things inside the Hebrew program here that had not been done before. "She is very caring, very Israeli and likes to make sure people have enough help. People, usually, never need help, but she always asks anyway," said Brianna Farber, an office worker at the College's Jewish Studies Center. Seeing the expression in the students' eyes change from puzzlement to understanding is the most rewarding part of teaching for Wagner. She says it is much easier for students to attain a minor in Jewish Studies if they take some semesters in Hebrew. Since Wagner's time at the college, the number of students taking Hebrew classes has doubled. Wagner is currently working on her doctoral dissertation titled "The Profile of the Murderer and Victim in 20th century American Literature" which uses such works as "All My Sons" and "No Country for Old Men" as sources. According to Wagner the topic excites her because nobody has written anything like it before. "I'm doing it because I’m interested." Students prefer to call her Tsipi. In order to say Tsipi correctly, she said, "It's like you're saying the word 'pizza.' The letters 't' and 's' make a 'zz' sound. So, you get 't-zz-ip-e.'" ###
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