Rachel S. A. Pear is a fellow at the University of Haifa’s Center for Jewish and Democratic Education where she is the research coordinator of the Templeton World Charity Foundation funded project “Dialogue in Science and Religious Education.”

Rachel received an AB from Columbia College, an MA in Prehistoric Archaeology from Hebrew University, and a PhD from Bar-Ilan University within the Graduate Program on Science Technology and Society. Her dissertation examined changes in Jewish American engagement with evolution over the course of the 20th century.

Rachel co-teaches the first continuing education course for teachers on Judaism and evolution in Israel through Herzog College of Education, and also co-facilitates a fellowship for teachers integrating material on religious perspectives on evolution in their classrooms.

Rachel co-founded Shir Hadash, a synagogue and educational center, with her husband Ian, and lives with Ian and their five children in Jerusalem.