Michal Raucher

Michal Raucher serves as Undergraduate Director and Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University within the School of Arts and Sciences. She holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Northwestern University (with a graduate certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies), an MA in Bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania, and dual BAs in Hebrew Bible from the Jewish Theological Seminary and Religion from Columbia University.

Her research centers on the anthropology of Judaism with particular focus on Jewish women in Israel and America, agency and authority among religious women, religion and bioethics, and reproductive justice. She has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork examining reproductive ethics within Haredi communities in Jerusalem, exploring how women navigate religious authority and reproductive decision-making.

Raucher's scholarly work demonstrates a consistent trajectory examining the intersection of religious authority, gender, and reproductive ethics. Her publications reveal a particular interest in how Orthodox Jewish women negotiate religious obligations with contemporary reproductive technologies and ethical dilemmas. Her recent book, Conceiving Agency: Reproductive Authority among Haredi Women (2020), represents the culmination of years of ethnographic research in Jerusalem.

• 2019: CrossCurrents Summer Research Colloquium, Auburn Theological Seminary
• 2016-2017: American Academy of Religion Individual Research Grant
• 2016-2017: Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Grant
• 2015-2016: Israel Institute Research Grant
• 2010-2011: Wenner Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant

Raucher actively contributes to multiple professional organizations including serving as a board member for Feminist Studies in Religion (co-chairing E-Feminist Studies in Religion), editorial board member for the Journal of Jewish Ethics, and Vice President of the Society of Jewish Ethics. Her teaching portfolio includes courses on Arab-Israeli Conflict, Israeli Culture, Jews and Medicine, and Jerusalem Contested, reflecting her interdisciplinary approach that bridges religious studies, anthropology, gender studies, and bioethics.