Dr. Ruth Calderon is one of Israel's leading figures spearheading efforts to revive Hebrew Culture and a pluralistic Israeli-Jewish identity. In 1989, she co-established ELUL in Jerusalem, the first beit midrash in which secular and religious women and men studied and taught together.  

In 1996, she founded ALMA in Tel Aviv, which is a Jewish liberal arts program for advanced learning. Dr. Calderon is the author of A Bride for One Night (2001), a personal homiletic reading of Talmudic legends, and Talmudic Alpha Beta (2014). From 2013-2015, Dr. Calderon was a Knesset Member from the Yesh Atid Party, where she was Deputy Speaker, member of the education and state control committees, and Chairperson of the Lobby for Jewish Renewal. Dr. Calderon holds a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in Talmud from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.