Dr. Nima Adlerblum (August 4, 1881 -- July 25, 1974) was a philosopher, writer, educator, and Zionist activist. She was born in Jerusalem, Ottoman Palestine, to Rabbi Chaim Hirschensohn, a prominent Zionist activist. She obtained a doctorate at Columbia University in 1907. She founded the national cultural and education program of Hadassah, and served on its board from 1920 to 1935.

Dr. Adlerblum was born Nehama Hirschensohn to parents Chaim and Chava Hirschensohn. She was the oldest of five children, including Tamar De Sola Pool and Tehilla Lichtenstein. In 1901, her family emigrated to Turkey, and in 1903 they settled in the United States. Her father led five congregations in Hoboken, New Jersey. She studied at the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Paris.^[1]

Adlerblum received a bachelor's, master's, and doctorate at Columbia University. For her master's thesis, she wrote "The Hebrew conception of suffering analyzed and compared with those of the Greeks with a brief sketch of the conception of suffering developed by Christianity." In 1926, she received her doctorate with the thesis "A Study of Gersonides in His Proper Perspective." under the guidance of John Dewey. Adlerblum argued that Jewish philosophy existed independently of Islamic and Greek philosophy. She based much of her philosophy on the works of Yehuda Halevi.^[2]

Adlerblum was strongly influenced by nineteenth-century romanticism and the works of Yehuda Halevi. In 1917, she published "A Reinterpretation of Jewish Philosophy," in which she argued that Jewish philosophy existed distinct of the surrounding Greek and Muslim influences, shaped directly by the historical experiences of the Jewish people.^[3] In "A Study of Gersonides in His Proper Perspective," Adlerblum argues that while Maimonides thought "theology was a superimposed structure on Judaism," Gersonides believed that "Jewish theology could not be torn away from tradition, from the laws and from historical experiences."^[4] She claims that both philosophers must be studied independent of the Greek philosophers of the time such as Aristotle.

She worked with Rabbi Leo Jung, contributing to works in his Jewish Heritage series. After her death, he described her as "a unique manifestation of the human spirit."^[1]

Judaism is at its best within enclosed boundaries, in the land of milk and honey, where the mountains dance like rams and the Jordan flows out of reverence for God.

— Nima Adlerblum, A Study of Gersonides in His Proper Perspective

Adlerblum was involved in Zionist organizations throughout her life. As a child, she was one of the first children in Jerusalem, after Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, to use Hebrew as an everyday language.^[1] She served on the board of directors of Hadassah, a Zionist women's organization, from 1922-1935. She also founded Hadassah's national culture and educational program. She corresponded with other Zionist activist's, including Henrietta Szold.^[5]

She often advocated on the behalf of Jews in European countries, publishing reports on the conditions of Jewry in Germany and Italy. She reportedly helped 250 Jewish refugees in Italy flee Hitler.^[1]

She married Israel S. Adlerblum, a fellow Zionist activist and insurance consultant, in 1914. They had one daughter, Ivriah, who later had four children of her own. In 1971, Adlerblum and her husband Israel returned to Israel, living for a short time in Herzliyyah before moving to Jerusalem. She died at the age of 92 on July 25, 1974.^[1][6]