Dina Herbert

The Graduate School

Dina Herbert has tremendous energy and stamina. She managed to earn a master’s degree in the Department of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages of The Graduate School of The Jewish Theological Seminary in three semesters.

Dina grew up in Wantaugh, Long Island, where her attendance at a Solomon Schechter school led to her desire to continue her Jewish studies. “I was really interested in how to connect Jewish studies with something more secular. In the Joint Program, I got to understand more about the near-Eastern influences, the literary aspects, and the mythological undercurrents,” she says.

While an undergraduate in the Joint Program, with a major in Ancient Studies at Columbia, Dina deepened her understanding of ancient societies by taking part in an archeological dig. During her graduate studies, she also completed a summer program in Minnesota, which focused on Masoretic Bibles. Studying at The Graduate School was “a great way to culminate my Columbia and JTS career; I just wanted to get more out of it, so here was the best place to get a master’s.” Finishing the degree in such a short time was, she admits, “intense.” But, she adds, “I liked the intensity.”

She hopes to continue her studies and possibly get a master’s in Library Science that would allow her to become a library archivist. She’s certainly up to the task.