Ruth R. Wisse was Professor of Yiddish literature and Comparative Literature at Harvard University from 1993–2014 and before that, helped found the Jewish Studies Department at McGill University. She was also a senior fellow at the Tikvah Fund and recipient of its Herzl Prize. Wisse has written widely on cultural and political subjects for The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, National Affairs, and other publications. In 2007, she was awarded the National Medal for the Humanities, and in 2004, an Honorary Degree by Yeshiva University.