Former students, colleagues remember Nancy Ezer as a dedicated educator

All those who took her class loved Nancy Ezer, said her former student Martin Chan.

“She had this personality where she was able to captivate you and that you loved her and adored her and respected her, even if you earned a grade that was much lower than you expected,” said Chan, an alumnus who also graduated from UCLA with a doctoral degree in Hebrew in 2019.

Ezer, a lecturer of Hebrew in the department of near Eastern languages and cultures, was born in Israel on Oct. 16, 1947. She attended Tel Aviv University, from which she graduated with a degree in Hebrew literature and language in 1969. She also received a teaching certificate from Tel Aviv University in 1970 and worked as a teacher in Israel until 1980, when she became a Hebrew teaching assistant at UCLA while pursuing her master’s degree.

In 1983, she received her master’s degree in Hebrew literature from UCLA, and in 1987, she received her doctorate in the same subject. She began working as a lecturer at the university in 1987 and continued in that position for over three decades, during which she received the Distinguished Teaching Award, developed new Hebrew courses and created a Hebrew electronic workbook for students of elementary Hebrew.

She has also served as book review editor of Hebrew Higher Education since 2005, was an active member of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew and was previously a member of the College Board’s modern Hebrew test development committee for the SAT II modern Hebrew exam.

Ezer died Jan. 31 at the age of 74. She is survived by two daughters and three grandchildren. Her funeral was held at Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary on Feb. 4.

Former students of Ezer praised her effective style of teaching and the support she offered in her classes.

Chan said he first took a class with Ezer when he was an undergraduate student studying English literature. He said his passion for Hebrew grew after taking Ezer’s classes and was grateful to have been able to study Hebrew in his master’s and doctoral programs at UCLA with her recommendation.

“Dr. Ezer was really a very important person,” Chan added. “She shaped my experience. Otherwise, I would have never entered into that field.”

Ramses Bulatao, an alumnus, said he took classes with Ezer while studying linguistics as an undergraduate. Although the class seemed challenging at first with a large workload and fast pace, he said he came to love Ezer’s style of teaching and continued studying Hebrew with her encouragement.

“There’s authenticity in her that will really catch (you) wanting to learn more,” Bulatao said. “She has been wonderful in a way that like, I’ll go to (her) office hour and then we don’t even have to talk about Hebrew, but I do.”

Ezer often brought a sense of community to her classes and made sure to have a potluck full of Israeli food for students at the end of each quarter, Bulatao said. She invited representatives from the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies to talk to students at one such event, he added.

Marilyn Love, a doctoral student studying the Hebrew Bible, said Ezer was clear about showing she cared for her students. Ezer made sure students knew she challenged them to perform in class because she believed in their abilities, Love added.

Ezer would sometimes have a line of students waiting for an office hours conversation with her, Love said, but she would stay until she had seen each student even if her hours were over.

“We used to go to her office hours and practice our conversational Hebrew with her,” Love said. “Most of the time, she would stay after her office hours talking to students. She really did put everything into her teaching.”

Ezer also pushed students to think critically about their studies and consider political and religious context, said Rabbi Daniel Levine, who attended UCLA for both his undergraduate degrees in cognitive science and Jewish studies and his master’s degree in Jewish studies, which he graduated with in 2017.

Ezer also often remembered students individually and served as a mentor to many, making sure students received a full education and challenged themselves, he added.

“I would say the greatest thing I learned from that class had nothing to do with the Hebrew language at all and has to do mainly with the ethics that she taught and instilled,” said Ryan Davidson, a Jewish studies alumnus.

Ezer also worked for over 30 years with friend Lev Hakak, a professor emeritus in the department of near Eastern languages and cultures.

Hakak said he originally met Ezer while serving on her dissertation committee and could see she was inquisitive and hard working.

It was a wonderful experience to have spent so many years working with Ezer at UCLA, he said, adding that they talked about everything from their teaching to their own lives.

“We appreciated each other. We knew about the work of each other. We supported the work of each other,” Hakak added. “We were professional friends and friends.”

Ezer’s dedication to teaching was exemplary, and she formed a strong foundation and love of language in students that was visible when they continued into his own classes, Hakak said.

“I think there was not a day of teaching that we wouldn’t stop in each other’s office, even for sometimes a brief talk, and this interaction was really very important,” Hakak said.

Bulatao now works as a teacher in San Jose and Chan as a lecturer of modern Hebrew at Washington University in St. Louis. Both said they now try to draw from Ezer’s teaching methods for their own teaching styles.

Chan makes sure his classes focus on developing grammar and vocabulary to build up the foundation of their language skills like Ezer showed him in her classes, he said. Her style of teaching affected even the way he has learned to teach himself, he added.

“I tell my students, ‘This is the Nancy Ezer method,’” Chan said.