Gabriela Shalev is an Israeli legal scholar, diplomat, and academic born on August 19, 1941, in Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine (now Israel). She is the daughter of Bernard Manheim (b. 1913, immigrated from Germany in 1933) and Bella Peterseil (b. 1912, from Poland; parents perished in the Holocaust), with a sister Nurit (b. 1945). She served in the Israel Defense Forces (1959-1961), discharged as a lieutenant after commanding a company of previously undrafted conscripts, and was mentored by Gad Tedeschi. Shalev earned an LL.B. (1966), LL.M. (1969), and Doctor Juris (1973), all summa cum laude from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, followed by post-doctoral research at Harvard Law School (1975-1976). Her academic career began teaching at the Hebrew University Faculty of Law in 1964, becoming a full professor of contract law in 1986 and professor emerita in 2002. She directed the Harry Sacher Institute for Legislative Research and Comparative Law (1981-1984) and served as visiting professor at institutions including Temple University (1975), Boston College (1976, 1981), Tulane (1988), Glasgow (1991), Toronto (1993), Leuven (1996), and Fribourg (1998). Since 2002, she has been President (Rector) of Ono Academic College in Kiryat Ono. She authored 9 books and over 100 articles on contract law, including Law of Contract (1995) and Contract Law – General Part (2005). Professionally, she clerked for the Supreme Court of Israel (1964-1966), worked in the Jewish Agency's Legal Department (1967), was admitted to the Israeli Bar (1968), served as Chief Legal Editor of Supreme Court Judgments (1968-1980; 1998), advised on national health services reform (1991), and held roles on the Standard Contracts Tribunal (1983–), Codification in Civil Law Committee (1984-2006), and Academy of the Hebrew Language Legal Terminology Committee (1990–), among others. In diplomacy, she served as Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations (2008-2010), the first woman in the role, nominated by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, succeeding Dan Gillerman and preceding Meron Reuben; she resigned in October 2010 amid some criticism from Livni associates, defended on her expertise. She has held board memberships including the Israel Democracy Institute (1991–present), Bank Hapoalim Audit Committee Chair (1990-1996), Van Leer Jerusalem Institute Trustee (1995–present), Israel Electric Corporation Audit Committee Chair (1995-2004), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (2003–present), Delek Group (2006–present), Osem Investments (2001–present), and others such as Maariv, Hadassah Medical, and Koor Industries. Awards include the Sussman Prize (1989), Zeltner Prize (1991), Israel Bar Association Prize (2003), and Lawrence D. Biele Chair (1990). Personally, she married Shaul Shalev (1964-1973), who was killed in the Yom Kippur War on October 9, 1973, at the Suez Canal; they had children Narkiss (b. 1966) and Eran (b. 1970), whom she raised alone, and she has six grandchildren (as of 2023). She has been partnered with Uzzi Levy since 1986. After her husband's death, she considered a career in medicine but instead pursued research at Harvard.