Chimen Abramsky

Chimen Abramsky ( he, שמעון אברמסקי; 12 September 1916 – 14 March 2010) was emeritus professor of Jewish studies at University College London. His first name is pronounced ''Shimon''.

Biography

Abramsky was born in Minsk to a Lithuanian Jewish family on 12 September 1916, the son of Rabbi Yehezkel Abramsky. He gained a BA degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MA from the University of Oxford. He was Reader in Jewish History, then Goldsmid Professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College London. He was a Senior Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford. A noted scholar of Jewish History, Abramsky was also well known as an expert of antiquarian Hebrew books and manuscripts, and was professionally consulted for many years by the auction house Sotheby's, which traditionally ran one Hebraica and Judaica auction every year.

In 1936, while studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he became involved in socialist campus politics and on one occasion, he recalled being beaten up by the future Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir – then a leading figure in the rightwing Irgun. He was described as an atheist.

Abramsky would visit London in the Summer of 1939 to see his parents, he would be unable to return to the Palestinian Mandate throughout World War 2 because of this; during this time he would meet and marry Miriam (1917–1997). He would meet her at her parents' store Shapiro Vallentine, a prominent publisher of Jewish scholarly books. They had two children, Jack and Jenny, the latter of whom became a senior employee for the BBC
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