Joseph Yahalom (born April 11, 1941) ( he, יוסף יהלום) is a professor of

Hebrew literature Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews. Hebrew literature was pro ...

at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

. Since 1983, he has been a member of the

Academy of the Hebrew Language The Academy of the Hebrew Language ( he, הָאָקָדֶמְיָה לַלָּשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on t ...

Biography

Joseph Yahalom was born in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

. In 1960, he graduated from

Lifshitz College of Education Lifshitz College of Education ("Michlelet Lifshitz" - מכללת ליפשיץ - המכללה האקדמית הדתית לחינוך) is a religious teacher training college in Jerusalem, Israel. The school credo is "integrating modernity and Jewi ...

in Jerusalem. In 1962, he completed his B.A. in Hebrew Language and Literature at the Hebrew University. In 1967, he was awarded an M.A. in Hebrew Language from the Hebrew University. In 1973, he completed his Ph.D. at the Hebrew University. Yahalom is married to Shlomit and has five children, among them physicist Prof. Asher Yahalom and Tamludic scholar Prof. Shalem Yahalom. They live in the Nayot neighborhood of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Academic career

Yahalom has taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since 1974. He also taught at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in Boston, the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York,

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

and

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. In 1978, he was a research Fellow at the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Unit at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He also held a fellowship at the

Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies The Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania—commonly called the Katz Center—is a postdoctoral research center devoted to the study of Jewish history and civilization. History The Katz Center is t ...

from 1998 to 1999. In 1986, he was the editor of Tarbitz Quarterly published by Hebrew University's Institute of Jewish Studies. In 1991, he served as chair of the Hebrew University Department of Hebrew Literature. Yahalom is the author of numerous books and articles on Hebrew poetry, from

Byzantine Palestine The Diocese of the East ( la, Dioecesis Orientis; el, ) was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of the western Middle East, between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia. During late Antiquity, it was one of the majo ...

(5th century CE) to the early modern period. Much of his work explores the connections between Hebrew poetry and the literature of the other groups living in the same time and place, for example, the link between

piyyut A ''piyyut'' or ''piyut'' (plural piyyutim or piyutim, he, פִּיּוּטִים / פיוטים, פִּיּוּט / פיוט ; from Greek ποιητής ''poiētḗs'' "poet") is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, ch ...

and Syriac and Greek Christian

hymns A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

; between Hebrew poetry from Spain and the emerging romances in European languages; and between early modern

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

Hebrew poetry in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

and Turkish songs. He also has written extensively about the bilingual (Hebrew and Arabic) culture of Judah Al-Harizi.

Awards and recognition

* 1970 - Warburg Prize * 2003 - Ben-Zvi Prize for Life Achievement in the Study of Palestinian Jewry * 2011 - ''Giving a Diamond: Essays in honor of Joseph Yahalom on the occasion of his seventieth birthday,'' edited by Wout van Bekkum and Naoya Katsumata, Leiden: Brill * 2012 -

Bialik Prize The Bialik Prize is an annual literary award given by the municipality of Tel Aviv, Israel, for significant accomplishments in Hebrew literature. The prize is named in memory of Israel's national poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik Hayim Nahman Bialik ...

Published works

Books

In English: * ''Ottoman Melodies — Hebrew Hymns: A 16th Century Cross-Cultural Adventure'', Hungarian Academy, Budapest 1995, 208 pp (with A. Tietze). * ''Palestinian Vocalised Piyyut Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections'', Cambridge University Press 1997, 187 pp. + 16 plts. * ''Avodah: An Anthology of Ancient Poetry for Yom Kippur'', (with M.D. Swartz), Pennsylvania 2005, 390 pp. In Hebrew: * ''Yehuda Halevi: Poetry and Pilgrimage'' * ''Poetry and Society in Jewish Galilee of Late Antiquity'' * and others

Articles

* Andalusian poetics and the work of El'azar ben Ya'aqov of Baghdad.. In: ''Hispania Judaica Bulletin,'' 4 (2004) 5-21 * Angels do not understand Aramaic: On the literary use of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic in late antiquity.. In: ''Journal of Jewish Studies,'' 47,1 (1996) 33-44 * The Aramaic "Alfabetin": From Eretz-Israel to Italy. In: ''Materia Giudaica,'' 3 (1997) 56-60 * The context of Hebrew imitations of "muwassahat" in Egypt.. In: ''Poesía estrófica,'' (1991) 357-366 * Diwan and odyssey: Judah Halevi and the secular poetry of medieval Spain in the light of new discoveries from Petersburg.. In: ''Miscelánea de Estudios Árabes y Hebraicos,'' 44, Sección de Hebreo (1995) 23-45 * The drama of Joseph and his brothers in piyyut literature.. In: ''Studies in Arabic and Hebrew Letters,'' (2007) 249-260 * From the material to the spiritual: Scriptural allusions and their development in Judeo-Arabic liturgical poetry. In: ''Prayers That Cite Scripture', (2006) 101-119 * The journey inward : Judah Halevi between Christians and Muslims in Spain, Egypt, and Palestine.. In: ''Hebrew Scholarship and the Medieval World,'' (2001) 138-148 * Judah Halevi: Records of a visitor from Spain. In: ''The Cambridge Genizah Collections,'' (2002) 123-135 * Love's labours won: The materialization of love in Hebrew girdle poems. In:'' Circa 1492,'' (1992) 189-204 * Lyric and liturgy in the Gabirolian tradition.. In: ''Zutot,'' 2 (2002) 41-55 * New clues from an encounter with Old Spanish. In: ''Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century,'' I (1999) 561-567 * Paradox in late antique Jewish poetry. In: ''Jewish Studies in a New Europe,'' (1998) 886-905 * "Piyyut" as poetry. In: ''The Synagogue in Late Antiquity,'' (1987) 111-126 * The poetics of Spanish piyyut in light of Abraham Ibn Ezra's critique of its pre-Spanish precedents. In: ''Abraham Ibn Ezra y su tiempo,'' (1990) 387-392 * The Sepphoris synagogue mosaic and its story. In: ''From Dura to Sepphoris,'' (2000) 83-91 * Synagogue inscriptions in Palestine - a stylistic classification.. In: ''Immanuel,'' 10 (1980) 47-56 * Syriac for dirges, Hebrew for speech: Ancient Jewish poetry in Aramaic and Hebrew.. In: ''The Literature of the Sages,'' II (2006) 375-391 * The Temple and the city in liturgical Hebrew poetry. In: ''The History of Jerusalem,'' (1996) 270-294 * Tensions between Sephardic traditions and Ottoman influences in Jewish literary activity. In: ''Between History and Literature,'' (1997) 207-216

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yahalom, Joseph 1941 births Living people Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty Literary scholars