Max Leopold Margolis (born in Meretz ( Merkinė), Vilna Governorate, October 15, 1866 – April 2, 1932 in Philadelphia) was a

Lithuanian Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas o ...

and American philologist. Son of Isaac Margolis; educated at the elementary school of his native town, the Leibniz gymnasium, Berlin, and Columbia University, New York city ( Ph.D. 1891). In 1891 he was appointed to a fellowship in Semitic languages at Columbia University, and from 1892 to 1897 he was instructor, and later assistant professor, of Hebrew language and

Biblical exegesis Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical criticism,'' it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the concern to ...

at the

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

of Cincinnati. In 1897 he became assistant professor of Semitic languages in the University of California; in 1898, associate professor; and from 1902 the head of the Semitic department. When Dropsie College was formed in 1909, Margolis was chosen as Professor of Biblical Philology, remaining at Dropsie College until his death in 1932. Margolis was named editor-in-chief of the

Jewish Publication Society The Jewish Publication Society (JPS), originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English. Founded in Philadelphia in 1888, by reform Rabbi Joseph Krauskop ...

's translation of the Bible into English, the finished product being published in 1917. He served as president of the

Society of Biblical Literature The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), founded in 1880 as the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, is an American-based learned society dedicated to the academic study of the Bible and related ancient literature. Its current stated mis ...

as editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature (1914–1921). He was also editor of the

Journal of the American Oriental Society The ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' is a quarterly academic journal published by the American Oriental Society The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the olde ...

Works (selected)

* ''"The Columbia College MS. of Megilla"'', New York, 1892 * ''"Notes on Semitic Grammar"'', parts i.-iii., in ''"Hebraica" ("American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures")'', 1894, 1896, 1902 * ''"The Theology of the Old Prayer-Book"'', in ''"Year Book of the Central Conference of American Rabbis"'', 1897 * ''"The Theological Aspect of Reformed Judaism"'', Baltimore, 1904 * ''A History of the Jewish People'', Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1927. (with Alexander Marx)

References

* * ''Max Leopold Margolis: Scholar and Teacher''. 1952. Philadelphia: Alumni Association, Dropsie College. * Leonard Jay Greenspoon, ''Max Leopold Margolis: A Scholar's Scholar'', Scholars Press, 1987

External links

ARC MS6 – Max Leopold Margolis Collection
at www.library.upenn.edu 1866 births 1932 deaths 19th-century American people 19th-century Jewish biblical scholars 19th-century Lithuanian people American biblical scholars American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American philologists American translators Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty Dropsie College faculty Hebrew language Hebrew Union College faculty Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Philologists from the Russian Empire Jewish American writers Jewish translators of the Bible Judaic scholars Lithuanian Jews Writers from Vilnius University of California, Berkeley faculty Translators of the Bible into English 20th-century Jewish biblical scholars {{bible-translator-stub