Nehemia Levtzion ( he, נחמיה לבציון; November 24, 1935 — August 15, 2003) was an Israeli scholar of

African history The history of Africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans and — around 300–250,000 years ago—anatomically modern humans (''Homo sapiens''), in East Africa, and continues unbroken into the present as a patchwork of dive ...

, Near East, Islamic, and African studies, and the President of the

Open University of Israel The Open University of Israel ( he, האוניברסיטה הפתוחה, ''Ha-Universita ha-Ptuha'') is a distance-education university in Israel. It is one of ten public universities in Israel recognized by the Council of Higher Education (CH ...

from 1987 to 1992 and the Executive Director of the

Van Leer Jerusalem Institute The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (VLJI) is a center for the interdisciplinary study and discussion of issues related to philosophy, society, culture, and education. The Institute was established in to create a body of knowledge and discourseto ...

from 1994 to 1997.

Early and personal life

Levtzion was born in the

moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...

Be'er Tuvia Be'er Tuvia ( he, בְּאֵר טוֹבִיָּה, ''Be'er Toviya'', "Tuvia's Well") is a moshav in the Southern District of Israel. Located near the city of Kiryat Malakhi, it falls under the jurisdiction of Be'er Tuvia Regional Council. In its ...

. His parents were Pnina (née Perlow) and Aron Lubetski, who later changed their surname to Levtzion, and he had an older sister named Hanna. He was Jewish, and had four children."Nehemia Levtzion; 1935—2003,"
''Sudanic Africa'', 14, 2003, 21-32. His wife Tirtza was a teacher and deputy head of Jerusalem's

Gymnasia Rehavia Rehavia Gymnasium or the Jerusalem Rehavia Gymnasium, by its Hebrew name Gymnasia Rehavia ( he, גמנסיה רחביה, Gimnazya Rehavya), is a high school in the Rehavia neighborhood in West Jerusalem. History The high school's initial name wa ...

high school in Jerusalem. They lived for a time in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, where he studied the spread of Islam in Africa; the family also lived in Beit Hakerem in Jerusalem. Levtzion completed a dissertation at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1965.

Career

Levtzion was a scholar of

, Near East, Islamic, and African studies, and especially

Islam in Africa Islam in Africa is the continent's second most widely professed faith behind Christianity. Africa was the first continent into which Islam spread from Southwest Asia, during the early 7th century CE. Almost one-third of the world's Muslim popula ...

. He taught at (starting in 1965) and was Professor of History and Asian and African Studies and the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities (1978-1981) 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 ...

, the Director of the Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East (1982-1987), the President of the

(1987-1992), the Executive Director of the

(1994-1997), and the Chairman of the

Council for Higher Education in Israel The Council for Higher Education in Israel ( he, המועצה להשכלה גבוהה, ''HaMo'atza LeHaskala Gevoha'') is a supervisory body for universities and colleges in Israel. It is the only organization with the authority to award academic ...

’s Planning and Budgeting Committee (1997-2003). The Nehemia Levtzion Center for Islamic Studies was established at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2004.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levtzion, Nehemia Open University of Israel faculty 20th-century Israeli historians 20th-century Israeli educators 1935 births 2003 deaths People from Jerusalem Deans (academic) Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty Presidents of universities in Israel Moshavniks People from Southern District (Israel) Historians of Africa Historians of Islam Alumni of the University of London Israeli male writers Israeli expatriates in Ghana Israeli expatriates in the United Kingdom

Early and personal life

Career

Selected publications

Further reading

References