Ephraim Urbach (

Hebrew 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 ...

: אפרים אלימלך אורבך) (born 1912 – 3 July 1991) was a distinguished scholar of Judaism. He is best known for his landmark works on rabbinic thought, ''The Sages'', and for research on the

Tosafot The Tosafot, Tosafos or Tosfot ( he, תוספות) are medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi's notes. The auth ...

. He was a candidate to

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

in Israel in 1973, but wasn't elected. A professor of

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Urbach was a member and president of the

Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, based in Jerusalem, was established in 1961 by the State of Israel to foster contact between Israeli scholars in the sciences and humanities and create a think tank for advising the government on re ...

Biography

Ephraim Elimelech Urbach was born in Białystok, Poland, to a hasidic family. He studied in Rome and Breslau, where he received rabbinic ordination. He

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

in 1937. He served as a rabbi in the British army during World War II. He also took part in Israel's 1948 War of Independence and thereafter worked for several educational institutions before joining the Hebrew University faculty in 1953. Urbach died on 3 July 1991 at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem after a long illness. He is buried at the

Mount of Olives The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet ( he, הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; ar, جبل الزيتون, Jabal az-Zaytūn; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jeru ...

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

, near Menachem Begin.

Published works

* ''The Sages'' * דרשות חז"ל על נביאי אומות העולם ועל פרשת בלעם "Rabbinic Exegesis About Gentile Prophets And The Balaam Passage" (Hebrew), Tarbitz (25:1956), Urbach explored the interpretation of the rabbis about Gittin 57a where Onkelos raises up Balaam from hell, and concluded that Balaam was not a reference to

Jesus in the Talmud There are several passages in the Talmud which are believed by some scholars to be references to Jesus. The name used in the Talmud is " Yeshu", the Aramaic vocalization (although not spelling) of the Hebrew name ''Yeshua''. The identification ...

Awards and recognition

* In 1955, Urbach was awarded the Israel Prize, for Jewish studies. * In 1983, he was a co-recipient (jointly with

Nechama Leibowitz Nechama Leibowitz ( he, נחמה ליבוביץ׳; September 3, 1905 – April 12, 1997 ) was a noted Israeli Bible scholar and commentator who rekindled interest in Bible study. Biography Nechama Leibowitz was born to an Orthodox Jewish fami ...

) of the

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 ...

for Jewish thought.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urbach, Ephraim Israeli Orthodox rabbis Talmudists 20th-century Polish rabbis British Army personnel of World War II Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty Israel Prize in Jewish studies recipients Israel Prize Rabbi recipients Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Hasidic rabbis in Mandatory Palestine People from Białystok Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israeli Hasidic rabbis 1912 births 1991 deaths Rabbis in the military Israeli anti–nuclear weapons activists Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives Presidents of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Candidates for President of Israel

Biography

Published works

Awards and recognition

See also

References