Ze'ev Wolf Goldman, later known as Ze'ev Ben-Haim or Ze'ev Ben-Hayyim (; 28 December 1907 – 6 August 2013), was a leading Israeli linguist and a former president of the

Academy of the Hebrew Language The Academy of the Hebrew Language (, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on the Hebrew language in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem of Givat Ram cam ...

Biography

Ben-Haim was born in Mościska, Galicia, then part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

and now in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

). Schooled in his youth by private tutors and later completing high school at a gymnasium, where he studied classical languages, he left Galicia to study on a scholarship at the

Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau The Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau (official name: ) was an institution in Breslau for the training of rabbis, founded under the will of Jonah Frankel (businessman), Jonah Fränckel, and opened in 1854. It was the first modern rabbinical ...

and, in parallel, he studied at the Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, where he received a doctorate in Semitic

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

. He spent a year in

Mandate Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordanwhich had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuriesfollowing the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in Wo ...

in 1931, studying at the Institute of Jewish Studies at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. He presented his work for his doctorate in 1932 on the subject of personal names in

Nabataean The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant. Their settlements—most prominently the assumed capital city of Raqmu (present-day Petr ...

epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

. In 1933, he received

Semikhah ''Semikhah'' () is the traditional term for rabbiinic ordination in Judaism. The original ''semikhah'' was the formal "transmission of authority" from Moses through the generations. This form of ''semikhah'' ceased between 360 and 425 CE. Si ...

(traditional rabbinical ordination) from the

as well as the Ph.D." At the end of 1933 he immigrated to Palestine. The following year he was appointed secretary to the Hebrew Language Committee (forerunner of the Academy of the Hebrew Language), working closely with committee head

Hayim Nahman Bialik Hayim Nahman Bialik (; January 9, 1873 – July 4, 1934) was a Jewish poet who wrote primarily in Hebrew language, Hebrew and Yiddish. Bialik is considered a pioneer of modern Hebrew poetry, part of the vanguard of Jewish thinkers who gave voice ...

in the last months before that poet's sudden death. Ben-Haim lectured in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1948, becoming a full professor in 1955 and retiring in 1976. Between 1955 and 1965, he was editor of ''Leshoneynu'' (''Our Language''), the principal periodical of the Academy of the Hebrew Language. In 1961 he was appointed vice president of the Academy of the Hebrew Language and, in the same year, was appointed to head the Historical Dictionary of the Hebrew Language project, serving in such capacity until 1992. In 1973, following the death of

Naftali Herz Tur-Sinai Naftali Herz Tur-Sinai (; born 13 November 1886 – 17 October 1973) was a Bible scholar, author, and linguist instrumental in the revival of the Hebrew language as a modern, spoken language. Tur-Sinai was the first president of the Academy of th ...

, Ben-Haim was appointed as the second president of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, holding that post until 1981. Ben-Haim lived in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

until his death at the age of 105.

Awards and honours

* In 1964 Ben-Haim was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

for

Jewish studies Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; ) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (especially Jewish history), Middle Eastern studies, Asian studies, ...

. * In 1966 he became a member 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 res ...

* In 1971 he was awarded the Rothschild Prize for Jewish studies.

Published works

Ben-Haim has published many works and authored many articles over the years. The following is a selection of such works: * Between 1957 and 1977, he published in five volumes his monumental Hebrew work on the Hebrew and Aramaic traditions of the Samaritans, * "Observations on the Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon from Samaritan Tradition", ''Hebräische Wortforschung: Festschrift zum 80 Geburtstag von Walter Baumgartner'', Leiden 1967, pages 12–24. * "Towards a New Edition of Tîbåt Mårqe", ''Études samaritaines: Pentateuque et Targum, exégèse et philogie, chroniques'', Louvain–Paris 1988, pages 107–108. * במלחמתה של לשון he Struggle for a Language Jerusalem 1992. * A Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew: Based on the Recitation of the Law in Comparison with the Tiberian and Other Jewish Traditions, a revised edition in English, with assistance from A. Tal, Jerusalem and Winona Lake 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Haim, Zeev 1907 births 2013 deaths Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Israeli men centenarians Leipzig University alumni Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Grammarians of Hebrew University of Breslau alumni Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel Prize in Jewish studies recipients Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Jews from Mandatory Palestine Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Linguists from Israel People from Mostyska Israeli rabbis Burials at Har HaMenuchot Jewish centenarians

Biography

Awards and honours

Published works

See also

References