Ephraim Urbach Explained

Ephraim Urbach
Native Name:	אפרים אלימלך אורבך
Native Name Lang:	he
Birth Place:	Włocławek, Poland
Death Place:	Jerusalem, Israel
Nationality:	Poland Israel
Occupation:	Scholar of Judaism Professor of Talmud
Awards:	Israel Prize (1955) Bialik Prize (1983)
Known For:	The Sages Research on the Tosafot
Module:	Embed: yes Discipline: Jewish studies Sub Discipline: Rabbinic thought Workplaces: Hebrew University of Jerusalem Notable Works: The Sages

Ephraim Urbach (Hebrew: 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. He was a candidate to presidency in Israel in 1973, but wasn't elected.^[1]

A professor of Talmud at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Urbach was a member and president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.^[2]

Biography

Ephraim Elimelech Urbach was born in Włocławek, Poland,^[3] to a hasidic family. He studied in Rome and Breslau, where he received rabbinic ordination in 1934.^[3] He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1938.^[2] During World War II he served for four years as a chaplain in the British army.^{[3] [2]} Subsequently he served as director of Ma'aleh secondary school in Jerusalem,^[3] before joining the Hebrew University faculty in 1953.^[4]

Urbach died on 3 July 1991 at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem after a long illness.^[2] He is buried at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, 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.^[5]

Awards and recognition

• In 1955, Urbach was awarded the Israel Prize, for Jewish studies.^[6]
• In 1983, he was a co-recipient (jointly with Nechama Leibowitz) of the Bialik Prize for Jewish thought.^[7]

See also

• List of Bialik Prize recipients
• List of Israel Prize recipients

Notes and References

1. Web site: Kneset - Previous Presidential Elections . 2014-07-04 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20060105040849/https://www.knesset.gov.il/president/eprevious.htm . January 5, 2006 .
2. News: Ephraim E. Urbach; Hebrew Scholar, 79 . The New York Times . 3 July 1991.
3. "Urbach, Ephraim (1912-91)." Encyclopedia of Modern Jewish Culture. ed. Glenda Abramson. Routledge, 2004. p. 924.
4. Web site: העלאות ומינויים באוניברסיטה העורית . Promotions and appointments at the Hebrew University . . 6 August 1956. Promoted from lecturer to associate professor in 1956.
5. Matthew Kraus How should rabbinic literature be read in the modern world? p182 "See his article דרשות חז"ל על נביאי אומות העולם ועל פרשת בלעם p281-287, where he refutes a long chain of scholarly opinions (the last being, Lauterbach, supra, ibid., pp. 545ff.) drawing a parallel between Balaam and Jesus. However Urbach tended to accept the anti-Christian sentiments in various rabbinic interpretations of the Balaam episode"
6. Web site: Israel Prize recipients in 1955 (in Hebrew) . cms.education.gov.il (Israel Prize official website) . https://web.archive.org/web/20120612102601/http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashyag/Tashkab_Tashyag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashtav . June 12, 2012 . dead .
7. Web site: [List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933–2004]]. Tel Aviv Municipality . Hebrew . https://web.archive.org/web/20071217143811/http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/_MultimediaServer/Documents/12516738.pdf. December 17, 2007.