Ephraim Urbach
Israeli scholar of Judaism
title: "Ephraim Urbach" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["israeli-orthodox-rabbis", "talmudists", "20th-century-polish-rabbis", "british-army-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "academic-staff-of-the-hebrew-university-of-jerusalem", "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-włocławek", "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", "bialik-prize-recipients"] description: "Israeli scholar of Judaism" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephraim_Urbach" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Israeli scholar of Judaism ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Ephraim Urbach |
| native_name | |
| native_name_lang | he |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Włocławek, Poland |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Jerusalem, Israel |
| nationality | PolandIsrael |
| known_for | *The Sages |
| module | {{Infobox academic |
| embed | yes |
| discipline | Jewish studies |
| sub_discipline | Rabbinic thought |
| workplaces | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| notable_works | The Sages |
| :: |
| name = Ephraim Urbach | native_name = | native_name_lang = he | birth_date = | birth_place = Włocławek, Poland | death_date = | death_place = Jerusalem, Israel | nationality = PolandIsrael | occupation =
- Scholar of Judaism
- Professor of Talmud | awards =
- Israel Prize (1955)
- Bialik Prize (1983) | known_for = *The Sages
- Research on the Tosafot | module = {{Infobox academic | embed = yes | discipline = Jewish studies | sub_discipline = Rabbinic thought | workplaces = Hebrew University of Jerusalem | notable_works = The Sages
Ephraim Elimelech Urbach (; 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.
A professor of Talmud at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Urbach was a member and president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Biography
Ephraim Elimelech Urbach was born in Włocławek, Poland, to a hasidic family. He studied in Rome and Breslau, where he received rabbinic ordination in 1934. He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1938. During World War II he served for four years as a chaplain in the British army. Subsequently he served as director of Ma'aleh secondary school in Jerusalem, 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 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.
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) of the Bialik Prize for Jewish thought.
References
References
- "Kneset - Previous Presidential Elections".
- (3 July 1991). "Ephraim E. Urbach; Hebrew Scholar, 79". The New York Times.
- "[https://books.google.com/books?id=rr_qaE0a8rsC&pg=PA924 Urbach, Ephraim (1912-91)]." ''Encyclopedia of Modern Jewish Culture''. ed. Glenda Abramson. Routledge, 2004. p. 924.
- (6 August 1956). "העלאות ומינויים באוניברסיטה העורית". [[Devar]].
- 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"
- "Israel Prize recipients in 1955 (in Hebrew)". cms.education.gov.il (Israel Prize official website).
- "[List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933–2004]". Tel Aviv Municipality.
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