Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi (1932–2009)
Author of Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory
About the Author
Image credit: from Columbia University Archives, found at New York Times website.
Works by Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi
Freud's Moses: Judaism Terminable and Interminable (The Franz Rosenzweig Lecture Series) (1991) 109 copies
From Spanish Court to Italian Ghetto: Isaac Cardoso : A Study in Seventeenth-Century Marranism and Jewish Apologetics (1971) 34 copies
The Lisbon Massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah (Hebrew Union College Annual: Supplements) (1976) 15 copies
"Diener von Königen und nicht Diener von Dienern" : einige Aspekte der politischen Geschichte der Juden ; Vortrag geh (2013) 4 copies
SIGMUND FREUD'S JEWISH HERITAGE: The Purloined Kiddush Cups - Reopening the Case on Freud's Jewish Identity (1991) 1 copy
Associated Works
Order of the Passover Haggadah in the holy language and with explanations in English (1995) — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1932-05-20
- Date of death
- 2009-12-08
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- The Bronx, New York, USA
- Place of death
- Manhattan, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
Larchmont, New York, USA - Education
- Yeshiva University (BA|1953)
Columbia University (PhD|1966)
Jewish Theological Seminary (1957) - Occupations
- professor (Hebrew and Jewish History)
rabbi
historian
historiographer - Relationships
- Baron, Salo (teacher)
- Organizations
- Harvard University (professor of Jewish History and Sephardic Civilization)
Columbia University (professor of Jewish History, Culture and Society)
Center for Israel and Jewish Studies (Columbia University) - Awards and honors
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (1976)
Guggenheim Fellowship (1989)
Newman Medal for Distinguished Achievement (CUNY, 1976)
Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize (2005) - Short biography
- Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi was born in the Bronx, New York City, to Yiddish-speaking Russian Jewish immigrant parents. His father was a Hebrew teacher.In 1953, Yerushalmi received his bachelor’s degree from Yeshiva University. Four years later, he was ordained as a rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and afterward served as rabbi of a synagogue in Larchmnont, New York. He went on to earn a doctorate in history from Columbia University in 1966. He devoted his life to academia and the scholarly study of Jewish history and historiography. His many books included Israel, The Unexpected State (2005); The Lisbon Massacre of 1506 (1976); Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory (1996), which won the National Jewish Book Award; Haggadah and History: A Panorama in Facsimile of Five Centuries of the Printed Haggadah (1975); and From Spanish Court to Italian Ghetto (1971). He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, among numerous other professional honors. In 2005, he received the Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize from the University of Tübingen, Germany.
Members
Reviews
Usos de Olvido, Los (Spanish Edition) by Yosef Yerushalmi
Si aceptamos que el olvido es, como la memoria, fundador, no podemos dejar de percibir que los usos del olvido no son nunca neutrales. ¿de qué o de quién es coartada el olvido? ¿es indispensable para la Constitución y continuidad de una comunidad? ¿por qué nuestra herencia política recurre al olvido colectivo e institucional a través de la amnistía? ¿Y qué es la amnistía: un borrón sin huella, la marca grosera de una amputación o el acondicionamiento de un tiempo para el duelo y la reconstitución de la historia? ¿es paradojal considerar al olvido inseparable de la transmisión cultural en la filosofía y en el arte? ¿Cuál es el uso que hacen del olvido los historiadores? preguntas todas que recorren los textos del coloquio de Royaumont de 1987 que aquí presentamos y que enriquecen la reflexión sobre un tema tan inquietante como urgente y conmovedor.… (more)
This is a collection of essays on Jewish history and Jewish memory. One of Yerushalmi’s primary points is that “history” as we think of it now is nothing like it was in the pre-modern era. There were hardly any literate people at any rate to write it. The Bible was the primary “historical” document for a long time, but it was constructed for, and viewed as, a “revealed pattern” of God’s plan for all time. Modern history as we know it today did not begin until the Enlightenment. Prior to that, there wasn’t much need for histories, except to glorify battles in order to solidify political power; divine providence caused whatever happened, and it happened in a way to confirm religious expectations. God’s very introduction to the Jews was framed in historical terms: “I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the Land of Egypt, the house of bondage.” As Yerushalmi contends:
“For here as elsewhere, ancient Israel knows what God is from what he has done in history. And if that is so, then memory has become crucial to its faith and, ultimately, to its very existence.”
To write history in a secular, fact-based manner would be heretical.
Thus, with the Jewish bible, for the first time the history of a people became part of its sacred scripture. Recitation of that history became an affirmation of faith. Moreover, with the closing of the biblical canon, there was no longer a need to write any more history. Once the pattern had been revealed by the bible of the whole of history, of what importance were further details?
Yerushalmi dates the rise of “modern” history with the rise of secularization, nationalism, and the growth of the Enlightenment. A condition for the emancipation of the Jews was that “they cease to regard themselves as a nation and redefine themselves in purely religious terms.” The Jews had a history bound up with their identity as a nation, whereas Christians embraced history in terms of individuals. This meant coming up with a whole new approach to “history.” Importantly, it also meant that modern Jewish historiography repudiate premises basic to Jewish conceptions of history in the past.
Evaluation: I’m quite sure I have not done justice to the arguments advanced by Yerushalmi. They are complex, thought-provoking, and intellectually stimulating. I recommend this small collection especially for all those interested in postmodern conceptions of history and memory.… (more)
“For here as elsewhere, ancient Israel knows what God is from what he has done in history. And if that is so, then memory has become crucial to its faith and, ultimately, to its very existence.”
To write history in a secular, fact-based manner would be heretical.
Thus, with the Jewish bible, for the first time the history of a people became part of its sacred scripture. Recitation of that history became an affirmation of faith. Moreover, with the closing of the biblical canon, there was no longer a need to write any more history. Once the pattern had been revealed by the bible of the whole of history, of what importance were further details?
Yerushalmi dates the rise of “modern” history with the rise of secularization, nationalism, and the growth of the Enlightenment. A condition for the emancipation of the Jews was that “they cease to regard themselves as a nation and redefine themselves in purely religious terms.” The Jews had a history bound up with their identity as a nation, whereas Christians embraced history in terms of individuals. This meant coming up with a whole new approach to “history.” Importantly, it also meant that modern Jewish historiography repudiate premises basic to Jewish conceptions of history in the past.
Evaluation: I’m quite sure I have not done justice to the arguments advanced by Yerushalmi. They are complex, thought-provoking, and intellectually stimulating. I recommend this small collection especially for all those interested in postmodern conceptions of history and memory.… (more)
Zakhor by Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi
A unique meditation on the role memory, forgetting and history plays in the life of the Jewish people. From the Torah to the Spanish Inquisition and the assimilation of German Jews, Yerushalmi illustrates how the Jewish people celebrate their own story and the tragedies that befell them.
His broad interest even entails a brief summary of a strange short story (Funes, the Memorist) written by the great Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges.
A brief book with a lasting memory of its own.… (more)
A unique meditation on the role memory, forgetting and history plays in the life of the Jewish people. From the Torah to the Spanish Inquisition and the assimilation of German Jews, Yerushalmi illustrates how the Jewish people celebrate their own story and the tragedies that befell them.
His broad interest even entails a brief summary of a strange short story (Funes, the Memorist) written by the great Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges.
A brief book with a lasting memory of its own.… (more)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 17
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 543
- Popularity
- #45,916
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 6
- ISBNs
- 45
- Languages
- 9