Ephraim Elimelech 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. 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

Awards and recognition