HJS History

Pioneering Jewish Studies since 1826. 

The original Department of Hebrew was re-established as the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies in 1967.  It builds on a long-established, distinguished scholarly tradition, and is the only university department in the UK dedicated to Hebrew and Jewish Studies. 

People of Note 

Hyman Hurwitz (b. Poznan 1770 – d. London, 1844) was the first professor of the Hebrew language at University College London (then the ‘University of London’), and the first Jew to hold a university position in England. He was appointed to this position in 1828, when teaching began at UCL. He authored a number of pioneering works in English, including Hebrew Tales Selected and Translated from the Writings of the Ancient Hebrew Sages (London 1826), and a number of books on the Hebrew language and its etymology, syntax, and grammar.

Solomon Schechter (b. Focşani 1847 – d. New York 1915) was professor of Hebrew at UCL in 1899 – 1902. It is in this period that he published his most important findings from the Cairo Genizah, including the Wisdom of Ben Sira and Saadyana.

Hermann Gollancz (b. Bremen 1852 – d. London 1930) was the first Jew to earn a doctorate from the University of London, and Goldsmid Professor of Hebrew at UCL from 1902 to 1924.

Chimen Abramsky (b. Minsk 1916 – d. London 2010) was Professor of Modern Jewish History at UCL from 1966 to 1983, and expert in eastern European modern Jewish history.

Raphael Loewe (b. Calcutta 1919 – d. London 2011) was Goldsmid Professor of Hebrew at UCL from 1975 to 1984, and expert in medieval Hebrew poetry.

John Doyle Klier (b. Pennsylvania, USA 1944 – d. London 2007) was Professor of Modern Jewish History at UCL from 1990 to 2007. He contributed ground-breaking research on Russian Jewish history.