Necrology

H-Judaic is greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Dan Laor (1944-2023) , emeritus professor of Modern Hebrew Literature on the Schreiber Chair at Tel Aviv University, where he had also served as Dean of the Humanities Faculty.  Born in Jerusalem, Prof. Laor was educated at the Hebrew University and the University of California, Berkeley, where he wrote a Ph.D. under Robert Alter.  He joined TAU in 1979 and taught there until his  retirement.  Laor is best known for his magisterial, 900+ page biography of the Israeli Hebrew poet Nathan Alterman (2013).

H-Judaic is deeply saddened to learn of the untimely passing of Professor Gad Barzilai (1958-2023), Professor of Law, Societies, and Justice at the University of Washington and Professor at Haifa University, where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Law and Vice-Provost.  He served as President of the Association for Israel Studies, 2011-2013.  The Wikipedia article on Prof. Barzilai provides the following biography:

H-Judaic is greatly saddened to learn of the untimely passing of Prof. Pawel Spiewak, Associate Professor at the University of Warsaw and Former Director of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.

Jewish Heritage Europe has posted the following necrology:

"We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of the sociologist and historian Pawel Śpiewak, the former director of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw (JHI), who passed away March 30 at the age of 71.

H-Judaic is greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Prof Michael Brown (1938-2022), Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar at the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at York University. 

H-Judaic is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Shalom Rosenberg (1935-2023), Professor Emeritus of Jewish Philosophy and Thought at the Hebrew University, as well as a public intellectual and institution builder in Israel.  He also taught at Herzog College, Beit Morasha, Lander Institute and Shalem.  Born In Buenos Aires, Prof.

H-Judaic is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Prof. Haim Genizi (1934-2023), Emeritus Professor of History, General History Department, Bar Ilan University.  Prof.

H-Judaic is greatly saddened to learn of the sudden passing of Prof. Itta Shedletzky (1943-2023), Jerusalem's  renowned expert on German-Jewish letters. Born in Zurich, Prof. Shedletzky immigrated to Israel in 1962 and was deeply influenced by Jacob Katz and Gershom Scholem. She subsequently edited and published many of Scholem's letters, and likewise worked on figures such as Else Lasker-Schüler, Heinrich Heine, Theodor Fontane, Wilhelm Wolfsohn, and most recently Franz Kafka. 

H-Judaic is saddened to learn of the passing of Prof. David Vital (1927-2023), emeritus professor of history at Tel Aviv University and a leading historian of Zionism.  Born in London, Vital made aliyah in 1934 and then returned to England to pursue three degrees, including his Ph.D., at the University of Oxford. He spent a decade in government service in Israel, working for the foreign ministry and the Prime Minister's Office, and taught at Tel Aviv from 1977-1995.  Prof.