Pinchas Peli

Abstract

Abstract Pinchas Peli (1930-1989) was born in Jerusalem to a distinguished rabbinic, l?-asidic, that is, ultra-Orthodox, family. After receiving a strong traditional Jewish education in his youth, he went on to receive a B.A. in Jewish history and Talmud at Hebrew University and to become a strong supporter of the religious Zionist cause. Already at the age of sixteen he began to publish poetry in the Israeli newspaper Davar under the pseudonym Peli (= wonder) because he was afraid to use his real name (Hacohen) given that his family lived in Meah Shearim, the ultrareligious quarter of Jerusalem. He thereafter adopted this as his actual name. Also, while still a student, he became the editor of Panim el Panim (Face to Face), a weekly magazine published by Mosad Harav Kook, a major religious publishing house. After his initial academic appointment in Israel, Peli served as professor at Yeshiva University in New York from 1967 until 1971. There he became a friend and disciple of Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik. While in New York, he wrote his doctoral dissertation under the supervision of R. Abraham Joshua Heschel of the Jewish Theological Seminary. In 1971, he accepted a call to become professor of Hebrew literature and Jewish studies at the new Ben Gurion University in Beersheva, Israel. From 1979 on, he was the incumbent of the university’s chair for Jewish values. A regular visitor to American universities, he taught as a visiting professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Yeshiva University, Cornell University, and Notre Dame. In addition, he was a visiting professor at the Makuya Bible Seminary in Japan and the Seminario Rabbinical in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was also an active participant in Jewish-Christian dialogue, representing the State of lsrael at Vatican conferences.