Kaufmann, Yechezkel

(1889–1963)

   Israel Bible scholar and historian. Kaufmann began his scholastic career in Europe, moved to Palestine in 1928 and was professor of Bible at the Hebrew University from 1949 until his death. His major work is an eight-volume history of the Israelite faith (Heb. 1937–57; abridged version, The Religion of Israel, 1960), in which he opposed the German school of Julius Wellhausen and denied that Israelite monotheism had been a gradual development from paganism. The possibility of conversion was a revolutionary development occurring at about the time of the Maccabees and expressed Judaism’s universal character. Kaufmann’s studies in post-biblical Jewish history led him to the belief that the Jewish people cannot assimilate even though individual Jews may do so.