Ephraim Urbach

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Ephraim Elimelech Urbach (1912-1991) 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 awarded the Bialik Prize and, in 1955, the prestigious Israel Prize. He was an unsuccessful candidate to be President of Israel in 1973.

A professor of Talmud at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Urbach was a member and president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Urbach was born in Bialystock, Poland, to a hasidic family. He studied in Rome and Breslau, where he received rabbinic ordination. He emigrated to Israel in 1937. He served as a rabbi in the British army during World War II. He also took part in Israel's War of Independence and thereafter worked for several educational institutions before joining the Hebrew University faculty in 1953.

Urbach is buried at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, near Menachem Begin.