Baruch Lifshitz

Baruch Lifshitz was born in 1913 in Davyd-Haradok

Lifshitz was born in 1913 in Davyd-Haradok, then in the Russian Empire and now in Belarus, and was educated there. His father was Yitzhak Lifshitz, and he was the youngest of 5 siblings.

He began university studies in Vilnius but did not finish them when World War II broke out. During the war he went to Tashkent and later joined the Red Army, reaching Germany with his unit at the war's end.

In 1946 he came to the Land of Israel as an illegal immigrant and was held by the British at the Atlit detention camp. After his release he studied history and classics at the Hebrew University, earning an M.A. in 1952 and a Ph.D. in 1957. His doctorate dealt with grave inscriptions, and he also trained in Paris with Louis Robert.

He became a lecturer at the Hebrew University in 1962 and later a full professor. He researched Greek and Latin inscriptions and compiled the inscriptions of founders and donors of ancient synagogues. He also wrote on the inscriptions of Olbia and the northern Black Sea coast.

He married Elsa Rosner, and they had a son and a daughter. He died in Tel Aviv on September 18, 1976.