Scienceחגי ארליך

Haggai Erlich

Haggai Erlich is an Israeli historian and professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University who studies Ethiopia, the modern Middle East and the ties between them.

born 1942Research on Ethiopian historyEthiopia and Middle East relationsOpen University Middle East programParatrooper songs

Born: 29 March 1942, Tel Aviv
Occupation: historian, orientalist
Education: University of London, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University

Haggai Erlich was born in 1942 in Tel Aviv

Haggai Erlich was born in Tel Aviv in 1942 to a working-class family. He was a member of the Hashomer Hatsair youth movement and studied in the Oriental class of Tel Aviv's municipal high school D. Between 1959 and 1969 he competed in the high jump for Israel, and in the 1960s he played basketball in the national league.

He earned a BA at Tel Aviv University and an MA with honors at the Hebrew University in 1969, writing on the tribes of Yemen in the civil war. In 1973 he received a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, with a thesis on the Ethiopian general Ras Alula.

He served in the Nahal paratroopers and fought in Jerusalem as a reservist in the 1967 Six-Day War. He also wrote paratrooper songs that are still sung.

Erlich taught at Tel Aviv University from 1973 until he retired in 2004, and was a visiting professor in Canada and the United States. From 1983 he led the development of Middle Eastern studies at the Open University of Israel, a program approved as a BA degree in 2007. He received the Landau Prize in African Studies for 2010.

He is married to Yochi and has 4 children, among them the screenwriter Omri Erlich.

Milestones in Haggai Erlich's life

1942
Born in Tel Aviv.
1967
Fought in Jerusalem in the Six-Day War.
1969
Completed his MA at the Hebrew University.
1973
Received his PhD in London and began teaching at Tel Aviv University.
1983
Began developing Middle Eastern studies at the Open University.
1989
Took second place in the high jump at the World Masters Games.
2004
Retired from Tel Aviv University as professor emeritus.
2007
His Open University program was approved as a BA degree.
2010
Received the Landau Prize in African Studies.

Haggai Erlich served in the military

He did his compulsory service in the Nahal paratroopers. In the 1967 Six-Day War he fought in Jerusalem with the 28th Paratroopers Battalion of the 55th reserve brigade.