Literatureאהרן הראל-פיש

Harold Fisch

Harold Fisch was a British-Israeli literary scholar and translator, a professor of English at Bar-Ilan University and its Rector from 1968 to 1971.

1923 to 2001Study of biblical themes in literatureEnglish translation for the Koren BibleRector of Bar-Ilan UniversityCo-founding the Movement for Greater Israel

Born: 25 March 1923, Birmingham
Died: 8 November 2001, Jerusalem
Occupation: literary theorist, writer, literary critic, translator

Harold Fisch was born in 1923 in Birmingham

Harold Fisch was born in Birmingham, England, in 1923. His father, Rabbi Dr. Solomon Fisch, served as a congregational rabbi, and the family lived in Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds.

He began studying English literature at the University of Sheffield in 1940. His studies stopped during his naval service, and he completed his degree in 1946. In 1948 he earned a further degree at Oxford with a thesis on Joseph Hall.

He taught at the University of Leeds and in 1957 moved to Israel to join Bar-Ilan University. He became full professor in 1964 and founded the Institute for Judaism and Contemporary Thought in 1971. His research dealt with biblical and Hebraic themes in literature, and he translated the Tanakh into English for the Koren Jerusalem Bible.

Fisch was among the founders of the Movement for Greater Israel after the Six-Day War. In 1977 he was a member of Israel's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, and he declined an offer to serve as ambassador to the Netherlands.

He received the Israel Prize in 2000 and died in 2001. He was married to Frances Joyce and had 5 children.