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Joseph Klausner

Joseph Klausner was an Israeli historian and scholar of Hebrew literature, the first chief editor of the Encyclopedia Hebraica and a candidate for president in 1949.

1874 to 1958Editing the Encyclopedia HebraicaBook Jesus of NazarethResearch on the Second Temple1949 presidential candidacy

Born: 14 August 1874, Valkininkai
Died: 27 October 1958, Jerusalem
Occupation: historian, pedagogue, writer, university teacher
Education: Heidelberg University

Joseph Klausner was born in 1874 in Valkininkai

Klausner was born in 1874 in Olkeniki, in Lithuania under the Russian Empire. Around the turn of the 20th century his family moved to Odessa. There he took part in Zionist and literary circles, knew Theodor Herzl and attended the First Zionist Congress.

He studied at Heidelberg University and earned a PhD in Germany. In Odessa he ran a seminary for Hebrew teachers. He edited the journal HaShiloach from 1903 to 1927, after Ahad Ha'am.

He first visited the Land of Israel in 1912 and immigrated in 1919 on the ship Ruslan. In 1925 he joined the first faculty of the Hebrew University as head of Hebrew literature, and in 1944 he headed the chair of Second Temple history. His book on Jesus described him as a Jew, and he coined Hebrew words and headed the Hebrew Language Committee.

He supported Revisionist Zionism and in 1929 founded the Pro-Wailing Wall Committee, and his Talpiot home was destroyed in the 1929 riots. In 1949 he ran for president as the Herut candidate and lost to Chaim Weizmann. He was chief editor of the Encyclopedia Hebraica until his death in Jerusalem in 1958, and was buried at Har HaMenuchot.