Judah Even Shemuel

Judah Even Shemuel was born in 1887 in Balta

Judah Even Shemuel was born Yehuda Kaufman in Balta, in the Russian Empire, in 1887. In his youth he studied at a yeshiva in his hometown, at the Kishinev yeshiva and at the modern yeshiva of Rabbi Chaim Tchernowitz in Odessa.

In 1904, after finishing the exams of a Russian gymnasium, he went to London to study Jewish scholarship. He then studied law at the University of Paris and linguistics, history and philosophy at the Sorbonne. He returned to Russia, where he taught and was active as a Zionist.

In 1913 he moved to Montreal, studied at McGill University and wrote for the newspaper of Reuben Brainin. From 1916 he studied at Dropsie College, and in the 1920s he headed a teachers' seminary in New York. His English-Hebrew dictionary was known as The Kaufman Dictionary.

At the end of 1926 he came to the Land of Israel at the invitation of Hayim Nahman Bialik to edit a dictionary. From 1936 he headed the culture department of the Jewish National Council, and in 1942 he joined the Hebrew Language Committee. He was the first editor in chief of the Hebrew Encyclopedia.

He published an annotated edition of The Guide for the Perplexed and translated the Kuzari into Hebrew, dedicating it to his son Shmuel, a Palmach fighter who was killed. He took the name Even Shemuel officially after his son's death. He died on February 23, 1976.