Nathan Rotenstreich

Nathan Rotenstreich was born in 1914 in Sambir

Rotenstreich was born in 1914 in Sambir, Galicia. His father, Ephraim Fischel Rotenstreich, was a Zionist leader and a member of the Polish parliament. As a youth he joined the Gordonia Zionist youth movement, and in 1932 he emigrated to Mandate Palestine.

He studied philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and worked in farming at Kibbutz Hulda during his breaks. He received his PhD in 1938 and later studied further at the University of Chicago.

He joined the Hebrew University faculty in 1950, was Dean of Humanities from 1958 to 1962, and was rector from 1965 to 1969. He helped found the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and was the first chairman of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education. He wrote 80 books and more than 1000 papers, and translated Kant's Critiques into Hebrew.

He was a member of Mapai for a time and wrote often on politics in newspapers. He debated David Ben Gurion with colleagues, including during the Lavon Affair, and helped write a letter asking for clemency for Adolf Eichmann.

He died in Jerusalem in 1993, while serving as vice president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. A square in Jerusalem, a street in Be'er Sheva and a doctoral scholarship program carry his name.