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Pinkhos Churgin

Pinkhos Churgin was a scholar of Jewish history and literature who founded Bar-Ilan University and served as its first president.

1894 to 1957Founding Bar-Ilan UniversityResearch on Targum JonathanLeading Mizrachi in America

Born: 25 November 1894, Minsk Governorate
Died: 28 November 1957, New York City
Occupation: historian, academic, linguist, Hebraist
Education: Yale University, Clark University

Pinkhos Churgin was born in 1894 in Minsk Governorate

Churgin was born in 1894 in the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire, to Rabbi Reuven Yona and Devasha Churgin. He moved with his family to the Land of Israel and settled in Jerusalem. He studied at the Volozhin Yeshiva.

In 1915 he went to the United States and taught Hebrew. He earned a bachelor's degree at Clark and a Ph.D. in Semitics at Yale University. His dissertation on Targum Jonathan to the Prophets was published by Yale in 1927.

He taught Jewish history and literature at Yeshiva University in New York, led its Teachers' Institute and later became dean. From 1933 to 1954 he edited 11 volumes of the journal Horev. He was active in the Mizrachi movement in America and became its president in 1949.

Churgin initiated a religious university in Israel and raised funds for it in North America. The cornerstone of Bar-Ilan University was laid in 1953, and he moved to Israel to head it. He died in New York in 1957 and was buried in Jerusalem beside his wife Rosetta.