Shemaryahu Talmon

Shemaryahu Talmon was born in 1920 in Skierniewice

Talmon was born in 1920 in Skierniewice, Poland, as Shemaryahu Zelmanowicz. He studied at the Jewish Reform Real Gymnasium in Breslau, Germany. In 1939 he was held for 3 months in the Buchenwald concentration camp, and that same year he emigrated to the Land of Israel.

He began studying at the Hebrew University after his arrival. Near the end of the British Mandate he taught in the detention camps in Cyprus. On his return he fought in the defense of Jerusalem in the War of Independence.

He earned a doctorate from the Hebrew University on double readings in the text of the Bible. He became a lecturer there in 1957, later headed the department, and became a full professor in 1974. He served as dean of humanities at the Hebrew University and as rector of the University of Haifa.

His research covered the textual criticism of the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls. He took part in Jewish-Christian dialogue with the World Council of Churches and the Vatican. He received the Israel Prize for Biblical studies in 1997.

He retired in 1988 as professor emeritus and then edited the publications of the Bible Project. In 2008 he donated a library of 10,000 volumes to the Shalom Hartman Institute. He died on December 15, 2010.