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Umberto Cassuto

Umberto Cassuto was an Italian-born rabbi and Bible scholar who taught biblical studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1939 until his death in 1951.

1883 to 1951Critique of the documentary hypothesisUgaritic studies and the BibleCommentaries on Genesis and ExodusEditing the Biblical Encyclopedia

Born: 16 September 1883, Florence
Died: 18 December 1951, Jerusalem
Occupation: rabbi, historian, university teacher, theologian
Education: University of Florence

Umberto Cassuto was born in 1883 in Florence

Cassuto was born in Florence in 1883 to Gustavo and Ernesta Galletti, in a traditional Jewish family. He studied at the rabbinical college in Florence, led by Rabbi Samuel Hirsch Margulies, who had a strong influence on him.

He graduated from the University of Florence in 1906 and was ordained as a rabbi in 1908. He then taught at both schools. In 1918 he published a book on the Jews of Florence in the Renaissance.

From 1922 to 1925 he was Chief Rabbi of Florence. In 1925 he became professor of Hebrew and literature at the University of Florence, and later held the chair of Hebrew at the University of Rome. There he also cataloged Jewish manuscripts in the Vatican Library.

The Italian racial laws of 1938 forced him out of his post. In 1939 he moved to Jerusalem and became professor of Bible at the Hebrew University. He rejected Wellhausen's documentary hypothesis and studied the links between Ugaritic texts and the Bible.

He was chief editor of the Biblical Encyclopedia. He died in Jerusalem in 1951 and was buried in the Sanhedria cemetery. His archive is held at the National Library in Jerusalem.