Rosenthal, Judah

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ROSENTHAL, JUDAH

ROSENTHAL, JUDAH (1904–1976), scholar. Born in Makov, Poland, Rosenthal went to the U.S. in 1939. He served as librarian (1944–65) and professor of biblical exegesis (1944–69) at the College of Jewish Studies, Chicago. In 1969 he settled in Jerusalem. A contributor to various periodicals, scholarly miscellanies and encyclopedias, Rosenthal was the author of numerous studies and essays in Jewish history, literature and religion.

His publications included Hiwi Al-Balkhi (1949); The Talmud on Trial: The Disputation in Paris in the Year 1240 (1956); and Meḥkarim u-Mekorot ("Studies and Texts," 2 vols., 1967). On the subject of Jewish-Christian polemics, he published: "Anti-Christian Polemics from Its Beginnings to the End of the 18th Century" (Aresheth, 2, 1960) and editions from manuscripts of Jair b. Shabbetai's Ḥerev Pifiyyot (1958), Jacob ben Reuben's Milḥamot ha-Shem (1963), and Joseph Official's Yosef ha-Mekanne (1970).

[Tovia Preschel]