Abraham Halkin

Abraham Halkin
Абрахам Соломон Га́лкин
Born	Abraham Solomon Halkin 1904 (1904) Russian Empire
Died	(1990-03-09)March 9, 1990 (aged 86) Jerusalem, Israel
Children	Hillel Halkin
Relatives	Simon Halkin Shmuel Halkin
Academic background
Alma mater	Columbia University
Academic work
Discipline	Jewish literature, history, and culture
Institutions	Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Abraham Solomon Halkin (Russian: Абрахам Соломон Га́лкин, 1904 – March 9, 1990) was a Jewish history professor who was the brother of Simon Halkin and cousin of Shmuel Halkin.

Biography

Halkin was born in 1904 in the Russian Empire, the younger brother of Simon Halkin.[1] He is also the cousin of Shmuel Halkin.[2]

In 1914, at the age of 11, Halkin immigrated to the United States from his native Russia.[3] He would go on to receive his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Columbia University.[4][5]

Halkin began teaching at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1930. From 1938 to 1970 he also served as professor of Hebrew at City College of New York.[1][3] He would serve as professor emeritus at the seminary after retiring in 1977.[4][6] That same year he made aliyah to Israel.[7][8]

Halkin was known to be one of the few familiar with an Apologetic Letter of rabbi Jedaia ha - Penini.[9] He also was a noted scholar of Shmuel Yosef Agnon's writing, having taught it in his lectures.[8]

Halkin died on March 9, 1990, in Jerusalem, Israel at 86 years of age from pneumonia, survived by his son and daughter.[4][7] His son Hillel Halkin, would go on to serve as a prominent Hebrew writer.[1][8]

References

1. Scult, Mel (2016-10-10). Communings of the Spirit, Volume II: The Journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan, 1934–1941. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8143-4162-9.
2. Krutikov, Mikhail. "Halkin, Shmuel". yivoencyclopedia.org. Archived from the original on 2011-01-12. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
3. Cohn-Sherbok, Dan (2010-01-07). Dictionary of Jewish Biography. A&C Black. ISBN 978-1-4411-9784-9.
4. "Abraham Halkin, 86; Taught Jewish Culture". The New York Times. 1990-03-15. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
5. Roth, Salo W. Baron, Gerson D. Cohen, Abraham S. Halkin, Yehezkel Kaufmann, Ralph Marcus, Cecil (1956). Great Ages and Ideas of the Jewish People.
6. Encyclopaedia Judaica. Encyclopaedia Judaica. 1996. ISBN 978-965-07-0219-9.
7. Cohen, Gerson D. (1990). "Abraham S. Halkin 1904-1990". Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research. 57: 1–3. ISSN 0065-6798. JSTOR 3622651.
8. Falk, Avner (2018-10-22). Agnon's Story: A Psychoanalytic Biography of S. Y. Agnon. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-36778-4.
9. Aparício, Manuel Forcano i; Forcano, Manuel (2003). La lletra apologètica de Rabí Iedaia ha-Peniní: un episodi de la controvèrsia maimonidiana a Catalunya i Provença (in Catalan). Edicions Universitat Barcelona. ISBN 978-84-475-2728-1.