Avraham Grossman

Avraham Grossman
Born	(1936-03-10)10 March 1936 Tiberias, Mandatory Palestine
Died	27 March 2024(2024-03-27) (aged 88) Israel

Avraham Grossman (Hebrew: אברהם גרוסמן; 10 March 1936 – 27 March 2024) was an Israeli historian and professor in the Jewish history department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,^[1] recipient of the 2003 Israel Prize for his contributions to Jewish history.^[2]

Avraham Grossman was born on 10 March 1936, in Tiberias, and grew up in Mishmar HaYarden.^[2]

In 1948 his family moved to Haifa.^[2] He served in the Education and Youth Corps of the Israel Defense Forces.^[2]

After his military service, he started his studies in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Jewish history and Talmud for his bachelor's and master's degrees, respectively.^[2] His master's thesis was about Gershom ben Judah and was supervised by Ephraim Urbach. His doctoral work, The Rabbinical literature of Ashkenaz and Northern France in the eleventh century,^[3] was also supervised by Urbach.^[2] Grossman got his doctorate in 1974^[2] and moved to London for a postdoc at SOAS, University of London,^[2] and manuscript research in the Bodleian Library.

Grossman was appointed lecturer in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1976 and full professor in 1986.^[2] From 1991 to 1992 he was the head of the Jewish history department.^[2] In 2007 he became professor emeritus.

Grossman was a visiting professor at Harvard University, Ohio State University and Yale University in the years 1985, 1986 and 1988 respectively.^[2]

Grossman was married to Rachel from 1961 until his death,^[2] and had four children. One of them is a professor in the Bible department of Bar-Ilan University.^[4]

Grossman was a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.^[5]

Grossman won the Bialik Prize in 1996 for his book The Early Sages of France.^[2][6]

Avraham Grossman died on 27 March 2024, at the age of 88.^[7]