Joseph Yahalom
Joseph Yahalom (born April 11, 1941) () is a professor of Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Since 1983, he has been a member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language. Biography. Joseph Yahalom was born in Haifa. In 1960, he graduated from Lifshitz College of Education in Jerusalem. In 1962, he completed his B.A. in Hebrew Language and Literature at the Hebrew University. In 1967, he was awarded an M.A. in Hebrew Language from the Hebrew University. In 1973, he completed his Ph.D. at the Hebrew University. Yahalom is married to Shlomit and has five children , among them physicist Prof. Asher Yahalom and Tamludic scholar Prof. Shalem Yahalom. They live in the Nayot neighborhood of Jerusalem. Academic career. Yahalom has taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since 1974. He also taught at Harvard University in Boston, the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. In 1978, he was a research Fellow at the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Unit at Cambridge. He also held a fellowship at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies from 1998 to 1999. In 1986, he was the editor of Tarbitz Quarterly published by Hebrew University's  Institute of Jewish Studies. In 1991, he served as chair of the Hebrew University Department of Hebrew Literature. Yahalom is the author of numerous books and articles on Hebrew poetry, from Byzantine Palestine (5th century CE) to the early modern period. Much of his work explores the connections between Hebrew poetry and the literature of the other groups living in the same time and place, for example, the link between piyyut and Syriac and Greek Christian hymns; between Hebrew poetry from Spain and the emerging romances in European languages; and between early modern mystical Hebrew poetry in the Ottoman Empire  and Turkish songs. He also has written extensively about the bilingual (Hebrew and Arabic) culture of Judah Al-Harizi. Published works. Books. In English: In Hebrew: