Pinkhos Churgin
{{short description|Israeli scholar}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Pinkhos Churgin
| image = פרופ' פנחס חורגין (23686907093).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Pinkhos Churgin
| native_name = פנחס חורגין
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1894
| birth_place = Pohost, Belorussia
| death_date = 1957
| death_place =
| nationality = Israeli
| native_name_lang = he
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for = First President of Bar-Ilan University
| notable_works =
}}
Pinkhos Churgin (Hebrew: {{Script/Hebrew|פנחס חורגין}};{{lrm}} 1894–1957) was an Israeli scholar who was the first President of Bar-Ilan University.
Biography
Churgin was born in Pohost, Belorussia, a shtetl near Pinsk.{{cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/churgin-pinkhos|title=Churgin, Pinkhos|website=Encyclopedia.com}}{{cite web|url=http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/volozhin/vol_pages/stories_churgin.html|title=Pinchas Churgin|website=www.eilatgordinlevitan.com}} In 1907 he and his parents immigrated to Palestine, and settled in Jerusalem. In 1910 he went to study at the Volozhin Yeshiva. Churgin returned to Palestine in 1912. In 1915 he went to the United States and taught Hebrew. He studied as an undergraduate at Clark College, and then at Yale University, earning a Ph.D. in the field of Semitics, as a student of the famous researcher Charles C. Torrey.
His dissertation, "Targum Jonathan to the Prophets", was published by Yale in 1927 and has since become a classic. It was twice reprinted in the 1980s.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0CkE_arDUYC&pg=PR22 |title=Studies in Targum Jonathan to the Prophets|isbn=0870681095|first1=Leivy|last1=Smolar|first2=Pinkhos|last2=Churgin|first3=Moses|last3=Aberbach|date= 1983|publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc.|via=Google Books}}{{cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/1957/12/02/archive/remains-of-dr-pinkhos-churgin-flown-to-israel-died-in-new-york|title=Remains of Dr. Pinkhos Churgin Flown to Israel; Died in New York|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date=December 2, 1957}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YWukUExeFAgC&pg=RA2-PA80|title=Supreme Court of the State of New York|year=1946|via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kTI4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA534|title=Eighth General Catalogue of the Yale Divinity School: Centennial Issue, 1822-1922|author=Yale University Divinity School|date= 1922|publisher=The University|via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foFCAQAAIAAJ&q=Pinkhos+Churgin+yale|title=Dissertation Abstracts: The humanities and social sciences, Volume 29, Issue 7|date= 1969|publisher=University Microfilms|via=Google Books}}
He was instrumental in the development of Yeshiva University in New York City. In 1920 he began teaching at their Teachers' Institute.{{cite web|url=http://blogs.yu.edu/newsdev/tag/dr-pinkhos-churgin/|title=Dr. Pinkhos Churgin; DEBRA KAPLAN, JEWISH HISTORY SCHOLAR, APPOINTED TO DR. PINKHOS CHURGIN MEMORIAL CHAIR IN JEWISH HISTORY AT YESHIVA UNIVERSITY|work=YUNews|date=November 28, 2007}} He was appointed dean of the Institute in 1924.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q0VQAQAAIAAJ&q=Pinkhos+Churgin|title=The men and women of Yeshiva|date=1988|isbn=9780231066181|via=Google Books|last1=Gurock|first1=Jeffrey S.|publisher=Columbia University Press }}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foFCAQAAIAAJ&q=Pinkhos+Churgin|title=Dissertation Abstracts: The humanities and social sciences|date= 1969|publisher=University Microfilms|via=Google Books}} In 1949 Churgin was named president of the Mizrachi Organization of America. He moved to Israel in 1955 to serve as the first President of Bar-Ilan University.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hohspDWqzjwC&pg=PA95|title=1001 Facts Everyone Should Know about Israel|isbn=0742543587|first1=Mitchell Geoffrey|last1=Bard|first2=Moshe|last2=Schwartz|date= 2005|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|via=Google Books}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/29/archives/pinkhos-churgin-educator-was-63-founder-of-israels-barilan.html|title=PINKHOS CHURGIN, EDUCATOR, WAS 63; Founder of Israel's Bar-Ilan University Dies--Had Been Teachers' Dean at Yeshiva|date=November 29, 1957|work=The New York Times}} He was succeeded as president in 1957 by Joseph H. Lookstein.{{cite web|url=https://www1.biu.ac.il/indexE.php?id=6551&pt=1&pid=988&level=5&cPath=35,983,988 |title=Bar-Ilan Presidents | Bar Ilan University |publisher=.biu.ac.il |date= |accessdate=2020-02-18}}
References
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Category:20th-century Israeli educators
Category:Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University
Category:Yeshiva University faculty
Category:Presidents of universities in Israel
Category:Clark University alumni
Category:Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire