Klausner, Yoseph Gedaliah

(1874-1958)

   Israeli literary critic, historian and Zionist. Born in Olkienik, near Vilna, he was raised in Odessa. At the age of 28 he moved to Warsaw, where he became editor of the literary monthly Ha-Shiloah In 1919 he emigrated to Palestine, where he was active in the Academy of the Hebrew Langauge. Appointed to the chair of Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University, he subsequently became professor of the history of the Second Temple. His publications include histories of modern Hebrew literature, the Second Temple period, and the idea of the Messiah, studies of Jesus and Paul, philo-logical works, monographs on Hebrew authors, and philosophical works. From 1950 he served as editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia Hebraica.