Harold Louis Ginsberg, (December 6, 1903 – 1990), commonly known as H. L. Ginsberg, was a professor of

rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writ ...

at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City in the 20th century.

Biography

Ginsberg was born in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

, Canada. He received his Ph.D. from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1930. He became a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), serving as the Sabato Morais Professor of Biblical History and Literature since 1941. Ginsberg was an expert on ancient

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

ite myths. He contributed to ''

Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament ''Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament'' edited by James B. Pritchard (1st ed. 1950, 2nd ed.1955, 3rd ed. 1969) is an anthology of important historical, legal, mythological, liturgical, and secular texts from the ancient Near ...

'', a key sourcebook for ancient texts that have a literary relationship with the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' New Jewish Publication Society of America Version The New Jewish Publication Society of America Tanakh, first published in complete form in 1985, is a modern Jewish 'written from scratch' translation of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible into English. It is based on revised editions of earli ...

' of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Jewish Publication Society of America The Jewish Publication Society (JPS), originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English. Founded in Philadelphia in 1888, by reform Rabbi Joseph Krausko ...

(JPS), superseding its 1917 version. It is a fresh translation into modern English, independent of the earlier translation or any other existing one. Current editions of this version refer to it as ''The Jewish Publication Society

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Masoretic text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

scrupulously, taking a conservative approach regarding conjectural emendations: It avoids them completely for the Torah, but mentions them occasionally in footnotes for

Nevi'im Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the '' Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim ( ...

and

Ketuvim The Ketuvim (; hbo, , Modern: ''Kəṯūvīm'', Tiberian: ''Kăṯūḇīm'' "writings") is the third and final section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), after Torah (instruction) and Nevi'im (prophets). In English translations of the Hebrew Bi ...

. Attested variants from other ancient versions are also mentioned in footnotes, even for the Torah, in places where the editors thought they might shed light on difficult passages in the masoretic text. Ginsberg also dedicated five years to helping to make the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille disp ...

. He was also an editor for the

Encyclopedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, lang ...

. Ginsberg has been described as "one of the greatest minds in the Jewish world" of his generation along with other professors at JTS such as

Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Joshua Heschel (January 11, 1907 – December 23, 1972) was a Polish-born American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th century. Heschel, a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Jewish T ...

Mordecai Kaplan Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (born Mottel Kaplan; June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983), was a Lithuanian-born American rabbi, writer, Jewish educator, professor, theologian, philosopher, activist, and religious leader who founded the Reconstructionist ...

, and

Louis Finkelstein Louis Finkelstein (June 14, 1895 in Cincinnati, Ohio – 29 November 1991) was a Talmud scholar, an expert in Jewish law, and a leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) and Conservative Judaism. Biography Louis (Eliezer) Fin ...

.''The quiet voices: southern rabbis and Black civil rights, 1880s to 1990s'', by Mark K. Bauman and Berkley Kalin

Member in professional organizations

Ginsberg was a member of a number of professional organizations, including: * Society of Biblical Literature * American Academy for Jewish Research * American Friends of the Israel Exploration Society * Academy of the Hebrew Language, honorary member

Selected works

* "The North-Canaanite myth of Anath and Aqhat", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 97 (February 1945:3-10). * Five Megilloth and Jonah: A New Translation * Studies in Koheleth * The Five Megilloth and Jonah : a new translation * The supernatural in the prophets : with special reference to Isaiah * Studies in Daniel (Texts and studies of JTS ; vol. 14) * The Prophets (Nevi'im) A new trans. of the Holy Scriptures * Many Bible articles in the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginsberg, Harold Louis 1903 births 1990 deaths People from Montreal Canadian Jews Jewish Theological Seminary of America people Jewish translators of the Bible 20th-century Canadian translators