Haim Beinart (1917–2010) was an Israeli historian and academic administrator. Originally from Russia, he was a professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He served as the dean of humanities at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He specialized in the history of Iberian Jews.

Biography

Haim Beinart was born on November 14, 1917, in Pskow, Russia.^[1][2][3] In 1923, when he was six years old, his family settled in Riga.^[1] Beinart's parents were Hasidic Jews, and he attended a Jewish school.^[1] He graduated in 1934, and served in the Latvian Army until 1937.^[1]

Beinart made aliyah to attend the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1937.^[1] While he was at university, he served as an intelligence officer in the Irgun.^[1] He also served in the 1948 War of Independence.^[1] He subsequently went on a trip to Spain, where he researched the history of Iberian Jews.^[1] He earned a PhD from the HUJ in 1955.^[4]

With his wife Ruth, Beinart had four children: Yael, Yosef, Shelomo, and Hagit.^[1] He died on February 16, 2010, in Jerusalem, Israel.^[1][2]

Academic career

Beinart became a lecturer at his alma mater, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in 1958.^[4] He was promoted to senior lecturer in 1963, associate professor in 1966 and full professor in 1971.^[3] Meanwhile, he was appointed as the dean of humanities at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 1969.^[5] He was also a visiting scholar at the Institute of Advanced Study from September 1986 to June 1987.^[5] He retired from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1988 as the Bernard Cherrick Professor Emeritus of History of the Jewish People.^[3][4]

Beinart was an expert on Iberian Jews.^[3] He visited many towns in Spain to investigate their Jewish pasts.^[2]

Beinart became a corresponding member of the Spanish Academy of Humanities in 1973 and a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1981.^[5] He was the inaugural recipient of the "Three Cultures Prize" from the Córdoba, Andalusia for his scholarship in 1986.^[6] He received an honorary doctorate from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1988.^[3] He was the recipient of the Israel Prize in 1991.^[5]

Published works

• Beinart, Haim, ed. (1974–1985). Records of the trials of the Spanish Inquisition in Ciudad Real. Jerusalem: Israel National Academy of Sciences and Humanities. ISBN 9789652080240. OCLC 1297217.
• Beinart, Haim (1980). Trujillo, a Jewish community in Extremadura on the Eve of the Expulsion from Spain. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. ISBN 9789652233493. OCLC 7248199.
• Beinart, Haim (1981). Conversos on Trial: The Inquisition in Ciudad Real. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. ISBN 9789652233844. OCLC 8766020.
• Beinart, Haim (1992). Atlas of Medieval Jewish History. Jerusalem: Carta. ISBN 9781441656179. OCLC 709715798.
• Beinart, Haim, ed. (1992). The Sephardi Legacy. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. ISBN 9789652237996. OCLC 28150442.
• Beinart, Haim (2002). The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Portland, Oregon: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. ISBN 9781874774419. OCLC 470225028.