The 10th Yarzeit Memorial Gathering for Professor Michael Klein, z"l: February 7 at HUC-JIR/Jerusalem

The 10th Yarzeit Memorial Gathering for Professor Michael Klein, z"l, will take place on Monday, February 7, 2011 at 7:00 pm at the Murstein Synagogue at HUC-JIR/Jerusalem. The evening will include guest speaker Professor Stefan Reif of Cambridge University, who will discuss "Remembrance of Research, Relationship, and Respect." Professor Reif was both colleague and dear friend of Michael Klein. Professor Eli Scleiffer will offer words and music. Musical interludes will be led by his son Mattan Klein, to be joined by Shoshi Klein.

Distinguished scholar and teacher Dr. Michael L. Klein, former Dean of HUC-JIR/Jerusalem from 1981-1998, and Effie Wise Ochs Professor of Biblical Literature at HUC-JIR, taught at HUC-JIR for over 25 years. In addition, he was a Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge University, and Visiting Research Associate at the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, Cambridge University Library. He was also a Senior Exchange Scholar of the American Council of Learned Societies and the USSR Academy of Sciences in Leningrad, as well as a Visiting Senior Scholar at St. John's College, Cambridge University.

His fields of scholarly research were Targumic Literature (Early Aramaic translations of the Bible) and Medieval Jewish Manuscripts, especially from the Cairo Genizah. He received a Ph.D. from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Biblical Studies, a M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in Ancient Near Eastern Civilization, and a B.A. from Brooklyn College in Mathematics, Phi Beta Kappa. He was the author of Targumic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections (Cambridge University Press for Cambridge University Library, 1992), Genizah Manuscripts of Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch (HUC Press, 1986), and The Fragment Targums of the Pentateuch Analecta Biblica 76 (Biblical Institute Press, 1980); his Ph.D. thesis Anthropomorphisms and Anthropopathisms in the Targumim to the Pentateuch was published by Makor in 1982.

A member of many academic organizations including the Society of Biblical Literature, the World Union for Jewish Studies, the Association for Targumic and Cognate Studies, the Israel Exploration Society, and the Biblical Archaeology Society, Dr. Klein was also active in community organizations such as the Israel Interfaith Committee and the Rainbow Group (Jerusalem).

Founded in 1875, Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion is the nation’s oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual, and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR educates men and women for service to American and world Jewry as rabbis, cantors, educators, and nonprofit management professionals, and offers graduate programs to scholars and clergy of all faiths. With centers of learning in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York, HUC-JIR’s scholarly resources comprise the renowned Klau Library, The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, research institutes and centers, and academic publications. In partnership with the Union for Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, HUC-JIR sustains the Reform Movement’s congregations and professional and lay leaders. HUC-JIR’s campuses invite the community to cultural and educational programs illuminating Jewish history, identity, art, and archaeology, and fostering interfaith and multiethnic understanding.