The Shalom Hartman Institute announces the passing of Yosef “Yoske” Achituv, z”l, a
Fellow at the Institute and one of its founding scholars, on June 5, 2012.
Achituv taught Judaic studies at Yeshivat HaKibbutz HaDati and the Ya’akov Herzog Center at Ein Zurim. He also served as principal of the Kibbutz HaDati High School.
In his academic research, Achituv examined mythic and other perspectives on the nature of “woman” and the significance of sexuality in rabbinic literature. He also wr
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ote on the subject of Jewish belief and life after the Holocaust.
His publications included,
On the Frontier of Change: The Meaning of Judaism in Modern Times, and he published more than 150 articles in the field of contemporary Jewish thought. A detailed listing of his writings can be found
here . In 2002, the volume, In 2002, the volume, “Jewish Culture in the Eye of the Storm,” was published in honor of his 70th birthday.
Achituv received an honorary doctorate from Bar-Ilan University in 2004 for his contributions to religious Zionism and the Religious Kibbutz Movement, and his impact on Israel’s developing Jewish, Zionist, and Democratic character.
Yosef Achituv was born in Germany in 1933 and immigrated to pre-State Palestine with his family two years later. In 1952 he became a founding member of Ein Zurim, a religious kibbutz.