Professor of Jewish History at the University of Columbia (USA) between 1980 and 2008. Born in 1932 in New York into a family of Russian immigrants Yiddish language, studied at Yeshiva University in 1957 and was ordained a rabbi. It doctorate in 1966 from the University of Columbia, was also a professor of Jewish History and Sephardic Civilization at Harvard University. He received several awards including the National Jewish Book Award (1983 and 1992). Among his credits include the books Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory (1982, 1996), From Spanish Court to Italian Ghetto (1971) and Haggadah and History (1975). He died in 2009.