Haggai

Ben-Shammai

Haggai Ben-Shammai is one of the world’s leading scholars of Karaism and Judeo-Arabic culture. He has published critical editions, commentaries, and articles on works by the most important Judeo-Arabic and Karaite thinkers including Saadia Gaon, Judah ha-Levi, Yefet ben Eli and Maimonides and has trained a generation of scholars working in the field of Judeao-Arabic studies. Professor Ben-Shammai serves as director of the Center for Judaeo-Arabic Studies and the Karaite Project at the Ben Zvi Institute. He is also co-director of the Center for Biblical and Judaic Studies at the State University in St. Petersburg, Russia. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University, Yeshiva University, and Clare Hall, Cambridge University, where he is a life member. Professor Ben-Shammai is currently the Ellie and Herbert D. Katz Distinguished Fellow at Penn’s Center for Advanced Judaic Studies.