{{short description|Israeli scholar}} {{Infobox person | name = Pinkhos Churgin | image = פרופ' פנחס חורגין (23686907093).jpg | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = Pinkhos Churgin | native_name = פנחס חורגין | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = 1894<!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year with {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} unless the exact date is already widely published, as per WP:DOB. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}}. --> | birth_place = Pohost, Belorussia | death_date = 1957<!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | native_name_lang = he | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = First President of Bar-Ilan University | notable_works = }} '''Pinkhos Churgin''' (Hebrew: {{Script/Hebrew|פנחס חורגין}};{{lrm}} 1894–1957) was an Israeli scholar who was the first President of Bar-Ilan University.

==Biography ==

Churgin was born in Pohost, Belorussia, a shtetl near Pinsk.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/churgin-pinkhos|title=Churgin, Pinkhos|website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/volozhin/vol_pages/stories_churgin.html|title=Pinchas Churgin|website=www.eilatgordinlevitan.com}}</ref> In 1907 he and his parents immigrated to Palestine, and settled in Jerusalem.<ref name="auto"/> In 1910 he went to study at the Volozhin Yeshiva.<ref name="auto"/> Churgin returned to Palestine in 1912.<ref name="auto"/> In 1915 he went to the United States and taught Hebrew.<ref name="auto"/> He studied as an undergraduate at Clark College, and then at Yale University, earning a Ph.D. in the field of Semitics, as a student of the famous researcher Charles C. Torrey. His dissertation, "Targum Jonathan to the Prophets", was published by Yale in 1927 and has since become a classic. It was twice reprinted in the 1980s.<ref name="auto1"/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0CkE_arDUYC&pg=PR22 |title=Studies in Targum Jonathan to the Prophets|isbn=0870681095|first1=Leivy|last1=Smolar|first2=Pinkhos|last2=Churgin|first3=Moses|last3=Aberbach|date= 1983|publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc.|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/1957/12/02/archive/remains-of-dr-pinkhos-churgin-flown-to-israel-died-in-new-york|title=Remains of Dr. Pinkhos Churgin Flown to Israel; Died in New York|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date=December 2, 1957}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YWukUExeFAgC&pg=RA2-PA80|title=Supreme Court of the State of New York|year=1946|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kTI4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA534|title=Eighth General Catalogue of the Yale Divinity School: Centennial Issue, 1822-1922|author=Yale University Divinity School|date= 1922|publisher=The University|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foFCAQAAIAAJ&q=Pinkhos+Churgin+yale|title=Dissertation Abstracts: The humanities and social sciences, Volume 29, Issue 7|date= 1969|publisher=University Microfilms|via=Google Books}}</ref>

He was instrumental in the development of Yeshiva University in New York City.<ref name="auto"/> In 1920 he began teaching at their Teachers' Institute.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.yu.edu/newsdev/tag/dr-pinkhos-churgin/|title=Dr. Pinkhos Churgin; DEBRA KAPLAN, JEWISH HISTORY SCHOLAR, APPOINTED TO DR. PINKHOS CHURGIN MEMORIAL CHAIR IN JEWISH HISTORY AT YESHIVA UNIVERSITY|work=YUNews|date=November 28, 2007}}{{Dead link|date=March 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> He was appointed dean of the Institute in 1924.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q0VQAQAAIAAJ&q=Pinkhos+Churgin|title=The men and women of Yeshiva|date=1988|isbn=9780231066181|via=Google Books|last1=Gurock|first1=Jeffrey S.|publisher=Columbia University Press }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foFCAQAAIAAJ&q=Pinkhos+Churgin|title=Dissertation Abstracts: The humanities and social sciences|date= 1969|publisher=University Microfilms|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1949 Churgin was named president of the Mizrachi Organization of America.<ref name="auto"/> He moved to Israel in 1955 to serve as the first President of Bar-Ilan University.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hohspDWqzjwC&pg=PA95|title=1001 Facts Everyone Should Know about Israel|isbn=0742543587|first1=Mitchell Geoffrey|last1=Bard|first2=Moshe|last2=Schwartz|date= 2005|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/29/archives/pinkhos-churgin-educator-was-63-founder-of-israels-barilan.html|title=PINKHOS CHURGIN, EDUCATOR, WAS 63; Founder of Israel's Bar-Ilan University Dies--Had Been Teachers' Dean at Yeshiva|date=November 29, 1957|work=The New York Times}}</ref> He was succeeded as president in 1957 by Joseph H. Lookstein.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.biu.ac.il/indexE.php?id=6551&pt=1&pid=988&level=5&cPath=35,983,988 |title=Bar-Ilan Presidents &#124; Bar Ilan University |publisher=.biu.ac.il |date= |accessdate=2020-02-18}}</ref>

== References == <!-- Inline citations added to your article will automatically display here. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:REFB for instructions on how to add citations. --> {{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Churgin, Pinkhos}} Category:20th-century Israeli educators Category:Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University Category:Yeshiva University faculty Category:Presidents of universities in Israel Category:1894 births Category:1957 deaths Category:Clark University alumni Category:Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire Category:Jewish historians Category:Volozhin Yeshiva alumni Category:Immigrants of the Second Aliyah Category:Writers from Ottoman Palestine