Joseph Bentwich
Encyclopedia
Joseph Bentwich was an Israeli educator.

Biography

Bentwich was born in 1902 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. His father was Herbert Bentwich
Herbert Bentwich
Herbert Bentwich was a British Zionist leader and lawyer.He was an authority on copyright law, and owner/editor of the Law Journal for many years. He was a leading member of the English Hovevei Zion and one of the first followers of Theodor Herzl in England...

, a lawyer and a leading British Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...

 and his mother was Suzannah Bentwich (née Solomon). From 1920 to 1923, Bentwich studied at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 and, from 1923 to 1924, at an educational institute of London University

In 1924, he settled in Mandate Palestine. Until 1928, he taught at The Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium, in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

, and at Hebrew Reali School
Hebrew Reali School
The Hebrew Reali School of Haifa , located in Haifa, Israel, is one of the country's oldest private schools.-History:...

, in Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...

. Bentwich was then appointed an inspector of schools for the Mandate Government, and from 1943 to 1948 was an assistant director of the Department of Education.

In 1948, following the resignation of Arthur Biram
Arthur Biram
Arthur Yitzhak Biram was an Israeli philosopher, philologist, and educator.- Biography :...

, Bentwich was appointed as his replacement as principal of the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa, a position he held until 1955. 1955 to 1958, he was a lecturer in education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...

.

Bentwich was a leader of the Amanah (Covenant) group, established to study and promote new interpretations of Judaism.

Printed works

  • Education in Israel, 1965
  • Yalkut ha-Datot (Anthology of Religions), editor, 1964
  • Yahadut, Mikra'ah (Judaism, a Reader), editor, 1967

He also published several textbook for teaching English and mathematics.

Family

Bentwich had ten siblings, seven of whom eventually settled permanently in Israel. His eldest brother, Norman Bentwich
Norman Bentwich
Norman De Mattos Bentwich OBE MC was a British barrister and legal academic who served as Legal Secretary and the first Attorney-General of Mandatory Palestine from 1918 to 1931. A lifelong Zionist, Bentwich was close to the moderate wing of the movement...

, was a leading British lawyer, who also spent much of his professional life Mandate Palestine and Israel. Another sibling was Thelma Yellin, a renowned cellist and active pioneer of the musical life of Mandate Palestine.

In 1924, Bentwich married Sarah Good, and had four children. One of them is Professor Zvi Bentwich, virologist and a world renowned expert in the treatment of AIDS. Another daughter is Rachel Shavit, whose son is the journalist Ari Shavit.
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