Meyer Waxman

Meyer Waxman (1887–1969), Rabbi and scholar, best known for his magnum opus, A History of Jewish Literature. Born in Slutsk, Belarus, Waxman received a traditional yeshivah education. He emigrated to the United States in 1905 and studied at theJewish Theological Seminary of America, where he was ordained as a rabbi in 1913. He then served for some years in rabbinical posts, after which he became principal of the Mizrachi Teachers Seminary (1917–21) and director of the Mizrachi Zionist organization (1921–24). In 1924 he joined the faculty of the Hebrew Theological College in Chicago, where he served as professor of Hebrew literature and philosophy until his retirement in 1955, also teaching at the College of Jewish Studies in Chicago. He moved to New York where he continued his literary and scholarly activities until his death.