Emanuel bin Gorion (1903-1987)

Emanuel bin Gorion was a literary critic, translator, and anthologist. Son of the Hebrew novelist Micha Josef Berdyczewski (who later took on the name bin Gorion), bin Gorion inherited his father’s enthusiasm for Josephus’s legacy and for Josephus as a historical figure. Born in Germany, bin Gorion left a promising literary career and fled Nazi persecution to Palestine in 1936. His pedigree notwithstanding, he made a name for himself in Israeli literary circles also as a critic and scholar of folk tales. Bin Gorion produced two translations of excerpts from Josephus’s works that were published in Germany during the 1930s: Das Leben des Flavius Josephus (The Life of Flavius Josephus) and Das Haus des Herodes (The House of Herod). He published a Hebrew version of his Herod book in 1941. As keeper of his father’s literary estate, bin Gorion also edited and published in the 1950s two unfinished studies of early Christianity written by his father. These advanced the outrageous claim that the historical Jesus was in fact the prophet Jesus son of Ananias (Josephus, Jewish War 6.300-309).

Bin Gorion, Emanuel. Das Leben des Flavius Josephus: aus seinen eigenen Aufzeichnungen zusammengestellt und übersetzt von Emanuel bin Gorion. Berlin, 1934-1937.
Bin Gorion, Emanuel. Das Haus des Herodes: zusammengestellt und übersetzt von Emanuel bin Gorion. Berlin, 1939.
Bin Gorion, Emanuel. Hordos u-Veito (Herod and His House; Hebrew). Tel Aviv, 1946.

Bin Gorion, Emanuel. ‘Jesus son of Ananias – Prophet of the Second Temple’s Destruction’ (Hebrew), Fifth World Congress of Jewish Studies, vol. 4 (1969): 5-11.
Bin Gorion, Emanuel. ‘Josephus und Jesus: Vortrag in der Bialik-Loge Tel Aviv, am 2 Oktober 1972’. Tel Aviv, 1973.

Bin Gorion, Micha Josef. Yeshu ben Hanan (Hebrew). Edited by Emanuel bin Gorion. Tel Aviv, 1959.
Bin Gorion, Micha Josef. Shaul ve-Paulus (Hebrew). Edited by Emanuel bin Gorion. Tel Aviv, 1971.

JRA entry contributed by Orr Scharf