ישראל יצחק אפרוס

Israel Isaac Efros (1891-1981), Israeli and American rabbi, teacher, poet and scholar in Jewish philosophy, born in the Ukraine and came to the United States in 1905. He received a doctorate from Columbia University. In 1918 he founded the Baltimore Hebrew College and the Teachers' Training School. Between 1917 and 1928 he was professor of Hebrew and taught Jewish philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, and was appointed to teach at the University of Buffalo between 1929 and 1941. He was rabbi of Temple Beth El from 1929-1935, but left the synagogue in 1935 following a dispute over organ playing during Friday night services. Between 1941 and 1955 he taught at Hunter's College in New York City. He also taught Jewish philosophy at Dropsie College in Philadelphia from 1945. Dr. Efros had been president of the Histadrut HaIvrit of America, which promotes the use of Hebrew.

In 1955, he was appointed rector of Tel Aviv University

By 1930 he had already translated some of the works of Shelley into Hebrew, had written over one hundred Hebrew poems and had written two major philosophical works, "The Problem of Space in Jewish Medieval Philosophy" (1917) and "Philosophical Terms in the Moreh Nevuchim" (1924). Altogether he was the author of nine books of poetry and scholarly works, including ''Ancient Jewish Philosophy'' and ''Silent Wigwams,'' a collection of poems based on American Indian legends and lore. Efros also translated works of Shakespeare into Hebrew and H.N.Bialik into English.