Dr. Raphael Mahler, a leading Israeli historian, has died at the age of 78. He was professor of Jewish history at Tel Aviv University. Mahler was born in Nowy Sacz, Poland on Aug. 15, 1899 and immigrated to the United States in 1939. He came to Israel in 1948. A member of Poale Zion, he had been a leader of Mapam since its founding and had been a delegate to the 24th and 25th World Zionist Congresses.
A leading authority on Ber Borochov, the founder of Socialist-Zionism, Mahler was the author of a seven-volume “Modern History of the Jewish People,” “History of the Jews of Poland” and “The Karaites” among other works. He was a member of the Historical Society of Israel, the World Congress of Jewish Studies and the Yad Vashem Presidium. He was a recipient of the Israel and Itzik Manger Awards.
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