Volf Moskovich Soviet and Israeli Slavic philologist, linguist and cultural scientist. Date of Birth: 07.04.1936 Country: Israel

1. Early Life and Education
2. Academic Career in the Soviet Union
3. Emigration to Israel
4. Slavic Studies and Cultural Research
5. Yiddish Studies and Activism
6. Honors and Affiliations

Early Life and Education

Wolf Moskovich was born in Bolgrad, Bessarabia, now part of Ukraine. After the war, he studied in Chernivtsi and later pursued Arabic studies at the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies. In 1954, he transferred to Chernivtsi University, graduating in 1958.

Academic Career in the Soviet Union

After teaching in Bukovina, Moskovich began publishing research in "Voprosy Yazykoznaniya." He then earned his Candidate of Sciences degree from Moscow State Institute of Foreign Languages and his doctorate from the Leningrad Institute of Linguistics. He specialized in computer linguistics, information retrieval, and automatic translation.

Emigration to Israel

In 1974, Moskovich emigrated to Israel. He joined the Russian Department at Tel Aviv University and later moved to the Department of Russian and Slavic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He became a professor in 1979 and served as Director of the Research Center and Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures from 1988 to 2007.

Slavic Studies and Cultural Research

Moskovich made significant contributions to Slavic studies, particularly in dialectology, lexicography, and cultural aspects. He collaborated with B.P. Tukan on research on Jewish sub-ethnic groups (Crimean Karaites and Karaims). He also examined language acculturation and assimilation among immigrants.

Yiddish Studies and Activism

From 1979 to 1989, Moskovich served as deputy editor-in-chief of the lexicographical project of the Great Dictionary of Jewish (Yiddish) Language. In 1998, he became president of the World Council of Yiddish and Jewish Culture. He taught intensive Yiddish courses and led the Jerusalem branch of the EYDES project for digitizing Yiddish dialect material.

Honors and Affiliations

Moskovich received numerous honors, including the gold medal from the A.S. Pushkin Institute of Russian Language and foreign membership in the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. He was honorary professor at London and Toronto universities and held guest professorships at Oxford and Pennsylvania universities.