Isadore Twersky

Who was Isadore Twersky?

Isadore Twersky was an Orthodox rabbi and the Nathan Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at Harvard University, a chair previously held by Harry Austryn Wolfson. Twersky was an internationally recognized authority on Rabbinic literature and Jewish philosophy. He was especially known as an expert in the writings and influence of the 12th-century Jewish legalist and philosopher Maimonides. His best-known works are, An Introduction to the Code of Maimonides, and the more popular anthology, A Maimonides Reader. He was the editor of the Harvard Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Literature, won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1989, and was a fellow of both the American Academy for Jewish Research and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. According to Hacker, Twersky can best be characterized as a "historian of ideas and a researcher of the intellectual history of the Jews," and would presumably have considered himself as such.