World’s foremost authority on the book of Leviticus, Rabbi Jacob Milgrom, dies at 87
By APTuesday, June 8, 2010
World’s foremost Leviticus scholar dies at 87
JERUSALEM — Rabbi Jacob Milgrom, considered by many as the world’s foremost authority on the biblical book of Leviticus, has died. He was 87.
Milgrom wrote a three-volume series on Leviticus, interpreting Jewish dietary and purification rituals as well as the Bible’s position on homosexuality. He concluded the ban on homosexuality applies only to Jewish men.
Relatives say he died on Sunday at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem of a brain hemorrhage after a fall.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York. He chaired the department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of California at Berkeley and retired to Israel in 1994.
He is survived by his wife, Jo, four children and 14 grandchildren. His funeral was Monday in Jerusalem.
