Dov Elbaum


Dov Elbaum is an Israeli writer, editor, journalist, television host and Jewish philosophy lecturer.

Biography

Dov Elbaum was born in Jerusalem's Mea She'arim neighborhood to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family. Elbaum is a fifth generation scion of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. He grew up in Ramat Eshkol. He studied at the ultra-Orthodox Hebron Yeshiva but left the yeshiva and religion after realizing that he did not want to live with the restrictions and isolation from society imposed by the yeshiva's brand of Orthodoxy. After his renunciation of a religious lifestyle, his father cut off contact with him for ten years. He served in the Israel Defense Forces as a journalist for Bamahane, the IDF's weekly magazine. He studied at the Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Programme for Outstanding Students of Tel-Aviv University, where he earned an interdisciplinary BA in Philosophy, Kabbalah and Hassidism, and an MA with a research focus on Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
Elbaum is married to Carmit, has four daughters and lives in Kokhav Yair.

Journalism and media career

From 1993-2000, Elbaum wrote extensively for two newspapers, Hadashaot and Yediot Ahronot. In 2006, he served as editor-in-chief of Yediot Ahronot Publishers and edited the publisher's flagship project People of the Book, a series celebrating Israel's 60th anniversary. He has edited works by Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem and others. Elbaum left Yediot Ahronot Publishers to spend more time writing. He is the author of three novels, Zman Elul, My Life with the Ancestors and Into the Fullness of the Void. he has also written three children’s books and numerous essays.
Elbaum wrote the script for the weekly television show Parashat Hashavua hosted by Gil Kopatch on channel 1 in 1997. Two years later he wrote the script for the film Zakota, which was broadcast as part of the Wolgin competition at the Jerusalem Film Festival, and aired numerous times on channel 2. This script won first prize of the Council of Culture and Arts of the Ministry of Education. Between 2001-2005 Elbaum conducted over 700 interviews in the award-winning program, Hotzeh Israel. Later on Elbaum edited and hosted the documentary TV show Osim Derech on channel 2, which discussed scientists who had won the Israel Price in recent years. Since 2007 Elbaum has been discussing the weekly Torah portion on his TV show Mekablim Shabbat on channel 1, hosting every week different guests whose life or field of interest is related to the portion.

Academic career

Elbaum has taught at Tel Aviv University, The Open University and Alma College. He was author-in-residence and lecturer at the literature department of Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Elbaum is a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. In 2006, Elbaum established the Secular Yeshiva in southern Tel Aviv in collaboration with BINA Center for Jewish Identity and Hebrew Culture. The curriculum focuses on intensive study of Jewish texts, from the Bible and Gemara to classic Israeli literature and Zionist history. Elbaum teaches a class on Hasidism and Kabbalah at the yeshiva as well as the BINA Center of the Kibbutz Movement in Ramat Efal.

Awards and recognition

Elbaum was awarded the Israel President’s Prize for Young Writers and is the 2013 recipient of the Liebhaber Prize for the Promotion of Religious Tolerance and Cultural Pluralism.

Published works