Palache was born in Amsterdam on October 26, 1886. His father Isaac was chief rabbi of the Portuguese Sephardic community. His mother was Judith Spinoza Catella Jessurun, likely a descendant of philosopher Baruch Spinoza. His ancestors Samuel Pallache and brother Joseph Pallache arrived in the Netherlands from Morocco via Spain and France around 1608. He first studied at the Ets-Ḥayyim rabbinical seminary. In 1914, he received a Bachelors in Semitic linguistics from the University of Amsterdam and in 1920 a doctorate also in Semitic languages from the University of Leiden. He studied under Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje.
Career
In 1911, Pallache began working as a grade school teacher of Hebrew and then a high school teacher of classical languages in The Hague. In October 1924, he became professor of Semitic languages at the University of Amsterdam, the first Jew to hold this position. Dutch public opposition faded due to his expertise. He remained in this position through 1941.) During these years at the University of Amsterdam, his chair served two faculties, Arts and Theology.
Associations
Palache was active in the Jewish community, particularly among the Portuguese, Spanish, and French communities. He headed the Dutch Association for Jewish Studies.
Personal and death
In 1917, Palache married Sophia Wilhelmina de Pinto; they had three children. His children's names were Mozes, Rebeca, and Isaac. He was not Orthodox. He was a staunch anti-Zionist. After Nazi Germany's occupation of Holland in 1940, he had to register as a Jew. He joined the :nl:Joodse Raad voor Amsterdam, infamous for its appointments by the Germans to handle Jewish affairs and send them East. In early 1944, the whole family was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto. Later, they were transported to Auschwitz for extermination, where on October 18, 1944, they were murdered.
Legacy
Much of Palache's work on semantics went missing during World War II. Younger son Leo Palache survived Auschwitz. He became an ardent Zionist and worked with the Dutch branch of Keren Hayesod. Palache's university successor, M.A. Been, said of him: Voor mijn voorganger in Amsterdam, de joodse geleerde Palache, die de gehele Biblia Hebraica uit zijn hoofd kende. Professor Been has been credited with the founding of the :nl:Amsterdamse school |Amsterdam School, though others give that credit to Palache. In 1991, K.A.D. Smelik dedicated his book Converting the Past to Palache.
Juda Palache Instituut
Leo Palache established the Juda Palache Instituut at the University of Amsterdam.
Leeser-Rosenthal/Juda Palache-lectures
From 2000 to 2016, the Menasseh ben Israel Institute held an annual Leeser Rosenthal/Juda Palache lecture by internationally renowned researchers in Jewish studies. The lectures occurred with the cooperation of the chair of Hebrew and Jewish studies at the University of Amsterdam and the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana.
Works
Works published in Palache's lifetime:
Het heiligdom in de voorstelling der Semietische volken: academisch proefschrift... Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden … 19 januari 1920
Inleiding in den Talmoed
Het karakter van het oud-testamentische verhaal: Rede uitgesproken bij de aanvaarding van het hoogleraarambt aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam
De sabbath-idee buiten het Jodendom: Voordracht gehouden in de vierde jaarvergadering van het Genootschap voor de Joodsche Wetenschap in Nederland
Kalenderhervorming
De hebreeuwsche litteratuur van den na-talmoedischen tijd tot op onze dagen in schetsen en vertalingen
Over beteekenisverandering der woorden in het Hebreeuws en andere talen: Een vergelijkende studie
Posthumously published works:
Sinai en Paran. Opera minora van wijlen Dr. J.L. Palache, edited by M. Reizel
Semantic notes on the Hebrew lexicon
External sources
M.A. Beek, Life Message about the author, in: JL Palache, Introduction to the Talmud, IX-XIV
M. Reizel, "Introduction", in M. Reizel, in Sinai and Paran, pages 9–12
C. Houtman, 'Introduction to the Pentateuch, pages 162–163
A. Dicou, "Preliminarily Education in biblical Hebrew at the Municipal University of Amsterdam" in KA Deurloo & FJ Hoogewoud Starting with the letter Beth. Drawing on Biblical Hebrew and the Hebrew Bible Dr Aleida G. van Daalen, pages 17–26
H.J. Franken, "JL Palache, professor of Semitic languages, in: J. Rose, A. Schppers & JW Wesselius Three hundred years of oriental languages in Amsterdam. Create a collection, pages 86-90
KAD Smelik, "Tales in the Hebrew Bible. The approach of the biblical story by Palache, Brook and his disciples" in K.A. Deurloo, BPM Hemelsoet, et al., Cahier 9 pages 8–21
U.W.F. Bauer, כל הדברים האלה - All diese worte: Impulse zur Schriftauslegung aus Amsterdam. Expliziert an der Schilfmeererzählung in Exodus 13.17 to 14.31, 105-110
C. Housman, Der Pentateuch: die Geschichte seiner Erforschung neben einer Auswertung, pages 271–272
Kessler, Voices from Amsterdam: A Modern Tradition of Reading Biblical Narrative, pages ix–xxiv
I.E. Zwiep, "Between Theology and Literature: Jewish Studies at the University of Amsterdam" in P.J. Knegtmans & P. Rooden, Theologians in Ondertal: Theology, religious studies, the Athenaeum Illustre and the University of Amsterdam, pages 109–122, 113–117
J.C. Siebert-Hommes, "The Amsterdam School" in P.J. Knegtmans & P. Rooden, Theologians in Ondertal: Theology, Religious Studies, the Athenaeum Illustre and the University of Amsterdam, pages 177–196, 177–179
A.W. Zwiep, "Between Text and Reader. Part II: from modernity to postmodernity. A historical introduction to biblical hermeneutics'', 112
