Quick Facts
Biography
Simon Rawidowicz (1897–1957) was a Polish-born American Jewish philosopher.
Early life
Simon Rawidowicz was born in 1897 in Grajewo, Poland. He was educated in Germany. 1933 he emigrated to the United Kingdom.
Career
He taught at the Jews' College in London and at the Leeds University (as of 1941). In 1948 he emigrated to the United States, first teaching at the College of Jewish Studies of Chicago. Rawidowicz served as the chair of the Department of Near-Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. He was the author of several books and essays, some of which were published posthumously.
Rawidowicz was a critic of zionism. In his essay entitled Between Jew and Arab, he suggested that early Arab refugees in Israel were treated differently from Jews as early as 1948. In The Ever-Dying People, he argued that each generation of Jews was afraid of extinction.
Death
Rawidowicz died of a heart attack in 1957 in Waltham, Massachusetts.
