Raphael, Chaim

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RAPHAEL, CHAIM

RAPHAEL, CHAIM (1908–1994), author and scholar. Born in Middlesborough, he lectured in post-biblical Hebrew at Oxford (1932–39), became a civil servant, and was head of the information division of the British Treasury (1959–68) before returning to academic life as a Jewish social historian. Raphael wrote thrillers such as The Naked Villany (1958) under the pen-name of Jocelyn Davey; the autobiographical Memoirs of a Special Case (1962); and several books on Jewish history and practice, including The Walls of Jerusalem (1968), on the destruction of the Temple in history and legend, The Springs of Jewish Life (1983), and The Sephardi Story (1991).

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