CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Menachem Ben-Sasson

Historian, Israeli politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ2255438 ↗
Source-derived summary

Menahem Ben-Sasson (Hebrew: מנחם בן-ששון; born 7 July 1951) is an Israeli politician, historian, and former member of the Knesset for Kadima. Between 2009 and 2017 he served as the thirteenth President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, succeeding Menachem Magidor. He has since served as Chancellor of the university.

Biography

Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Ben-Sasson served in a Nahal unit in Ein Tzurim and in the artillery section during his national service in the Israel Defense Forces. He went on to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he gained a BA in History and philosophy and a PhD in the History of the Jewish People in the Islamic Lands.

Ben-Sasson lives in Jerusalem, and is married with three children. In addition to Hebrew, he speaks Arabic, English, French, and German.

Academic career

After completing his PhD in Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ben-Sasson undertook post-doctoral research as a Rothschild Fellow at the Genizah Research Unit at the University of Cambridge. He subsequently became a professor of the History of the Jewish People at the Hebrew University, where he also served as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. He has also taught at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Bar-Ilan University, and LMU Munich.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Menachem Ben-Sasson” as historian, Israeli politician. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1951, 2009, 2017—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1951-07-07. The account is most persuasive where Menachem, Ben-Sasson and Historian can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as historian, Israeli politician. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2255438. VIAF identifies the subject as 24782400. The Library of Congress control number is n83300370. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1951, 2009 and 2017.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Menachem Ben-Sasson”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Menachem Ben-Sasson primary sources, Menachem Ben-Sasson archive and Menachem research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Menachem Ben-Sasson”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Menachem Ben-Sasson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.