Starr, Joshua

Joshua Starr was born in Brooklyn in 1907. His father died when Joshua was only 9 months old and his mother had to give his son to be raised by relatives. Until the age of 12, Joshua did not have a permanent home, but on his own initiative began to attend a Jewish school . Then his mother remarried, but the relationship of the future historian with his stepfather did not work out. At 15, he graduated from the Brooklyn and in 1922 entered the Teachers Institute of the . During his years of study, Starr suffered extremely from poverty and was forced to take academic leave for the 1924–1925 school year in order to earn a teaching in Ohio . In 1925, he returned to study at the institute, at the same time studying at a junior year at New York University . There he gained fame as the chief editor of the student newspaper “Haeshnav”. In 1927, he completed his studies at the Teachers Institute and took the place of a Sunday school teacher in Chicago . While working there, he received a 's degree the University of Chicago and then spent another year in an this educational institution. Continuing his education, Starr received a degree at the Faculty of Political Science at Columbia University , where Prof. came to work in 1930. Thanks to Baron, who is considered the largest Jewish historian of the 20th century, Starr turned to the subject of Byzantine Jewish history. All these years, Starr continued to be plagued by economic hardship.

In 1933, he received a scholarship from the in Jerusalem and was given the opportunity to participate in excavations near Jericho in 1933-1935, which, according to Starr, was a happy period in his life. Upon returning to the United States, Starr focuses on continuing research and writing a dissertation, while working full-time in a research position at the . This work gave him the opportunity to participate in the activities of Jewish communities in the years of the rise of Nazism and led to the emergence of a number of works on contemporary Jewish history. Supporting the idea of ​​creating a Jewish state, Starr adhered to anti - Zionist views, making him in intellectual and ideological isolation.

At the same time with historical works, Starr showed an interest in criticizing the text of the New Testament and, together with published a paper about the image of Shylock . He also dealt with the problems of demography and after the Second World War investigated the consequences of the Holocaust . Starr worked for a long time as an editor at the journal Jewish Social Studies .

• Starr J. The Jews in the Byzantine empire 641-1204. - 1939. - 266 p.
• Starr J. Jewish Life in Crete Under the Rule of Venice // Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research. - 1942. - V. 12 . - S. 59-114 .
• Starr J. Romania: The Jewel of the Levant after the Fourth Crusade. - 1949. - 123 p.

• Duker AG Joshua Starr 1907-1949 // Jewish Social Studies. - Indiana University Press, 1950. - Vol . 12 , No. 1 . - S. 2-12 .