Alexander Dushkin

Born in Suwałki in the Russian Empire (today in Poland), Alexander Dushkin moved to New York in 1902. In 1918, four years after graduating from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America’s teachers’ college, Dushkin completed his doctorate at Columbia University, focusing on Samson Benderly’s New York Bureau of Jewish Education programs. After arriving in Palestine in 1919, he became inspector of Jewish schools and taught at David Yellin’s Teachers’ Seminary in Jerusalem. Dushkin devoted his life to Jewish education, creating a number of programs in the United States and Israel, such as the Board of Jewish Education and the Jewish Teacher’s College, as well as the Department (later School) of Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dushkin was awarded the israel Prize in 1968; he died in Jerusalem.