Background
AYALON, David was born on May 17, 1914 in Haifa. Son of Michael and Rela Ayalon.
professor of the history of the Islamic peoples
AYALON, David was born on May 17, 1914 in Haifa. Son of Michael and Rela Ayalon.
Reali High School, Haifa and Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Within Israel he was best known for the Arabic-Hebrew dictionary he co-compiled in 1947. After completing secondary school in Haifa, Ayalon went in 1933 to study at the recently founded Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Despite service in the British Army during World World War World War II he gained his Doctor of Philosophy in 1946.
In the late 1940s he changed his name to David Ayalon.
Ayalon founded the department of modern Middle East studies there in 1949, and was its head until 1956. From 1963 to 1967 he led the Institute of Asian and African Studies at the Hebrew University.
Institute for Advanced Study. Princeton 1976-1977; Israeli Academy, of Sciences and Humanities since 1961, Emeritus since 1983.
Married Myriam Ayalon in 1965.