Arnold Ehrlich

Arnold Ehrlich was a Polish-American biblical scholar and teacher who made significant contributions to the field of Jewish scripture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His most notable work is the three-volume book Mik'ra Kiph'shuto, published in Hebrew between 1899 and 1901. This seminal work aimed to introduce modern textual criticism of the Bible to a wider Hebrew audience, showcasing Ehrlich's expertise in biblical scholarship.

As a teacher, Ehrlich earned a living by working as a private tutor and instructing at the Hebrew Preparatory School of the Temple Emanu-El Theological School of New York. Although he was a formative influence on notable figures such as Mordecai Kaplan, Ehrlich's academic career was marked by a notable omission: he was never considered for a professorial post at Hebrew Union College. This exclusion was likely due to his earlier involvement in translating the New Testament into Hebrew, a project used to proselytize Jewish converts to Christianity, which may have raised concerns about his suitability for an academic position.