Biography
Harkavy was born in 1835 in Navahrudak (in modern-day Belarus). He studied initially in the Volozhin yeshiva and graduated from the Teacher's Institute in Vilna. In 1863, he enrolled at the University of St Petersburg, where he studied Oriental Languages and graduated with the degree of master of history in 1868. He continued his studies in Berlin and Paris, receiving a doctorate in history in 1872.
Harkavy become involved in Jewish communal life in Russia, and was extremely active in various capacities. From 1864 Harkavy was active for a number of years as secretary of the Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia, and from 1873 he was one of the directors of the Jewish community of St. Petersburg.
In 1876 he was appointed head of the Oriental Division in the Imperial Public Library, an astonishing achievement for a Jew under Czarist society's anti-Semitic policies. He remained in this position for the rest of his life. He died in Petrograd.
Read more about this topic: Abraham Harkavy
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