Patai was born in
Budapest,
Austria-Hungary in 1910 to Edith Patai,
née Ehrenfeld, and
József Patai [
hu]. Patai's mother was born in
Nagyvárad to German-speaking, Jewish parents who expressed their commitment to Magyar nationalism by sending their daughter to Hungarian-language schools.[2] Both parents spoke Hungarian and German fluently and educated their children to be perfectly fluent in both languages.[2] His father was a prominent literary figure, author of numerous
Zionist and other writings, including a biography of
Theodor Herzl. József was founder and editor of the Jewish political and cultural journal Mult és jövő, (Past and Future) from 1911 to 1944, a journal that was revived in 1988 by János Köbányai in Budapest. József Patai also wrote an early
History of Hungarian Jews and founded a Zionist organization in Hungary that procured support for the settlement of Jews in the
British Mandate of Palestine.
Education
Raphael Patai studied at
rabbinicalseminaries in and at the
University of Budapest and the
University of Breslau, from which he received a doctorate in
Semitic languages and
Oriental history. He moved to Palestine in 1933, where his parents joined him in 1939, after he received the first doctorate awarded by the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in 1936. He returned briefly to Budapest, where he completed his ordination at the Budapest Rabbinical Seminary.
Career
During the late 1930s and early 1940s Patai taught at the Hebrew University and served as the secretary of the
HaifaTechnion. He founded the
Palestine Institute of Folklore and Ethnology in 1944, serving as its director of research for four years. He also served as scientific director of a Jewish folklore studies program for the
Beit Ha'Am public cultural program in Jerusalem.[3]
Patai's work was wide-ranging but focused primarily on the cultural development of the ancient
Hebrews and
Israelites, on
Jewish history and
culture, and on the anthropology of the
Middle East generally. He was the author of hundreds of scholarly articles and several dozen books, including three autobiographical volumes. In 1985 he was a contributor to an exhibit at the
Museum of New Mexico.[4]
In 1976, Patai was awarded the
National Jewish Book Award in the Jewish History category for The Myth of the Jewish Race[6]
Personal life
Patai married Naomi Tolkowsky, whose family had moved to what was then
Palestine in the early twentieth century; they had two daughters, Jennifer (born 1942) and
Daphne (born 1943).
He died in 1996 in
Tucson, Arizona, at the age of 85.
Longtime
Hebrew University of Jerusalemorganic chemistry professor Saul Patai[7] (1918-1998) was his brother.
^"At the door of the Tent of Meeting by Raphael Patai." in Zackheim, Michele. and Museum of Fine Arts. Museum of New Mexico. (1985). The Tent of Meeting : catalogue & guide. Santa Fe, NM : The Tent of Meeting.