Joseph Eliash Papers, 1973-1994
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
A member of the Oberlin faculty for ten years, Joseph Eliash was a renowned expert on Shi'i Islam. Born in Jerusalem on October 25, 1932, his father Ysrael Eliash was a surgeon and his mother Naomi Eliash was a homemaker. Joseph Eliash studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem where he earned a B.A. in 1958 and an M.A. in 1962. He then undertook doctoral studies at the University of London, earning a Ph.D. in Islamic studies in 1966.
Eliash came to the United States in 1967 on a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center of Near Eastern Studies, University of California at Los Angeles, with support from the Ford Foundation. He taught at UCLA from 1967 until 1971 when he was named assistant professor of Jewish studies at Oberlin College.
Eliash served as the first Program Director, 1972-81, of Oberlin's Judaic and Near Eastern Studies Program, established in 1972. He taught Arabic, Hebrew, Islamic studies, and history of Judaism. He was promoted to associate professor in 1974.
In 1972, he received an H.H. Powers Travel grant and grant-in-aid from Oberlin to edit and translate the sixteenth century Persian manuscript "Chronicles of Baba-y-Lutf." He was invited to read the papers at numerous conferences, including the 1973 International Conference of Orientalists at the Sorbonne in Paris, the 1976 International Conference of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, and the 1979 Conference on Islam and the Modern World at al-Azhar University, Cairo.
From 1978 until his death in 1981, Eliash pursued research under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, supplemented by a Smithsonian Institution grant. With these grants, he undertook to edit and translate selections from the Shi'i Muslim corpus of oral tradition. In 1980 Eliash received media attention when he publicized some of his research conclusions, namely that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had violated Shi'i Muslim law by holding fifty-two American citizens hostage.
Eliash was one of five Oberlin residents to become a naturalized U.S. citizen in November 1976.
He married Lily Wolf on March 18, 1954. They had two children, Adi (born January 25, 1958) and Anat (born May 26, 1959), and the couple later divorced. In 1974, Eliash married Dorothea Gallup, assistant professor in the Judaic and Near Eastern Studies Program. She died of cancer on May 16, 1977, in Munich, Germany.
Joseph Eliash died of a heart attack on March 30, 1981, in Oberlin, Ohio.
Sources Consulted
Faculty file of Joseph Eliash, Alumni and Development Records (RG 28/3).
Author: Melissa Gottwald Administrative InformationFaculty file of Joseph Eliash, Alumni and Development Records (RG 28/3).
Records of the Jewish Studies Program (formerly the Judaic and Near Eastern Studies Program) (RG 9/27).
The papers of Joseph Eliash document his research about Shi'i Muslim law. The papers consist of manuscript materials, printed material, correspondence, and grant documentation.
The papers are arranged in two series: I. Grant Files, and II. Writings Files.
The Grant Files contain material related to a grant (1978-81) from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The stated purpose of this grant was to support Eliash in translating and editing selections from one of the key texts of Shi'i Muslim law, the al-Kafi by Kulayni. These files include copies of the grant application and related correspondence. Additional correspondence (1981-83) of Oberlin College administrators and NEH staff discuss the disposition of Eliash's manuscript following his sudden death in 1981. These papers do not include Eliash's translation of the al-Kafi, though other writings that came out of his research under this grant are filed in Series II. Writings.
The Writing Files contain both printed and manuscript material. The printed material consists of reprints (1977, 1979) from the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. The remainder of this series relates to Eliash's unpublished work "Twelver Shi'ism as seen through the Hadith Tradition." This material consists of a typescript manuscript and drafts of two chapters. This work is an in-depth discussion of Shi'i Islam doctrines with regard to authority and government and is based on a study of the writings of Shi'i jurists and theologians.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series I. Grant Files, 1973-83 (3 folders)
These files contain material related to a grant from the NEH for a translation of selections from al-Kafi by Kulayni. These documents include Eliash's 1977 application, 1979 renewal application, correspondence, and related materials. Also filed here is correspondence of Oberlin College administrators, NEH staff, and publishers regarding the possibility of the posthumous publication of Eliash's translation of al-Kafi.
Series II. Writings Files, 1977, 1979, 1991, 1994, n.d. (7 folders)
This series contains published and unpublished writings of Joseph Eliash. Included are reprints of a book review (1977) and article (1979) concerning Shi'ite Islam. Also filed here are a typescript manuscript and several chapter drafts for "Twelver Shi'ism as seen through the Hadith Tradition." This work was never published.
INVENTORY
Series I. Grant Files, 1973-83 (3 folders)
Box 1
Correspondence and grant material,
1973-81 (2f)
Correspondence re posthumous
publication, 1981-83
Series II. Writings Files, 1977, 1979, 1991, 1994, n.d. (7 folders) *
Box 1 (cont.)
Book Review – "Shi'ite Islam," International
Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 8
(1977): 280-85 (reprint)
"Misconceptions regarding the Juridical Status
of the Iranian 'Ulama'," International
Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
10 (1979): 9-25 (reprint)
"Twelver Shi'ism as seen through the Hadith Tradition"
Manuscript (original and photocopy) (2f)
Chapter 9 "Removal of the Divine,"
typescript draft
Chapter 10 "The Twelfth Imam," typed and
handwritten draft (photocopy)
Epilogue, handwritten and typescript draft
Robert Morningstar correspondence re:
Sanford Shepard, 1991,
1994 [restricted]