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January 13, 2025

The Jew Who Lived with the Bedouin to Understand the Biblical Patriarchs

Clinton Bailey, in memoriam.

A native of Buffalo, New York who became the world’s leading expert on Bedouin society, Clinton Bailey died in Jerusalem on January 5 at the age of eighty-eight. Bailey, known in Israel as Itzik, first came to the country in 1957 to study at Hebrew University. He later made aliyah and served in the IDF. But he spent countless days and months with Bedouin and believed that understanding their culture was the key to understanding much of the Hebrew Bible. (You can read about his work here and listen to an interview here.) Zack Rothbart offers a personal reflection on Bailey and his legacy:

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January 13, 2025

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