Bar-Ilan University in the context of "Beth midrash"

Bernard Spolsky (Hebrew: ברנרד ספולסקי; born in Wellington, New Zealand 11 February 1932; died in Jerusalem, Israel 20 August 2022) was a professor emeritus in linguistics at Bar-Ilan University (Israel), specializing in sociolinguistics, educational linguistics, and applied linguistics.

Born to a Jewish family in Wellington, New Zealand, Spolsky moved to Israel in 1958 after completing his studies at Wellington College and getting his degree at Victoria University. He received a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Montreal in 1966. After briefly serving in the Israel Defense Forces he taught at several North American universities such as McGill University, Indiana University, and the University of New Mexico. His large body of linguistic research encompasses bilingual education, language policy, and educational linguistics.

Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; Hebrew: מדעי היהדות, romanized: madey ha-yahadut, lit. 'sciences of Judaism') is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (especially Jewish history), Middle Eastern studies, Asian studies, Oriental studies, religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages (Jewish languages), political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies. Jewish studies as a distinct field is mainly present at colleges and universities in North America.

Related fields include Holocaust research and Israel studies, and in Israel, Jewish thought.Bar-Ilan University has the world's largest school of Jewish studies; while Harvard was the first American university, and perhaps the first in the world, to appoint a full-time scholar of Judaica to its faculty.