Prof. Avigdor Shinan, born in Prague (1946 – in Israel since 1949), completed all of his academic degrees at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he also taught in the Department for Hebrew Literature, and from where he retired in 2012 as a Full Professor. His fields of research include the Sefer Ha’aggadah and the Midrash, Aramaic translations of the Bible and the Siddur. He has written ten books and approximately 140 articles in these fields, in Hebrew and English. In the last two decades he has been deeply involved in the dissemination of Israeli culture in the wider public, in Israel and abroad: through lectures in various frameworks, continuing education seminars for teachers, and popular-scientific publications (for example Pirkei Avot: A New Israeli Commentary). He serves as the academic advisor for the AVI CHAI Foundation and for BEIT AVI CHAI, participating in many BEIT AVI CHAI events and is responsible for the production of books within the framework of the AVI CHAI library.