Daniel Sivan, Leading Scholar of Ancient Hebrew and Semitic Languages, Dies at 76

Daniel Sivan, an Israeli Emeritus professor whose decades of scholarship reshaped the study of ancient Hebrew and Northwest Semitic languages, died on August 6, 2026, in Lehavim, Israel, at the age of 76.

Born Daniel Sibboni in Casablanca in the French protectorate of Morocco, Sivan immigrated to Israel as a child with his parents and two brothers, settling in the Shikkun Canaan neighbourhood of Safed. He joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1967, serving as a coding instructor in the signals corps, before pursuing higher education at Tel Aviv University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Bible studies and Hebrew language in 1970, followed by a master’s degree focused on Northwest Semitic elements in Akkadian texts from Ugarit under Professor Anson Frank Rainey. He completed his doctorate on Northwestern Semitic vocabulary in Akkadian texts from the Land of Israel and Syria, guided by professors Gideon Goldenberg and Rainey.