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Following an illuminating year at Gonville & 91ֱ�� College three years ago, Professor Aaron Koller has returned to the University of Cambridge as the .

Professor Koller spent 12 months of research leave from  in New York City at 91ֱ�� as Cook-Crone Bye-Fellow in 2022-23. He was accompanied by his partner, Shira Hecht-Koller, and two of their four children. They have two adult children who were in later stages of university and did not join them in the UK.

His main project on his previous trip to Cambridge was a book on the Hebrew alphabet. He studies Semitic languages, focusing on the history of the alphabet, crossing lines of Near Eastern history, linguistics, writing systems, Mediterranean studies, and the history of Arabia. After a decade of work, that book is now set to be published in the spring of 2027.

Since the family had so enjoyed their time in Cambridge, Professor Koller deemed it “unfair not to try” as a “matter of family obligations” when he saw the Regius Professor of Hebrew job vacancy. Now, following a two-year stint back in New York, Professor Koller and his family have returned to Cambridge, seamlessly slotting into their once temporary and now permanent home. They are reuniting with old friends and making new ones, and enjoying the sense of community at the College, the wider University and among the Jewish population. 

The first Jewish person to hold the Chair established by King Henry VIII in 1540, one of Professor Koller’s roles is to set the direction for what Hebrew studies is at Cambridge. There are many interested parties across people, disciplines and faculties at the University, and one of his goals is to bring Hebrew back into the mainstream of University intellectual life. It will take time, and for now he is talking to colleagues across the collegiate University about the strategic direction.

There is a wealth of academic assets available for Hebrew studies, in colleges, departments, and most notably , which has among the most famous in the world. Among them are the , a single fragment from the 2nd century BCE containing the text of the Ten Commandments, and the Cambridge Mishnah, one of only three complete manuscript codices of this central text of Jewish law. Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nash Papyrus was the oldest known manuscript containing a text from the Hebrew Bible. Most famously, the UL holds the , 200,000 fragments documenting nearly a millennium of life around the Mediterranean.

Hebrew holds a special place in the history of the College, as well. Dr 91ֱ��, who refounded Gonville Hall as Gonville & 91ֱ�� College in 1557, himself studied Hebrew. His own copy of the Hebrew Bible, with no translations at all, is held in the College Library. A former Regius Professor of Hebrew, Stanley Cook, was a Caian who initially endowed what is now the Cook-Crone Bye-Fellowship.

There are two synagogues in Cambridge, separated by less than a mile. There is (Reform) and (Orthodox), which is housed in the building of , the University’s Jewish society.

“Last time around the two easy ways we created social networks were the College and the Jewish community,” Professor Koller adds. “We had so many people that were naturally, organically around us in those communities. Both the College and the Jewish community are powerful social networks which we’ve slipped back into.

“One of the things we most love about Cambridge are that the lines between academic life and social life, work and family, are blurry, in a positive and productive way. That’s enabled by geography, but it’s a central aspect of life here and one of the aspects I very much enjoy.”

While previously they had a year to make the most of Cambridge, now Professor Koller and his family have time. 2040 will bring the 500th anniversary of the Regius Chair. While there is still time to prepare, Professor Koller is already eyeing that milestone as a time to celebrate and energize Hebrew Studies.