The Wandering Mathematician

Shmuel Kantorovitz

The story begins with Shmuel’s roots in the centers of Lithuanian Jewry, then continues to the Old City of Jerusalem, and from there to Damascus. When his father was sent to Casablanca, Morocco, in 1930 to teach Hebrew and Jewish subjects at the school of the Alliance Israelite Universelle, young Shmuel faced many interesting and challenging experiences dealing with the world of French culture.

After the family’s return to Jerusalem in 1949, Shmuel tells of his struggles with the new curriculum in an Israeli high school, followed by his studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After graduating from university, he worked as a mathematician in the scientific unit of the army, where he spent almost five years. Concurrently, he enjoyed the novel experience of teaching university mathematics at the brand-new Bar Ilan University. It was at Bar Ilan that he met Ita Braude, whom he married less than a month before his planned flight to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he completed his PhD.

Then the real wanderings began in earnest, moving between universities and research institutes, such as Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey; Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut; the University of Illinois in Chicago, Illinois; and then back to Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. The wanderings continued later when he spent his sabbatical years as a visiting professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, Ohio; the University of Ohio in Athens, Ohio; and more.

While telling the story of his wanderings, Shmuel also shares his unique experiences raising his family in many of those locations. One of the most fascinating anecdotes is his “must-do” coast-to-coast camping expedition with his family and camping equipment packed in the car.

After reading this true story, one is bound to reflect on its optimistic spirit, full of thanksgiving to God for all His kindness, similar to King David’s words, “From the dust He lifts up the poor, and from the trash heaps He raises the destitute, to seat them with the nobles of His people…” (Psalms 113:7–8).