Joseph Ginat (, March 6, 1936 – 2009) was an Israeli anthropologist, author, political advisor, and soldier.
Biography
Joseph Ginat was a Sabra, a Jew born in Atarot settlement north to Jerusalem before Israel was created on May 14, 1948. Ginat's grandfather, a Levite, came to live in the Promised Land and to be buried in what he considered to be sacred soil.
Military service
During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, at twelve-years-old, Ginat was given a World War I rifle and told to defend the east entry of a small Jewish village north of Jerusalem. He parachuted into the Sinai Peninsula with the Paratroopers Brigade during the Suez Crisis. Ginat fought in the battle of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in 1967 and served as an aide-de-camp to General Moshe Dayan and a recognizant for the tank brigade.
Education and academic career
Ginat received his Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1964 and his Master of Arts from Tel Aviv University in anthropology in 1970. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Utah's Department of Anthropology in 1975 submitting a dissertation entitled "A Rural Arab Community in Israel: Marriage Patterns and Woman's Status."
Ginat was an instructor at the University of Haifa from 1974 to 1975, lecturer from 1976 to 1981, senior lecturer from 1982 to 1987, and associate Professor from 1988 to 1996. He was made full Professor at The University of Haifa in 1996.
He served as a visiting professor at numerous other universities: 1970, 1972 — Visiting Instructor, University of Utah 1971, 1975 — Visiting Professor, Brigham Young University, Utah (summers) 1974-1975 — Instructor, University of Haifa, Israel 1976-1981 — Lecturer (Assistant Professor), University of Haifa 1978 — Visiting Professor, University of Utah (spring, summer) 1979 — Visiting Professor, Tel Aviv University (summer) 1981-1982 — Visiting Professor, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada 1982-1985 — Senior Lecturer, University of Haifa 1986 — Teaching Anthropology, Department of Land of Israel, University of Haifa 1988-1989 — Visiting Professor, Tel Aviv University (part-time) 1988-1996 — Associate Professor, University of Haifa 1992-1996 — Director, Jewish-Arab Center, University of Haifa 1996 — Full Professor, University of Haifa 1998-2000 — Visiting Professor, The University of Oklahoma 1998-2007-Internation Studies Program -Peace Studies, University of Oklahoma
Professional appointments
1964-1968 — Director, Central and Southern District, Prime Minister of Israel's Office, Department of Arab Affairs, Israel 1968-1975 — Deputy Advisor on Arab Affairs to Prime Minister of Israel (on leave 1970-1972, 1974–1975) 1976-1978 — Senior Researcher, Prime Minister's Office, Department of Arab Affairs 1980-1981 — Member, Advisory Committee on Bedouin Sedentarization, Ministry of Agriculture, Israel 1980-1981 — Personal Advisor on Arab Affairs to the Late Moshe Dayan 1985-1986 — Advisor on Arab Affairs to the Prime Minister and Senior Assistant to Minister Ezer Weizman, the Prime Minister's Office 1987-1989 — Advisor on Arab Affairs to Vice Premier and the Minister of Agriculture 1989-1992 — Director, The Israeli Academic Center in Cairo, Egypt 1993-1996 — Senior Advisor to the Minister of Tourism, Israel 1993-1996 — Member, National Advisory Committee for Women Status and Role, attached Prime Minister's Office 1994 — Advisor to the Israeli Team, Multilateral Committee on Refugees 1995 — Chairman, Committee for Relationships with Arab and Mouslim Countries, The Labor Party, Israel
Work with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Ginat was influential in Mormon history, and developed personal relationships with several LDS Church presidents. Ginat learned from Ezra Taft Benson that one of the earliest LDS apostles, Orson Hyde, had traveled from synagogue to synagogue in Europe trying to convince Jews to return to Jerusalem, and had dedicated the holy land for their return in 1841. Because this predated Theodor Hertzl, who is widely credited as being the father of modern Zionism, Ginat saw Hyde as having been the first Zionist, and went to great lengths to honor him as such.
Ginat was instrumental in the construction of an Orson Hyde Memorial Garden on the Mount of Olives. There is also an Orson Hyde Square located at Netanya Academic College, north of Tel Aviv, where Ginat served as college vice-president.