Dr. Moshe Peltz Pelli

Dr. Moshe Peltz Pelli passed away in Winter Park, Florida on January 7, 2026, after living a full life devoted to his beloved family and his academic scholarship. Dr. Pelli was born in Haifa, Israel in 1936 (then known as British-administered Mandatory Palestine, before the 1948 establishment of the State of Israel) to parents Shmuel Zanvil and Golda (Zahava) Peltz. After completing his distinguished military service in Israel, Dr. Pelli forged a unique path by pursuing his academics in the United States, and in 1957 became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Dr. Pelli fell in love in Central Park, New York City, with Dalia Nechuma Potaznik, and they married on May 28, 1961. Dr. Pelli is the father of New York City artist Leemour Pelli and son, attorney Daniel Pelli. In addition, Dr. Pelli is survived by three grandchildren who adored him, Ariel Golda Pelli, Benn Shmuel Pelli and Tomm Pinchas Pelli.

Dr. Pelli earned a B.S. from New York University in 1960 and a Ph.D. in 1967 from Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning (now known as the Annenberg Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania). Dr. Pelli authored 16 scholarly works and over 200 research papers on a wide variety of topics including modern Hebrew literature. In addition, Dr. Pelli published 8 children's books, 15 short stories and 2 novels titled "Al Da'Ateft" and "God Imprisoned." Among Dr. Pelli's most notable scholarly works are "The Shadow of Death Letters in Flames," "Haskalah and Beyond," "In search of Genre Hebrew Enlightenment and Modernity," "The Age of Haskalah Studies in Hebrew Literature of the Enlightenment in Germany," and "The Circle of Hame'Asef Writers at the Dawn of Haskalah," with an image of one of his daughter's sculptures on the cover. His in-depth work dealt with the existential philosophical and moral questions of life and death, often considering painful Jewish subject matters focused on the Holocaust. In addition to being a world-renowned scholar of Holocaust literature, Dr. Pelli was a leading authority on the Jewish and Hebrew Enlightenment. His teaching and research took him to Cornell University, Yeshiva University and finally the University of Central Florida, where he held an endowed chair in Judaic Studies. Although Dr. Pelli received numerous awards for his teaching and contributions to Jewish studies and he traveled the world to participate in academic conferences, nothing pleased him more than to reunite with a former student who spoke about the importance and influence of Professor Pelli's courses.