Dr Judah Jacob Slotki was born in Jerusalem on the 10th of March 1903 (11th of Adar 5663). He married Phyllis L Gittleson in 1948. Together they had one son and one daughter.

Dr Slotki received his BA (Hons. 1st) from the School of Oriental Languages at Manchester University in 1923. He went on to complete his Diploma in Education in 1924, MA in 1925 and PhD in 1946.

He was educated at Manchester Central High School, Manchester Talmudical College, and Manchester University (1920 to 1923). He was stationed in the Civil Defence Service for the duration of the Second World War.

During his professional life he held several prestigious positions in a variety of communal and educational organisations. He was Director of Hebrew Education 1955-77 and Emeritus Director from 1977 till his death in 1988; Chairman of the Junior Education Committee, Tarbut (Hebrew Cultural Association), and Jewish Child’s Day. He was also the Superintendent of Hebrew Education in Manchester (1942-46); Director of Hebrew Education, Leeds (1946- 55); a member of the Salford Education Committee (1968-77); the Bury Education Committee (1968-77); Chairman, Manchester Mizrachi Organisation (1958-77), the Jewish National Fund Education Committee, Manchester (1955-), Yavneh Nursery School, Didsbury (1957-77), and Manchester Jewish Study Circles (1925-50).

Dr Slotki wrote translations and commentaries on many important works from Tanach. These included erudite Bible commentaries on the Books of Ruth (1946), Judges (1951), Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah (1951), as well as the translation of the Soncino Midrash Rabbah (1939)and the index for the Soncino Talmud (1951). He wrote biographies of Manoel Dias Soeiro, better known as the 17^th century Portuguese rabbi, kabbalist, writer, diplomat, printer, publisher, and founder of the first Hebrew printing press, Menasseh ben Israel entitled “Menasseh Ben Israel: his life and times” (1958). He also wrote textbooks for Hebrew education in schools, as well as numerous papers to educational, Hebrew, Jewish, non- Jewish, clerical, and lay journals.

He was awarded the David Bles Hebrew Prize (1922); Graduate Prize, Graduate Bursary (1923). His recreations included walking and reading, and he settled in Salford before his death in 1988.