[1] He held the position of professor of Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and represented Mapai in the first Knesset, serving as Minister of Education.

He also compiled the monumental work "Israel in the Exile" (1961–1966, originally Yisrael ba-gola),[3] encompassing the history of the Jewish people up to the era of the Black Death.

His pioneering research focused on community life, encompassing family, marriage, household arrangements, Torah and wisdom, beliefs, scholarly perspectives, burial practices, and festivals.

Moreover, Dinur explored various Jewish streams, internal disputes, persecutions, religious debates between Jews and Christians, and messianic movements.

As a historian he described Zionism in the diaspora as "a huge river into which flowed all the smaller streams and tributaries of the Jewish struggle down the ages",[4] and tracing its origins to 1700, when history records a first wave of Polish Jews emigrating to Jerusalem.

[5] He believed "messianic ferment" played a crucial role in Jewish history,[6] and introduced the idea of mered hagalut ("Revolt of the Diaspora").