Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi (May 20, 1932 – December 8, 2009) was the Salo Wittmayer Baron Professor of Jewish History, Culture and Society at Columbia University, a position he held from 1980 to 2008.

Yerushalmi was born in the Bronx, New York City on May 20, 1932, to Yiddish-speaking Russian parents who had immigrated to the United States.

"[2] From the time of receiving his doctorate until his appointment to the Columbia faculty, Yerushalmi taught at Harvard University, where he was Jacob E. Safra Professor of Jewish History and Sephardic Civilization and chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

In 1984, Leon Wieseltier wrote that whereas Yerushalmi was already established as "one of the Jewish community's most important historians" Yerushalmi's latest book "Zakhor" would "establish him as one of its most important critics.

"[4] From 1980 to 2008 he was the Salo Wittmayer Baron Professor of Jewish History, Culture and Society at Columbia University.