Prof. Moshe Pelli is the Abe and Tess Wise Endowed Professor in Judaic Studies and the Director of the Judaic Studies Program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. He is a leading authority on the Hebrew Enlightenment (Haskalah) and the author of 16 scholarly books and numerous studies on the subject. He also wrote novels and children’s books. Prof. Pelli has been honored with numerous awards for his teaching and contribution to Jewish studies and to Hebrew culture, including the 1991 Abraham Friedman Prize for Hebrew Culture in America and the Distinguished Researcher of the Year in 1996 at the University of Central Florida.