Dan was born in 1935 in
Budapest,
Hungary, from where, at the age of four, he and his family fled out of fear of
Nazism, settling later in
Jerusalem. All the biographical documents about Joseph Dan (including his own website) give his birthplace as
Bratislava,
Slovakia, a version created by his father to escape repatriation by the British government in
British Mandate Palestine. As a teenager Dan studied at the
Hebrew University High School. Later, in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Dan began a double major in
Assyriology and Jewish Thought. Under the influence of the revered teacher Gershom Scholem, he was attracted towards Jewish mysticism. He received his doctorate in 1964 under the guidance of Isaiah Tishby, his thesis titled
The Speculative Basis of the Ethical Teachings of Chassidei Ashkenaz. Having written more than 60 books, he had published by the time of his death the first thirteen volumes of a project titled "Toledot Torat Hasod Ha'ivrit" ("History of Hebraic Mysticism and Esotericism",
Zalman Shazar Center, Jerusalem), which he described as "an attempt by one individual to write the entire history of Jewish mysticism: not some executive summary, but rather a full-blown academic survey abridgment for executives but with academic detail". ==Books==