Professor Yona Sabar received his his B.A. in 1963 from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 1965 he was awarded a Yale University fellowship to study in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, receiving his Ph.D. in 1970. He taught at Yeshiva University and Yale University for two years. In 1972 he joined the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Department of Near Eastern languages and Cultures, serving as a Full Professor since 1982 till his retirement in 2016.