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===Early life and education===
Rodinson was born in Paris on 26 January 1915. Neither he nor his sister learned Yiddish. The family was poor, so Rodinson became an errand boy at the age of 13 after obtaining a primary school certificate. But his learning thrived through borrowed books and obliging teachers who didn't demand payment,<ref name ="Johnson">{{cite news |first=Douglas |last=Johnson |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jun/03/guardianobituaries.france |title=Maxime Rodinson, Marxist historian of Islam |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=3 June 2004 }}</ref> and Rodinson began to study [[oriental languages]], at first on Saturday afternoons and in the evenings.
In 1932, thanks to a rule allowing persons without academic qualifications to take the competitive entrance examination, Rodinson gained entry to the Ecole des Langues Orientales and prepared for a career as a diplomat-interpreter. He studied Arabic but later, preparing a thesis in comparative Semitics, he also learned [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], which surprised his family. In 1937, he entered the National Council of Research, became a full-time student of [[Islam]], and joined the [[French Communist Party|Communist Party]].<ref name="Johnson" />
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