Lawrence L. Besserman, senior tutor of Adams House and assistant professor of English Literature, is leaving Harvard at the end of this semester to accept a position teaching english literature at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

"I feel very close to Harvard and Adams House, and hope to keep in touch," Besserman, who has been at Harvard for 11 years, including three as senior tutor, said yesterday.

Besserman, who teaches English 10, "The Tradition of English Literature," and English 200a, "Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Poetry," will be leaving for Israel in August, even though his contract with Harvard was not due to expire until the end of next year.

"We couldn't have had a more patient or wiser senior tutor," Adams House Master Robert J. Kiely said yesterday. Besserman's departure "is good for him, not so good for us," Kiely added.

Kiely said he is considering several candidates for the post of senior tutor, but has not yet made a final choice. Kiely will make a recommendation to Dean Fox, who will then officially make the appointment.

Pilgrimage

"I'm sorry he's not going to be around--he makes my papers so much better," David R. Heilbronner '79, an English major in Adams House, said yesterday. Heilbronner added that since "the Bessermans take their religion pretty seriously, the move seems to be partly a pilgrimage."

"He's a hell of a guy, but the main thing is that we'll miss that kid Sarah, the one who tugs on everybody's arm," an Adams House senior said yesterday.