Rabbi David Weiss Halivni is a scholar of Talmud and a Holocaust survivor, originally of Sighet, Romania. The first page of the Vilna Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a The Talmud (Hebrew: תלמוד) is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Sighet, also spelled Sighetul Marmaţiei (Hungarian: Máramarossziget, Ruthenian: Sihota), formely Sighet, is a city in Maramureş county near Iza river, in Romania. ...

Personal history

Rabbi David Weiss Halivni

Professor Halivni's name was formerly "David Weiss"; however, after World War II, he wanted to change his name, because "Weiss" had been the last name of a certain Nazi guard in a concentration camp where he had been imprisoned. He first thought to change his name to "David Halivni", as halivni in Hebrew means the white one, just as Weiss means white in Yiddish. However, he did not want to give up the name "Weiss" entirely, for it had been the name of his teacher / grandfather, Yesha'yah Weiss. Therefore, he settled on "David Weiss-Halivni." Image File history File links Halivni. ... Image File history File links Halivni. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Weiss (German for white) may refer to: Mount Weiss, a mountain located in the Sunwapta River valley of Jasper National Park USS Weiss (DE-378), a vessel USS Weiss (APD-135), a Crosley-class high-speed transport Weissbier, the German name for wheat beer Weiss (ice cream), an ice cream... National Socialism redirects here. ...

He studied for a short while in the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in New York. He is the author of Mekorot u'Mesorot, a projected ten volume commentary on the Talmud. He is also the author of the English language volumes Peshat and Derash, Revelation Restored, his memoirs The Book and the Sword and others. Rabbi Halivni also served as Littauer Professor of Talmud and Classical Rabbinics in the Department of Religion at Columbia University. He is the Head of the Metivta of the Union for Traditional Judaism [1]. Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin (also known as Mesivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin) (MYRCB) or as Chaim Berlin, is a major Orthodox Judaism all-male yeshiva located in Brooklyn, New York. ... Columbia University is a private research university in the United States. ... The Union for Traditional Judaism is a non-denominational Jewish communal services organization. ...

A close student (or talmid-haver) of Rabbi Saul Lieberman, he studied with him for many years at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Conservative Judaism. Halivni left the Seminary in the 1980s after the controversy surrounding the training and ordination of women as rabbis. He felt that there may be halakhic methods for ordaining women as rabbis but that more time was needed before such could be legitimately instituted. His disagreement with the process by which JTS studied the ordination of women led to his break with the seminary and co-found the Union for Traditional Judaism. Saul Lieberman (1898-1983), was a rabbi and a scholar of Talmud. ... The Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, known in the Jewish community simply as JTS, is the academic and spiritual center of Conservative Judaism, and is the movements main rabbinical seminary. ... Conservative Judaism, (also known as Masorti Judaism in Israel predominantly), is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s. ... The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... Rabbi, in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root word רַב, rav, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished (in knowledge). Sephardic and Yemenite Jews pronounce this word רִבִּי ribbī; the modern Israeli pronunciation רַבִּי rabbī is derived from a recent (18th...

Controversy

His methodology of source-critical analysis of the Talmud is controversial among most Orthodox Jews, but is accepted in the non-Orthodox Jewish community, and by some within Modern Orthodoxy. Halivni terms the anonymous editors of the Talmud as Stammaim, placing them after the period of the Tannaim, and Amoraim, but before the Geonic period. He posits that these Stammaim were the recipients of terse tannaitic and amoraic statements and that they endeavored to fill in the reasoning and argumentative background to such apodictic statements. The methodology employed in his commentary Mekorot u' Mesorot attempts to give Halivni's analysis of the correct import and context and demonstrates how the Talmudic Stammaim often erred in their understanding of the original context. The first page of the Vilna Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a The Talmud (Hebrew: תלמוד) is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history. ... The Mishnah (Hebrew משנה, Repetition) is a major source of rabbinic Judaisms religious texts. ... Amora, plural Amoraim, (from the Hebrew root amar to say or tell over), were renowned Jewish scholars who said or told over the teachings of the Oral law, from about 200 to 500 CE in Babylonia and Palestine. ... Geonim (also Gaonim) (גאונים) (Singular: Gaon [גאון] meaning Genius in Hebrew) were the rabbis who were the Jewish Talmudic sages who were the generally accepted leaders of the Jewish community in the early medieval era. ...

Another controversial aspect of Halivni thought is his attempt in his books Peshat and Derash and Revelation Restored to harmonize biblical criticism with traditional religious belief. He has developed a concept that he terms Chate'u Israel, in which he states that the biblical texts originally given to Moses have become irretrievably corrupted.

Impact

His impact on the Jewish Theological Seminary has been profound. Most of the Talmud professors at JTS follow his source-critical approach. This has impacted the manner in which Talmud is taught to its students. It has been noted that there is a qualitative difference between the pre-Halivni period and the post Halivni period at JTS in terms of the students' Talmudic literacy and scholarship. Halivni himself has indicated on many occasions that he has been unable to pass on his methodology to his students. The Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, known in the Jewish community simply as JTS, is the academic and spiritual center of Conservative Judaism, and is the movements main rabbinical seminary. ...

Until recently, Halivni was the spiritual leader of Kehilat Orach Eliezer (KOE, [2]), a congregation on Manhattan's Upper West Side, a position he had held since the congregation's foundation in 1992. In 2002, there was a big controversy at this congregation, for many members of the community wanted to allow women to be called up to the Torah, which, while supported by a then-recent legal argument by Rabbi Mendel Shapiro, is opposed by many Rabbis for halakhic and sociological reasons. Halivni was not excited about the practice, and told the congregation: “I shall allow it, but only if it is done no more frequently than a few times a year, and only if it is done in a separate room from the ‘real’ service.” Thus, the congregation allows this practice only under very limited circumstances. Nevertheless, even this “compromise” was far too liberal for many congregants. On the other side, many liberals favored a Partnership minyan approach and were frustrated by KOE's failure to include women in the main Torah service. Kehilat Orach Eliezer traces its roots to 1983 when Rabbi Rabbi Louis (Eliezer) Finkelstein zl, former chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, became unable to leave his home to attend Shabbat and holiday services. ... The Upper West Side is a neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River above West 59th Street. ... Tora redirects here. ... Mendel Shapiro, a Jerusalem lawyer and Modern Orthodox Rabbi, is the author of a halakhic analysis [1] (pdf) permitting women to read from the Torah in prayer services with men on Shabbat under certain conditions. ... Halakha (הלכה in Hebrew or Halakhah, Halacha, Halachah) is the collective corpus of Jewish law, custom and tradition regulating all aspects of behavior. ... Partnership minyan (pl. ...

Current work

In July 2005, Rabbi Halivni in retiring from Columbia University, emigrated to Israel. He now holds a position at Bar-Ilan University, and also teaches at Hebrew University. Aliyah (Hebrew: עלייה, ascent or going up) is a term widely used to mean Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel (and since its establishment in 1948, the State of Israel). ... Bar-Ilan University (BIU, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן) is a university in Ramat Gan, Israel. ... The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים) is one of Israels biggest and most important institutes of higher learning and research. ...

Rabbi Dr. Halivni is married to Dr. Zipporah Halivni, formerly of the Chemistry department in Columbia University, and is father to three sons.