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{{other people|David Weiss}}
[[File:Professor David Halivni.jpg|thumb|right|250px|David Halivni, American-Israeli researcher of Talmudic and Rabbinical literature]]
{{Short description|Israeli-American rabbi (1927–2022)}}
{{verification|date=September 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = David Weiss Halivni
| image = File:Halivni.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Halivni in 2016
| birth_name = David Weiss
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|09|27}}
| birth_place = [[Kobyletska Poliana]], [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|06|28|1927|09|27}}
| death_place = [[Jerusalem]], Israel
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Rabbi, scholar, talmudist
| alma_mater = [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]]<br/>[[Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin]]<br/>[[Brooklyn College]]
| awards = [[Bialik Prize]] (1985)<br/>[[Israel Prize]] (2008)<br/>[[Guggenheim Fellowship]]
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}


'''David Weiss Halivni''' ({{lang-he|דוד וייס הלבני}}) (born 1927) is an [[United States|American]]-[[Israelis|Israeli]] [[rabbi]], scholar in the domain of [[Judaism|Jewish Sciences]] and professor of [[Talmud]].
'''David Weiss Halivni''' ({{langx|he|דָּוִד וַיְיס הַלִּבְנִי}}; September 27, 1927 – June 28, 2022) was a European-born [[American-Israeli]] [[rabbi]], [[scholar]] in the domain of [[Jewish studies|Jewish sciences]], and Professor of [[Talmud]]. He served as ''[[Rosh Yeshiva|Reish Metivta]]'' of the [[Union for Traditional Judaism]]'s [[Institute of Traditional Judaism|rabbinical school]].


==Biography==
==Biography==
David Weiss was born in the small town of [[Kobyletska Poliana]] (Кобилецька Поляна, Poiana Cobilei, Gergyanliget) in [[Carpathian Ruthenia]], then in Czechoslovakia (now in [[Rakhiv Raion]], in [[Ukraine]]). His parents separated when he was 4 years old, and he grew up in the home of his grandfather, a Talmud scholar in [[Sziget]], [[Romania]].<ref name="haaretz.com">{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/a-living-talmud-encyclopedia-1.239425 |date=February 15, 2008 |title=A living Talmud encyclopedia |newspaper=Haaretz |first=Yair |last=Sheleg}}</ref> During the [[Holocaust]], at the age of 16 he was deported to [[Auschwitz]]. After a week he was transferred to a forced labor camp, [[Gross-Rosen concentration camp|Gross-Rosen]], then to [[AL Wolfsberg]], and later to [[Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp|Mauthausen]] camp and was the only member of his family to survive.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.juf.org/news/israel.aspx?id=39226 |title=Schechter welcomes renowned scholar David Halivni |date=December 12, 2008 |accessdate=2012-07-09}}</ref>
David Weiss was born on September 27, 1927, in [[Kobyletska Poliana]] (Кобилецька Поляна, Poiana Cobilei, Gyertyánliget) in [[Carpathian Ruthenia]], then in [[Czechoslovakia]] (now in [[Rakhiv Raion]], [[Ukraine]]).<ref name="nytobit" /> His parents separated when he was 4 years old, and he grew up in the home of his maternal grandfather, Rabbi Isaiah (Shaye) Weiss, a [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic]] Talmud scholar in [[Sighetu Marmației|Sighet]], [[Romania]].<ref name="haaretz.com">{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/a-living-talmud-encyclopedia-1.239425 |date=February 15, 2008 |title=A living Talmud encyclopedia |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |first=Yair |last=Sheleg |access-date=November 18, 2018}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Bronstein |first=Shalom |date=July 1, 2008 |title=Case Study: Using ITS Records to Discover Fate of the Family of World-Renowned Talmudist Professor David Halivni |url=https://avotaynuonline.com/2008/07/case-study-using-its-records-to-discover-fate-of-the-family-of-world-renowned-talmudist-professor-david-halivni-by-shalom-bronstein/ |access-date=August 23, 2022 |website=Avotaynu Online}}</ref>


His grandfather began teaching him at age 5, and he was regarded as a [[illui|prodigy]]; he received [[semikha|semicha]] (rabbinic ordination) at age 15 from Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Gross of the town's [[yeshiva]].<ref name="He">See the Hebrew Wikipedia article [[:he:דוד הלבני]]</ref><ref name=":0" />
When he arrived in the [[United States]] at the age of 18, he was placed in a Jewish [[orphanage]] where he created a stir by challenging the [[kashrut]] of the institution since the supervising rabbi did not have a beard and, more importantly, was not fluent in the commentaries of the Pri Magadim by Rabbi [[Joseph ben Meir Teomim|Yoseph Te'omim]].{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} This was a standard for Rabbis in Europe. A [[social worker]] introduced him to [[Saul Lieberman]], a leading Talmudist at the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]] (JTS) in New York, who recognized his brilliance and took him under his wing. Weiss studied with Lieberman for many years at the JTS.


In March 1944, German troops arrived in Sighet to deport the town's Jewish population to [[Internment|concentration camps]]. Weiss, then 16 years old, was sent to [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]] along with his grandfather, mother, and sister; his father, Ephraim Bezalel Viderman, was murdered by the Nazis elsewhere.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.juf.org/news/israel.aspx?id=39226 |title=Schechter welcomes renowned scholar David Halivni |first=Tami R. |last=Warshawsky |date=December 12, 2008 |website=[[Jewish United Fund]] |access-date=November 18, 2018}}</ref> The remaining members of his family at Auschwitz were murdered, leaving Weiss as the sole survivor of his family at age 16.<ref name="nytobit" /> One week after he arrived at Auschwitz, Weiss transferred to the [[Arbeitslager|forced labor camps]] at [[Gross-Rosen concentration camp|Gross-Rosen]], [[Stalag XVIII-A|Wolfsberg]], and then [[Mauthausen concentration camp|Mauthausen]], where he worked in a munitions plant.
Initially, he studied in [[Yeshiva Chaim Berlin]] and was allowed to not attend lectures because of his advanced standing. Over the next decade, he completed his elementary, high school and earned a Bachelor's Degree at [[Brooklyn College]] and a [[Master's Degree]] in [[philosophy]] and a [[Doctorate]] in Talmud.<ref name="haaretz.com" />


When he arrived in the United States at the age of 18 after his liberation, he was placed in a Jewish [[orphanage]], where he created a stir by challenging the [[kashrut]] of the institution. A [[social worker]] introduced him to Rabbi [[Saul Lieberman]], a leading Talmudist at the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]] (JTS) in New York, who recognized his brilliance and took him under his wing. Weiss later studied with Lieberman for many years at the JTS.
He married Zipporah Hager, a descendant of the [[Vizhnitz (Hasidic dynasty)|Vizhnitzer Rebbes]]. They had 3 children: Baruch (formally known as Bernard), Ephraim, and Yeshiahu. Baruch married Laura Blumenfeld and they had three children, Daniel, Rebecca, and Benjamin. Baruch and Laura currently live in Washington DC, and send their children to the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, in Rockville Maryland. Yishayahu (Shai) married Diane and they have three wonderful kids, Avidan, Hadar, and Eliana. Weiss later changed his name to "Halivni," a [[Hebrew]] translation for "weiss" or "white." He originally wanted to abandon the surname Weiss because that was the name of a guard in the concentration camp in which he was interned. He initially considering changing his name to Halivni; however, out of respect for this grandfather/teacher Yeshayahu Weiss, he maintained a memory of the family name, using the compound name Weiss Halivni.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}


Initially, he studied in [[Yeshiva Chaim Berlin]] under [[Yitzchak Hutner]]<ref name="He"/> and was allowed to forgo lectures because of his advanced standing. Over the next decade, he completed high school; earned a bachelor's degree in [[philosophy]] from [[Brooklyn College]]; a [[Master's Degree|master's degree]] in philosophy from [[NYU]], and his [[doctorate]] in Talmud at [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America|JTS]].<ref name="haaretz.com" />
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. Halivni also served as Littauer Professor of Talmud and Classical Rabbinics in the Department of Religion at [[Columbia University]].


He married Zipporah Hager, a descendant of the [[Vizhnitz (Hasidic dynasty)|Vizhnitzer Rebbes]], in 1953, and the couple settled in Manhattan.<ref name="nytobit" /> They had three children: Baruch (Bernard), Ephraim, and Yeshiahu. Halivni had six grandchildren: Avidan, Hadar, Daniel, Rebecca, Benjamin (Jamin), and Eliana.
Halivni left JTS in 1983 after the controversy surrounding the training and ordination of women as [[rabbi]]s.<ref name="haaretz.com" /> 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, and that the decision had been made as a policy decision by the governing body of the Seminary rather than as a ''psak halachah'' within the traditional rabbinic legal process. His disagreement with the process by which JTS studied the ordination of women led to his break with the seminary and his co-founding of the [[Union for Traditional Judaism]].{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}


Weiss, which is German for ''white'', later changed his name to "Halivni," the Hebrew word for ''white''.<ref name="nytobit" /> He died on June 18, 2022, at his home in Jerusalem at the age of 94.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite web|title=David Weiss Halivni, Controversial Talmudic Scholar, Dies at 94|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/17/nyregion/david-weiss-halivni-dead.html|work=The New York Times|date=July 17, 2022|last=Berger|first=Joseph|access-date=July 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>[https://www.inn.co.il/news/569937 חוקר התלמוד הרב דוד וייס הלבני הלך לעולמו] {{in lang|he}}</ref>
==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 texts of the Talmud as having been said by ''Stammaim'' (based on the phrase " stama d'talmuda" which refers to the anonymous material in the [[Gemara]]), placing them after the period of the [[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.


==Academic career==
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.
For many years he served as a Professor of Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS). He resigned in 1983.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sheleg |first1=Yair |title=A Living Talmud Encyclopedia |url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.4992076 |website=Haaretz |access-date=February 18, 2022 |language=en |date=February 15, 2008}}</ref> Halivni later served as Littauer Professor of Talmud and Classical Rabbinics in the Department of Religion at [[Columbia University]]. In July 2005, he retired from Columbia University and moved to Israel, where he taught at the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]] and [[Bar Ilan University]] until his death.


Halivni's "source-critical approach" to Talmud study had a major impact on academic understanding and study of the Talmud.<ref>Encyclopaedia Judaica 2nd ed. entry "Talmud, Babylonian"</ref> The traditional understanding viewed the Talmud as a unified homogeneous work. While other scholars had also treated the Talmud as a multi-layered work, Halivni's innovation (primarily in the second volume of his ''Mekorot u-Mesorot'') was to distinguish between the attributed, [[wiktionary:onymous|onymous]] statements, which are generally succinct rabbinic law ([[Halakha|Halakhic]]) opinions or inquiries attributed to known [[Amoraim]], and the anonymous statements within a given [[sugya]] (Talmudic passage). A sugya consists of a longer elaboration or analysis, often consisting of dialectic discussion that Halivni attributed to the later authors -- "Stamma'im" (or [[Savora]]'im). It has been noted that indeed the [[Jerusalem Talmud]] is very similar to the [[Babylonian Talmud]], minus Stammaitic activity, which is to be found only in the latter.<ref>Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.), entry "Jerusalem Talmud"</ref>
Another controversial aspect of Halivni's 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.


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 texts of the Talmud as having been said by ''Stammaim'' (based on the phrase "stama d'talmuda" which refers to the anonymous material in the [[Gemara]]), who lived after the period of the [[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.
In Revelation Restored, Rabbi David Weiss Halivni develops a theory of Chate'u Yisroel (literally, "Israel has sinned"): "According to the biblical account itself, the people of Israel forsook the Torah, in the dramatic episode of the golden calf, only forty days after the revelation at Sinai. From that point on, until the time of Ezra, the scriptures reveal that the people of Israel were steeped in idolatry and negligent of the Mosaic law. Chate'u Yisrael, states that in the period of neglect and syncretism after the conquest of Canaan when the originally monotheistic Israelites adopted pagan practices from their neighbours, the Torah of Moses became "blemished and maculated." According to Halivni, this process continued until the time of Ezra (c.450 BC), when finally, upon their return from Babylon, the people accepted the Torah. It was at that time that the previously rejected, and therefore maculated, text of the Torah was recompiled and edited by Ezra and his “entourage.” He claims that this is attested in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and Halivni supports his theory with Talmudic and Midrashic sources which indicate that Ezra played a role in editing the Torah. He further states that while the text of the Pentateuch was corrupted, oral tradition preserved intact many of the laws, which is why the Oral Law appears to contradict the Biblical text in certain details.


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.
This view was seen as possibly being in contradiction to the 8th principle of [[Maimonides]] 13 principles of faith, which states "the Torah that we have today is the one that was dictated to Moses by God". Some say that Maimonides says that this applies to every single word in the Torah . As a result his assertions were rejected by some orthodox rabbis. <ref>Yated Ne'eman, January 14th, 1999</ref>


In Halivni's books ''Peshat and Derash'' and ''Revelation Restored'', he attempts to harmonize [[biblical criticism]] with traditional religious belief using a concept he developed termed ''Chate'u Israel'' (literally, "Israel has sinned"). This concept states that the biblical texts originally given to Moses have become irretrievably corrupted. ''Revelation Restored'' writes as follows:
==Impact==
His impact on JTS has been profound. Most of the Talmud professors at JTS follow his source-critical approach.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}} This has impacted the manner in which Talmud is taught to its students. In recent years, the work of Halivni and [[Shamma Friedman]] has resulted in a [[paradigm shift]] in the understanding of the Talmud (Encyclopaedia Judaica 2nd ed. entry "Talmud, Babylonian"). The traditional understanding was to view the Talmud as a unified homogeneous work. While other scholars had also treated the Talmud as a multi-layered work, Halivni's innovation (primarily in the second volume of his ''Mekorot u-Mesorot'') was to distinguish between the '''[[wiktionary:onymous|onymous]]''' statements, which are generally succinct Halachic rulings or inquiries attributed to known [[Amoraim]], and the '''anonymous''' statements, characterised by a much longer analysis often consisting of lengthy dialectic discussion, which he attributed to the later authors- "Stamma'im" (or [[Savora]]'im).


<blockquote>According to the biblical account itself, the people of Israel forsook the Torah, in the dramatic episode of the golden calf, only forty days after the revelation at Sinai. From that point on, until the time of Ezra, the scriptures reveal that the people of Israel were steeped in idolatry and negligent of the Mosaic law. Chate'u Yisrael states that in the period of neglect and syncretism after the conquest of Canaan when the originally monotheistic Israelites adopted pagan practices from their neighbours, the Torah of Moses became "blemished and maculated".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Halivni |first1=David W. |title=Revelation Restored: Divine Writ And Critical Responses |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-429-96617-0 |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zf_EDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>
It has been noted that indeed the [[Jerusalem Talmud]] is very similar to the [[Babylonian Talmud]], minus Stammaitic activity, which is to be found only in the latter (Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.), entry "Jerusalem Talmud").


According to Halivni, this process continued until the time of Ezra (c.450 BCE), whereupon their return from Babylon the people accepted the Torah. It was at that time that the previously rejected, and therefore maculated, text of the Torah was recompiled and edited by Ezra and his "entourage." He claims that this is attested in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and Halivni supports his theory with Talmudic and Midrashic sources which indicate that Ezra played a role in editing the Torah. He further states that while the text of the Pentateuch was corrupted, oral tradition preserved intact many of the laws, which is why the Oral Law appears to contradict the Biblical text in certain details.
Until recently, Halivni was the spiritual leader of [[Kehilat Orach Eliezer]], a congregation on Manhattan's [[Upper West Side]], a position he had held since the congregation's foundation in 1992.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://koe.org/about/ |title=About |publisher=Kehilat Orach Eliezer |accessdate=2012-07-09}}</ref> 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.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} 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.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} 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.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}


This view was seen as possibly being in contradiction to the 8th of [[Maimonides]]' 13 principles of faith, which states "the Torah that we have today is the one that was dictated to Moses by God". As a result, Halivni's assertions were rejected by some Orthodox rabbis.<ref>Yated Ne'eman, January 14, 1999</ref>
==Current work==
In July 2005, Halivni retired from Columbia University. He now lives in [[Israel]] and teaches at the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]] and [[Bar Ilan University]].


==Views and opinions==
==Awards==
Halivni was involved in the 1983 controversy at JTS surrounding the training and [[Women rabbis and Torah scholars|ordination of women as rabbis]].<ref name="haaretz.com" /> He felt that there could be halakhic methods for ordaining women as rabbis but more time was needed before this could be legitimately instituted. He maintained that it was a policy decision by the governing body of the Seminary rather than a ''psak halachah'' based on the traditional rabbinic legal process.
* In 1985, Halivni was a co-recipient (jointly with [[Hillel Barzel]] and [[Shlomo Pines]]) of the [[Bialik Prize]] for Jewish thought.<ref name=bialik>{{Cite web| title = List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933-2004 (in Hebrew), Tel Aviv Municipality website| url = http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/_MultimediaServer/Documents/12516738.pdf |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6ASjtmRPJ|archivedate=December 17, 2007}}</ref>
* In 2008, he was awarded the [[Israel Prize]] for his Talmudic work.<ref name="haaretz.com"/><ref>{{Cite web
| title = Recipient's C.V. |publisher=Israel Prize Official Site |url = http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashsch/DavidHalivni/CvDavidHalivni.htm |language=Hebrew}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title =Judges' Rationale for Grant to Recipient |publisher=Israel Prize Official Site |language=Hebrew | url =http://cms.education.gov.il/educationcms/units/prasisrael/Tashsch/DavidHalivni/nsDavidHalivni.htm}}</ref>


==Published works==
==Published works==
Halivni's published works include:
Halivni also published the book ''Breaking the Tablets: Jewish Theology After the Shoah'', a collection of essays on Holocaust theology.
*''Mekorot u'Mesorot'' (Hebrew). Commentary on the Talmud. It currently contains 10 volumes: 1. Introductions, 2. Shabbat, 3. Eruvin and Pesahim, 4. Yoma-Hagigah, 5. Seder Nashim, 6. Bava Kamma, 7. Bava Mezia, 8. Bava Batra, 9. Sanhedrin, Makkot, Shevuot, Makkot, Avodah Zarah, Horayot, 10. (posthumous) Zevahim, Menahot, Hullin.
<blockquote>The central thesis of “Breaking the Tablets” is that the history of the Jews is “bookmarked” by two diametrically opposing “revelations”: Sinai and Auschwitz. The revelation on Mount Sinai was the apex of God’s nearness to the Jews, while the revelation at Auschwitz was the nadir of God’s absence from them. Halivni’s conviction is that Auschwitz represents not merely God’s “hiding his face” from Israel, as a consequence of the Jews’ sins — a familiar trope in rabbinic theology — but also his actual, ontological withdrawal from human history.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://forward.com/articles/13553/absence-and-presence-/ |newspaper=The Forward |first=Allan |last=Nadler |date=June 11, 2008 |title=Absence and Presence}}</ref> </blockquote>

* {{cite book |title=Midrash, Mishnah, and Gemara: The Jewish Predilection for Justified Law |date=1986 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0674419315}}

*''Peshat and Derash'' : plain and applied meaning in Rabbinic exegesis. Oxford, England : Oxford University Press, 1991.
*''Revelation Restored'' : divine writ and critical responses. Boulder, Colo : Westview Press, 1997.
*''The Book and the Sword'' : a life of learning in the shadow of destruction. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996. His memoirs.
*''Breaking the Tablets: Jewish Theology After the Shoah''. Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, ©2007. A collection of essays on Holocaust theology.

* {{cite book |title=The Formation of the Babylonian Talmud |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199739882}}

The central thesis of "Breaking the Tablets" is that the history of the Jews is "bookmarked" by two diametrically opposing "revelations": Sinai and Auschwitz. The revelation on Mount Sinai was the apex of God's nearness to the Jews, while the revelation at Auschwitz was the nadir of God's absence from them. Halivni's conviction is that Auschwitz represents not merely God's "hiding his face" from Israel, as a consequence of the Jews' sins — a familiar trope in rabbinic theology — but also his actual, ontological withdrawal from human history.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://forward.com/articles/13553/absence-and-presence-/ |newspaper=The Forward |first=Allan |last=Nadler |date=June 11, 2008 |title=Absence and Presence}}</ref>


In ''Breaking the Tablets'' Halivni explicitly rejected the notion that this withdrawal is simply an example of "God hiding his face" as viewed in normative Judaism. The concept of ''hester panim'' (God's hiding his face) is classically used with regard to punishment, and Halivni is adamant that the Holocaust cannot in any way be regarded as a punishment for Israel's sins.
In ''Breaking the Tablets'' Halivni explicitly rejected the notion that this withdrawal is simply an example of "God hiding his face" as viewed in normative Judaism. The concept of ''hester panim'' (God's hiding his face) is classically used with regard to punishment, and Halivni is adamant that the Holocaust cannot in any way be regarded as a punishment for Israel's sins.


==Awards and recognition==
==References==
* In 1985, Halivni was a co-recipient (jointly with [[Hillel Barzel]] and [[Shlomo Pines]]) of the [[Bialik Prize]] for Jewish thought.<ref name=bialik>{{Cite web|title=List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933–2004 (in Hebrew), Tel Aviv Municipality website |url=http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/_MultimediaServer/Documents/12516738.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217143811/http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/_MultimediaServer/Documents/12516738.pdf |archivedate=December 17, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
{{reflist}}
*In 1997, he won awarded the [[National Jewish Book Award]] in Scholarship for ''Revelation Restored: Divine Writ and Critical Responses''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners?category=30775|title=Past Winners|last=|first=|date=|website=Jewish Book Council|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605121741/https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners?category=30775 |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |access-date=January 25, 2020}}</ref>
* In 2008, he was awarded the [[Israel Prize]] for his Talmudic work.<ref name="haaretz.com"/><ref>{{Cite web
|title = Recipient's C.V.
|publisher = Israel Prize Official Site
|url = http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashsch/DavidHalivni/CvDavidHalivni.htm
|language = Hebrew
|url-status = dead
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120910072901/http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashsch/DavidHalivni/CvDavidHalivni.htm
|archivedate = September 10, 2012
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Judges' Rationale for Grant to Recipient |publisher=Israel Prize Official Site |language=Hebrew |url=http://cms.education.gov.il/educationcms/units/prasisrael/Tashsch/DavidHalivni/nsDavidHalivni.htm |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910072408/http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashsch/DavidHalivni/NsDavidHalivni.htm |archivedate=September 10, 2012 }}</ref>


== See also ==
==See also==
*[[Bialik Prize|List of Bialik Prize recipients]]
*[[Bialik Prize|List of Bialik Prize recipients]]
*[[List of Israel Prize recipients]]
*[[List of Israel Prize recipients]]


==References==
{{Authority control|VIAF=111681708}}
{{reflist}}


{{Authority control}}
{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->

| NAME = Halivni, David Weiss
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halivni, David Weiss}}
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American rabbi
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1927
| PLACE OF BIRTH = Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine)
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halivni David Weiss}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
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Latest revision as of 19:05, 22 November 2024

For other people named David Weiss, see David Weiss (disambiguation).

David Weiss Halivni
Halivni in 2016
Born
David Weiss

(1927-09-27)September 27, 1927
Kobyletska Poliana, Czechoslovakia
DiedJune 28, 2022(2022-06-28) (aged 94)
Jerusalem, Israel
Alma materJewish Theological Seminary of America
Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
Brooklyn College
Occupation(s)Rabbi, scholar, talmudist
AwardsBialik Prize (1985)
Israel Prize (2008)
Guggenheim Fellowship

David Weiss Halivni (Hebrew: דָּוִד וַיְיס הַלִּבְנִי; September 27, 1927 – June 28, 2022) was a European-born American-Israeli rabbi, scholar in the domain of Jewish sciences, and Professor of Talmud. He served as Reish Metivta of the Union for Traditional Judaism's rabbinical school.

Biography

[edit]

David Weiss was born on September 27, 1927, in Kobyletska Poliana (Кобилецька Поляна, Poiana Cobilei, Gyertyánliget) in Carpathian Ruthenia, then in Czechoslovakia (now in Rakhiv Raion, Ukraine).[1] His parents separated when he was 4 years old, and he grew up in the home of his maternal grandfather, Rabbi Isaiah (Shaye) Weiss, a Hasidic Talmud scholar in Sighet, Romania.[2][3]

His grandfather began teaching him at age 5, and he was regarded as a prodigy; he received semicha (rabbinic ordination) at age 15 from Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Gross of the town's yeshiva.[4][3]

In March 1944, German troops arrived in Sighet to deport the town's Jewish population to concentration camps. Weiss, then 16 years old, was sent to Auschwitz along with his grandfather, mother, and sister; his father, Ephraim Bezalel Viderman, was murdered by the Nazis elsewhere.[5] The remaining members of his family at Auschwitz were murdered, leaving Weiss as the sole survivor of his family at age 16.[1] One week after he arrived at Auschwitz, Weiss transferred to the forced labor camps at Gross-Rosen, Wolfsberg, and then Mauthausen, where he worked in a munitions plant.

When he arrived in the United States at the age of 18 after his liberation, he was placed in a Jewish orphanage, where he created a stir by challenging the kashrut of the institution. A social worker introduced him to Rabbi Saul Lieberman, a leading Talmudist at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) in New York, who recognized his brilliance and took him under his wing. Weiss later studied with Lieberman for many years at the JTS.

Initially, he studied in Yeshiva Chaim Berlin under Yitzchak Hutner[4] and was allowed to forgo lectures because of his advanced standing. Over the next decade, he completed high school; earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Brooklyn College; a master's degree in philosophy from NYU, and his doctorate in Talmud at JTS.[2]

He married Zipporah Hager, a descendant of the Vizhnitzer Rebbes, in 1953, and the couple settled in Manhattan.[1] They had three children: Baruch (Bernard), Ephraim, and Yeshiahu. Halivni had six grandchildren: Avidan, Hadar, Daniel, Rebecca, Benjamin (Jamin), and Eliana.

Weiss, which is German for white, later changed his name to "Halivni," the Hebrew word for white.[1] He died on June 18, 2022, at his home in Jerusalem at the age of 94.[1][6]

Academic career

[edit]

For many years he served as a Professor of Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS). He resigned in 1983.[7] Halivni later served as Littauer Professor of Talmud and Classical Rabbinics in the Department of Religion at Columbia University. In July 2005, he retired from Columbia University and moved to Israel, where he taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Bar Ilan University until his death.

Halivni's "source-critical approach" to Talmud study had a major impact on academic understanding and study of the Talmud.[8] The traditional understanding viewed the Talmud as a unified homogeneous work. While other scholars had also treated the Talmud as a multi-layered work, Halivni's innovation (primarily in the second volume of his Mekorot u-Mesorot) was to distinguish between the attributed, onymous statements, which are generally succinct rabbinic law (Halakhic) opinions or inquiries attributed to known Amoraim, and the anonymous statements within a given sugya (Talmudic passage). A sugya consists of a longer elaboration or analysis, often consisting of dialectic discussion that Halivni attributed to the later authors -- "Stamma'im" (or Savora'im). It has been noted that indeed the Jerusalem Talmud is very similar to the Babylonian Talmud, minus Stammaitic activity, which is to be found only in the latter.[9]

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 texts of the Talmud as having been said by Stammaim (based on the phrase "stama d'talmuda" which refers to the anonymous material in the Gemara), who lived after the period of the 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.

In Halivni's books Peshat and Derash and Revelation Restored, he attempts to harmonize biblical criticism with traditional religious belief using a concept he developed termed Chate'u Israel (literally, "Israel has sinned"). This concept states that the biblical texts originally given to Moses have become irretrievably corrupted. Revelation Restored writes as follows:

According to the biblical account itself, the people of Israel forsook the Torah, in the dramatic episode of the golden calf, only forty days after the revelation at Sinai. From that point on, until the time of Ezra, the scriptures reveal that the people of Israel were steeped in idolatry and negligent of the Mosaic law. Chate'u Yisrael states that in the period of neglect and syncretism after the conquest of Canaan when the originally monotheistic Israelites adopted pagan practices from their neighbours, the Torah of Moses became "blemished and maculated".[10]

According to Halivni, this process continued until the time of Ezra (c.450 BCE), whereupon their return from Babylon the people accepted the Torah. It was at that time that the previously rejected, and therefore maculated, text of the Torah was recompiled and edited by Ezra and his "entourage." He claims that this is attested in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and Halivni supports his theory with Talmudic and Midrashic sources which indicate that Ezra played a role in editing the Torah. He further states that while the text of the Pentateuch was corrupted, oral tradition preserved intact many of the laws, which is why the Oral Law appears to contradict the Biblical text in certain details.

This view was seen as possibly being in contradiction to the 8th of Maimonides' 13 principles of faith, which states "the Torah that we have today is the one that was dictated to Moses by God". As a result, Halivni's assertions were rejected by some Orthodox rabbis.[11]

Views and opinions

[edit]

Halivni was involved in the 1983 controversy at JTS surrounding the training and ordination of women as rabbis.[2] He felt that there could be halakhic methods for ordaining women as rabbis but more time was needed before this could be legitimately instituted. He maintained that it was a policy decision by the governing body of the Seminary rather than a psak halachah based on the traditional rabbinic legal process.

Published works

[edit]

Halivni's published works include:

  • Mekorot u'Mesorot (Hebrew). Commentary on the Talmud. It currently contains 10 volumes: 1. Introductions, 2. Shabbat, 3. Eruvin and Pesahim, 4. Yoma-Hagigah, 5. Seder Nashim, 6. Bava Kamma, 7. Bava Mezia, 8. Bava Batra, 9. Sanhedrin, Makkot, Shevuot, Makkot, Avodah Zarah, Horayot, 10. (posthumous) Zevahim, Menahot, Hullin.
  • Midrash, Mishnah, and Gemara: The Jewish Predilection for Justified Law. Harvard University Press. 1986. ISBN 978-0674419315.
  • Peshat and Derash : plain and applied meaning in Rabbinic exegesis. Oxford, England : Oxford University Press, 1991.
  • Revelation Restored : divine writ and critical responses. Boulder, Colo : Westview Press, 1997.
  • The Book and the Sword : a life of learning in the shadow of destruction. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996. His memoirs.
  • Breaking the Tablets: Jewish Theology After the Shoah. Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, ©2007. A collection of essays on Holocaust theology.
  • The Formation of the Babylonian Talmud. Oxford University Press. 2013. ISBN 9780199739882.

The central thesis of "Breaking the Tablets" is that the history of the Jews is "bookmarked" by two diametrically opposing "revelations": Sinai and Auschwitz. The revelation on Mount Sinai was the apex of God's nearness to the Jews, while the revelation at Auschwitz was the nadir of God's absence from them. Halivni's conviction is that Auschwitz represents not merely God's "hiding his face" from Israel, as a consequence of the Jews' sins — a familiar trope in rabbinic theology — but also his actual, ontological withdrawal from human history.[12]

In Breaking the Tablets Halivni explicitly rejected the notion that this withdrawal is simply an example of "God hiding his face" as viewed in normative Judaism. The concept of hester panim (God's hiding his face) is classically used with regard to punishment, and Halivni is adamant that the Holocaust cannot in any way be regarded as a punishment for Israel's sins.

Awards and recognition

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Berger, Joseph (July 17, 2022). "David Weiss Halivni, Controversial Talmudic Scholar, Dies at 94". The New York Times. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d Sheleg, Yair (February 15, 2008). "A living Talmud encyclopedia". Haaretz. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Bronstein, Shalom (July 1, 2008). "Case Study: Using ITS Records to Discover Fate of the Family of World-Renowned Talmudist Professor David Halivni". Avotaynu Online. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  4. ^ a b See the Hebrew Wikipedia article he:דוד הלבני
  5. ^ Warshawsky, Tami R. (December 12, 2008). "Schechter welcomes renowned scholar David Halivni". Jewish United Fund. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  6. ^ חוקר התלמוד הרב דוד וייס הלבני הלך לעולמו (in Hebrew)
  7. ^ Sheleg, Yair (February 15, 2008). "A Living Talmud Encyclopedia". Haaretz. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  8. ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica 2nd ed. entry "Talmud, Babylonian"
  9. ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.), entry "Jerusalem Talmud"
  10. ^ Halivni, David W. (2019). Revelation Restored: Divine Writ And Critical Responses. New York, NY: Routledge. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-429-96617-0.
  11. ^ Yated Ne'eman, January 14, 1999
  12. ^ Nadler, Allan (June 11, 2008). "Absence and Presence". The Forward.
  13. ^ "List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933–2004 (in Hebrew), Tel Aviv Municipality website" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 17, 2007.
  14. ^ "Past Winners". Jewish Book Council. Archived from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  15. ^ "Recipient's C.V." (in Hebrew). Israel Prize Official Site. Archived from the original on September 10, 2012.
  16. ^ "Judges' Rationale for Grant to Recipient" (in Hebrew). Israel Prize Official Site. Archived from the original on September 10, 2012.
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