Adin Steinsaltz

Biography

Born in Jerusalem in 1937 to secular parents, Steinsaltz studied mathematics, physics, and chemistry at the Hebrew University, in addition to rabbinical studies. Following graduation, he established several experimental schools after an unsuccessful attempt to start a neo-Hassidic community in the Negev desert, and, at the age of 23, became Israel’s youngest school principal.

In 1965, he founded the Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications, and began his monumental work on the Talmud, including translation into Hebrew, English, Russian, and various other languages. The Steinsaltz editions of the Talmud include translation from the original Aramaic and a comprehensive commentary. Steinsaltz completed his Hebrew edition of the entire Babylonian Talmud in November 2010, at which time Koren Publishers Jerusalem became the publisher of all of his works, including the Talmud. While not without criticism (such as by Jacob Neusner, 1998), the Steinsaltz edition is widely used throughout Israel, the United States, and the world. Over two million volumes of the Steinsaltz Talmud have been distributed to date. The out-of-print Random House publication of The Talmud: The Steinsaltz Edition is widely regarded as the most accurate and least redacted of any English language edition, and is sought after on that basis by scholars and collectors. Controversial Talmud passages previously obscured, omitted entirely or confined to footnotes in English translations like the Soncino Talmud, receive full exposition in the Steinsaltz Talmud. Random House halted publication of the Steinsaltz Talmud after less than one-third of the English translation had been published.

The Steinsaltz editions of the Talmud have opened up the world of Talmud study to thousands of people outside the walls of the traditional yeshiva, including women, who traditionally were not taught Talmud. Regarding the access that his work provides, Rabbi Steinsaltz says: "I never thought that spreading ignorance has any advantage, except for those who are in a position of power and want to deprive others of their rights and spread ignorance in order to keep them underlings."

Rabbi Steinsaltz's classic work of Kabbalah, The Thirteen Petalled Rose, was first published in 1980, and now appears in eight languages. In all, Steinsaltz has authored some 60 books and hundreds of articles on subjects including Talmud, Jewish mysticism, Jewish philosophy, sociology, historical biography, and philosophy. Many of these works have been translated into English by his close personal friend, now deceased, Yehuda Hanegbi. His latest book is a memoir-biography on the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, published by Maggid Books (2014).

In the summer of 1989, a group of rabbis including Elazar Shach placed a ban on three of Steinsaltz's books.

Continuing his work as a teacher and spiritual mentor, Steinsaltz established a network of schools and educational institutions in Israel and the former Soviet Union. He has served as scholar in residence at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D. C., and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His honorary degrees include doctorates from Yeshiva University, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Bar Ilan University, Brandeis University, and Florida International University. Steinsaltz is also Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Hesder Tekoa.

Being a follower of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of Chabad-Lubavitch, he went to help Jews in the Soviet Union assisting Chabad's shluchim (propagators) network. Deeply involved in the future of the Jews in the former Soviet Union, Steinsaltz serves as the region's Duchovny Ravin (Spiritual Rabbi), a historic Russian title which indicates that he is the spiritual mentor of Russian Jewry. In this capacity, Steinsaltz travelled to Russia and the Republics once each month from his home in Jerusalem. During his time in the former Soviet Union, he founded the Jewish University, both in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The Jewish University is the first degree-granting institution of Jewish studies in the former Soviet Union.

Steinsaltz has taken a cautious approach to interfaith dialogues. During a visit of a delegation of Roman Catholic cardinals in Manhattan in January 2004, he said that, "You do not have to raise over-expectations of a meeting, as it doesn't signify in itself a breakthrough; however, the opportunity for cardinals and rabbis to speak face to face is valuable. It's part of a process in which we can talk to each other in a friendly way", and called for "a theological dialogue that asks the tough questions, such as whether Catholicism allows for Jews to enter eternal paradise".

Steinsaltz and his wife live in Jerusalem, and have three children and more than ten grandchildren. His son, Rabbi Menachem Even-Israel, is the Executive Director of Shefa - Rabbi Steinsaltz's umbrella organization, located in the Steinsaltz Center in the Nachlaot neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Head of the new Sanhedrin

Rabbi Steinsaltz accepted the position as Nasi (President) of the 2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin. In 2008, he resigned from this position due to differences of opinion.

As a speaker

Steinsaltz is a popular University and radio commentator. He has been invited to speak at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies at Yale University in 1979. In Jerusalem, he gives evening seminars, which, according to Newsweek, usually last till 2 in the morning, and have attracted prominent politicians, such as the former Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and former Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir.

Awards and critical reception

Rabbi Steinsaltz has received many awards and prizes, among them the Israel Prize for Jewish studies in 1988.

On 9 February 2012, Steinsaltz was honored by Israeli President Shimon Peres with Israel's first President's Prize for his scholarship in Talmud.

The Jewish Book Council named the Koren Talmud Bavli with commentary, translation, and notes by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, a 2012 National Jewish Book Award winner in the category of Modern Jewish Thought and Experience.

Academic criticism

Jacob Neusner's How Adin Steinsaltz Misrepresents the Talmud. Four False Propositions from his "Reference Guide" (1998) displays strong disagreement.

Talmudic researcher and lecturer Aharon Feldman penned a lengthy critical review of the Steinsaltz Talmud. Among many criticisms, he writes, "Specifically, the work is marred by an extraordinary number of inaccuracies stemming primarily from misreadings of the sources; it fails to explain those difficult passages which the reader would expect it to explain; and it confuses him with notes which are often irrelevant, incomprehensible, and contradictory." Feldman says he fears that, "An intelligent student utilizing the Steinsaltz Talmud as his personal instructor might in fact conclude that Talmud in general is not supposed to make sense." Furthermore, writes Feldman, the Steinsaltz Talmud gives off the impression that the Talmud is intellectually flabby, inconsistent, and often trivial.

Reception In the Haredi community

Steinsaltzs' works aroused fierce opposition in parts of the Orthodox Jewish world, with many leading rabbis such as Elazar Shach, Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, and Eliezer Waldenberg harshly condemning his Talmud and other books. Waldenberg wrote that that when the Steinsaltz Talmud was brought before him, he was "shocked" to see the way in which the Steinsaltz Talmud described the Patriarchs and Talmudic sages, as well as it's approach to the Oral Torah. Waldenberg further wrote that the Steinsaltz Talmud had the power to "poision the souls" of those who read it. Mordechai Gifter delivered a pointed lecture on the subject, criticizing Steinsaltz and his defenders in strong terms.