Samuel Belkin: Difference between revisions

| name = Rabbi Dr. Samuel Belkin

| image =Samuel Belkin 1938.jpg

| caption = ''Photo courtesy of Yeshiva University''

| birth_place = [[Svislach]], [[Russian Empire]] (now [[Belarus]])<ref name=Ohles/>

| death_place = [[New York City]], [[United States]]

| education = PhDPh.D., [[Brown University]]

| occupation = [[University President|President]] of [[Yeshiva University]]

'''Samuel Belkin''' (December 12, December1911 1911–19&ndash; April 19, 1976) is best known aswas the second [[University President|President]] of [[Yeshiva University]]. AAn American [[Rabbi]] and distinguished [[Torah]] scholar, he is credited with leading Yeshiva University through a period of substantial expansion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dbs.bh.org.il/luminary/belkin-samuel |title=Samuel Belkin |accessdate=2008-02-10 |work=The Museum of the Jewish People, ''Samuelat Belkin'',Beit Hatfutsot |archive-date=2018-06-12 http|archive-url=https://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20180612140921/https://dbs.bh.org.il/namesluminary/POW/Belkin.aspbelkin-samuel |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Belkin was born in 1911 in [[Svislach]], [[Russian Empire]] (now [[Belarus]]) and studied in the [[yeshiva]]s of [[Slonim]] and [[Mir yeshiva (Poland)|Mir]]. Recognized at a young age as an ''illui'', a genius, he was ordained as a rabbi[[Rabbi]] at the age of seventeen by the famed [[Yisrael Meir Kagan]], the ''Chofetz Chaim''. He also studied for a time in the Mir.

As a child, he sought to leave Poland after he witnessed his father being shot by a policeman in 1919.<ref>Samuel Belkin, Rabbi William G. Braude, Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 44, 1977 (1977), pp. xvii-xx in JSTOR, American Academy for Jewish Research.</ref> He emigrated to the United States in 1929, studied with [[Harry Austryn Wolfson]] at Harvard and received his doctorate (concerned with the writings of [[Philo]]) at [[Brown University]] in 1935, one of the first awarded for [[Jewish studies|Judaic studies in American academia]]. In 1940, an elaboration of his Ph.D. thesis was published with the title “Philo"Philo and the Oral Law; the— The Philonic Interpretation of Biblical Law in Relation to the Palestinian Halakah.” "<ref name="ReferenceA">The Jewish Virtual Library, ''Samuel Belkin''.</ref>

He then joined the faculty of Yeshiva College, New York, where he taught [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]]. He became a full professor in 1940 and was appointed dean of its [[Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary]] (RIETS) the same year. In 1943, Belkin becamewas named president of the college,<ref>{{cite andnews|title=Elected theas seminaryPresident andOf underYeshiva at Age of 32|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1943/06/29/88548509.html?pageNumber=17|accessdate=18 November 2016|newspaper=New York Times|date=June 29, 1943|page=17}}</ref> Under his guidance, the institution expanded to become [[Yeshiva University]] in 1945. Belkin was a visionary who transformed YUYeshiva from a small college and rabbinical seminary into a significant institution of considerable stature not only in Judaic Studies but also in, [[natural science|natural]] and [[social sciences]], and the [[humanities]]. Under his presidency, the [[Albert Einstein College of Medicine]] was opened as YUYeshiva University's medical school.

As a scholar, he published many works on [[halakha|Jewish law]] and [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic literature]]. His most significant published works are "Philo and the Oral Law" (Cambridge; Harvard University Press, 1940) and "In His Image: The Jewish Philosophy of Man as Expressed in Rabbinic Tradition"(London: Abelard Schuman, 1960).

In his work, “In"In His Image,”" Dr. Belkin describesdescribed Judaism as a Democratic Theocracy. A— Theocracya theocracy because the first principle of Jewish thought describes the Kingship of God., Andand a Democracydemocracy because the Written and the Oral Law emphasize the infinite worth of each human being.<ref>Jewish Virtual Library, ''Samuel Belkin''<name="ReferenceA"/ref>

*Frank M. Esposito (1994)

*Meghan DuPuis Maurus (2008) and

*Jil Simon (2013),

*Belkin, Samuel. ''In His image;Image the— The Jewish philosophyPhilosophy of manMan as expressedExpressed in rabbinicRabbinic traditionTradition''. 290 p London, New York, Abelard-Schuman [1960]

*Belkin, Samuel. ''Philo and the oralOral law;Law — the Philonic interpretationInterpretation of Biblical lawLaw in relationRelation to the Palestinian Halakah''. Pp. xiv, 292. Cambridge, Mass.Massachusetts, Harvard universityUniversity pressPress, 1940.

*Belkin, Samuel. ''The philosophyPhilosophy of purposePurpose''. Pp. 39 p. 3d ed. New York, Yeshiva University, 1958.

*Belkin, Samuel. ''Midrash ha-shemotShemot be-Filon''. Pp. 61. [New York, 1956]

*Belkin, Samuel. ''Essays in traditionalTraditional Jewish thought''. Pp. 191. New York: Philosophical Library [c1956c. 1956]

*Belkin, Samuel. ''Midrash sheShe´elot u-teshuvotTeshuvot `al Bereshit u-Shemot le-Filon ha-Aleksandroni''. Pp. 74p. [New York, 1960].

*Yeshiva University. ''Inauguration of Rabbi Samuel Belkin, PHPh.D., as presidentPresident, Tuesday afternoonAfternoon, May twentyTwenty-thirdThird, nineteenNineteen hundredHundred and fortyForty-fourFour, at threeThree oO'clock, in the Nathan Lamport auditoriumAuditorium''. Pp. 57. [Easton, Pa., Printed by Mack printing co.Printing, 1945].

*[httphttps://www.hebrewbooks.org/12251 Halachic article by Belkin (hebrew) from the journal ''Talpiyot'']

{{succession box|title=[[Yeshiva University|President of Yeshiva University]]|before=[[Bernard Revel]]|after=[[Norman Lamm]]|years=1943 – 19761975}}

[[Category:People from GrodnoVolkovyssky GovernorateUyezd]]

[[Category:ImperialJews from the Russian JewsEmpire]]