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Ira Leviton (talk | contribs) Added second wife's name. |
Ira Leviton (talk | contribs) Added spouse and childrens' names. |
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| caption = ''Photo courtesy of Yeshiva University''
| birth_date = {{birth date|1911|12|12|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Svislach]], [[Russian Empire]] (now [[Belarus]])<ref name=Ohles/>
| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|4|19|1911|12|12|df=y}}
| death_place = [[New York City]]
| education =
| occupation = [[University President|President]] of [[Yeshiva University]]
| spouse = Selma Ehrlich<ref name=Ohles>{{cite book|last1=Ohles|first1=Frederik|last2=Ohles|first2=Shirley M.|last3=Ramsay|first3=John G.|title=Biographical Dictionary of Modern American Educators|date=1997|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn.|isbn=0-313-29133-0|pages=22-23|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PBj5-zHEMvoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|accessdate=19 November 2016}}</ref>Abby Polesie<ref name=Ohles/><ref name=NYTobit/>
| children = Linda Rose Belkn Schuchalter and Salo Maurice Belkin<ref name=NYTobit/>
| parents = Solomon Belkin and Minna (Sattir) Belkin<ref name=Ohles/>
}}
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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 at the age of seventeen by the famed [[Yisrael Meir Kagan]], the ''Chofetz Chaim''.
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 and the Oral Law — The Philonic Interpretation of Biblical Law in Relation to the Palestinian Halakah." <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 was named became president of the college,<ref>{{cite news|title=Elected as President Of Yeshiva 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 Yeshiva from a small college and rabbinical seminary into a significant institution of considerable stature in Judaic Studies, [[natural science|natural]] and [[social sciences]], and the [[humanities]]. Under his presidency, the [[Albert Einstein College of Medicine]] was opened as Yeshiva University's medical school.
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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" and "In His Image: The Jewish Philosophy of Man as Expressed in Rabbinic Tradition".
In his work, "In His Image," Dr. Belkin described Judaism as a Democratic Theocracy — a theocracy because the first principle of Jewish thought describes the Kingship of God, and a democracy because the Written and the Oral Law emphasize the infinite worth of each human being.<ref>Jewish Virtual Library, ''Samuel Belkin''.</ref>
Belkin stepped down as university president in 1975.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Spiegel|first1=Irving|title=Belkin, Citing Illness, Resigns as Yeshiva President|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/09/archives/belkin-citing-illness-resigns-as-yeshiva-president.html|accessdate=18 November 2016|newspaper=New York Times|date=September 9, 1975|page=29}}</ref>
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