Editing Saul Lieberman

{{Short description|American rabbi and scholar (1898–1983)}}
{{infobox person/Wikidata | fetchwikidata=ALL|dateformat=mdy}}
'''Saul Lieberman''' ({{langx|he|שאול ליברמן}}; May 28, 1898 – March 23, 1983), also known as Rabbi Shaul Lieberman or, among some of his students, the '''''Gra״sh''''' ('''''G'''aon '''Ra'''bbeinu '''Sh'''aul''), was a [[rabbi]] and a [[Talmud]]ic scholar. He served as Professor of Talmud at the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]] (JTSA) for over 40 years, and for many years was [[Dean (education)|dean]] of the [[Harry Fischel Institute for Talmudic Research]] in [[Israel]] and also president of the [[American Academy for Jewish Research]].

==Early life{{Anchor|Biography}}==
Born in [[Motal]], near [[Pinsk]] in the [[Russian Empire]] (now [[Belarus]]), he studied at the [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] [[yeshivot]] of Malch, [[Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael (Slabodka)|Slobodka]], and [[Novardok Yeshiva|Novardok]], where, at age 18, he received his [[semikha]] (rabbinic [[ordination]]).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Rakeffet-Rothkoff |first=Aaron |date=2007 |title=A Note on R. Saul Lieberman and the Rav |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23263520 |journal=Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=68–74 |jstor=23263520 |issn=0041-0608}}</ref> While studying at the Slobodka yeshiva, he befriended [[Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman]] and [[Yitzchak Hutner]], both of whom would become leaders of great seminaries in America.

In the 1920s, he attended the Kyiv Gymnasium and [[Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv|University of Kyiv]]. Following a short stay in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], he continued his studies in [[France]]. In 1928, he settled in [[Jerusalem]]. He studied Talmudic [[philology]] and Greek language and literature at the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]].

==Career==
After completing his [[master's degree]] at Hebrew University, he was appointed [[lecturer]] there in Talmud in 1931 or 1932. The position was terminated in 1937 due to poor enrollment.<ref name=":0" /> He also taught at the ''Mizrachi Teachers Seminary,'' and from 1935 was dean of the [[Harry Fischel Institute]] for Talmudic Research in Jerusalem.

In 1940, he was invited both by Rabbi [[Yitzchak Hutner]] to teach in the Orthodox Yeshiva [[Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin|Chaim Berlin]], and by the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]] to serve as [[professor]] of Hellenism and Jewish literature. Lieberman chose the offer by JTS. Lieberman's decision was motivated by a desire to "train American Jews to make a commitment to study and observe the mitzvot."<ref>Marc B. Shapiro, ''Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox''.</ref> In Chaim Dalfin's ''Conversations with the Rebbe'' (LA: JEC, 1996), pp.&nbsp;54–63, Prof. [[Haim Dimitrovski]] relates that when he was newly hired at JTSA, he asked Rabbi [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]] of [[Lubavitch]] whether he should remain in the Seminary, and the response was "as long as Lieberman is there." In 1949, he was appointed [[dean (education)|dean]], and in 1958 [[Rector (academia)|rector]], of the Seminary's rabbinical school.

Lieberman died on March 23, 1983, while flying to Jerusalem for [[Passover]].<ref name="JAOS" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://faculty.biu.ac.il/~testsm/Lieberman.html |title=Saul Lieberman: The Greatest Sage in Israel |website=faculty.biu.ac.il |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105232639/http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~testsm/Lieberman.html |archive-date=2007-11-05}}</ref>

== Work ==
{{Conservatism in Israel}}
In 1929, Lieberman published ''Al ha-Yerushalmi'', in which he suggested ways of emending corruptions in the text of the [[Jerusalem Talmud]] and offered variant readings to the text of the tractate of [[Sotah (Talmud)|Sotah]]. This was followed by: a series of text studies of the Jerusalem Talmud, which appeared in [[Tarbiz]]; by ''Talmudah shel Keisaryah'' (1931), in which he expressed the view that the first three tractates of the order [[Nezikin]] in the Jerusalem Talmud had been compiled in Caesarea about the middle of the fourth century C.E.; and by ''Ha-Yerushalmi ki-Feshuto'' (1934), a commentary on the treatises [[Shabbat (Talmud)|Shabbat]], [[Eruvin (tractate)|Eruvin]], and [[Pesahim]] of the Jerusalem Talmud (this was the first volume of a series that was never finished). His preoccupation with the Jerusalem Talmud impressed him with the necessity of clarifying the text of the [[Tannaim|tannaitic]] sources (rabbis of the first two centuries of the common era), especially that of the [[Tosefta]], on which no commentaries had been composed by the earlier authorities ([[Rishonim]]), and to whose elucidation few scholars had devoted themselves in later generations.

He published the four-volume ''Tosefeth Rishonim'', a commentary on the entire Tosefta with textual corrections based on manuscripts, early printings, and quotations found in early authorities.<ref>Currently this work is available in two volumes: [http://www.schocken-jts.org.il/english/bookstore/prodView.asp?idproduct=160 Tosefeth Rishonim, 2 volume set.]</ref> He also published ''Tashlum Tosefta'', an introductory chapter to the second edition of [[Moses Samuel Zuckermandel|M. S. Zuckermandel]]'s Tosefta edition (1937), dealing with quotations from the Tosefta by early authorities that are not found in the text.

Years later, Lieberman returned to the systematic elucidation of the Tosefta. He undertook the publication of the Tosefta text, based on manuscripts and accompanied by brief explanatory notes, and of an extensive commentary called ''Tosefta ki-Fshuṭah''. The latter combined philological research and historical observations with a discussion of the entire talmudic and rabbinic literature in which the relevant Tosefta text is either commented upon or quoted. Between 1955 and 1973, ten volumes of the new edition were published, representing the text and the commentaries on the entire orders of [[Zera'im]], [[Mo'ed]] and [[Nashim]].  Furthermore, in 1988, three volumes were published posthumously on the order of Nezikin, including tractates [[Bava Kama]], [[Bava Metzia]], and [[Bava Basra]].  The entire set was republished in the 1990s in thirteen volumes, and again in 2001 in twelve volumes.

In ''[[Sifri Zutta|Sifrei Zuta]]'' (1968), Lieberman advanced the view that this [[halakhic Midrash]] was in all likelihood finally edited by [[Bar Kappara]] in [[Lod|Lydda]].

Other books of his were ''Sheki'in'' (1939), on Jewish legends, [[Jewish customs|customs]], and literary sources found in Karaite and Christian polemical writings, and ''Midreshei Teiman'' (1940), wherein he showed that the Yemenite Midrashim had preserved exegetical material which had been deliberately omitted by the rabbis. He edited a variant version of Midrash [[Debarim Rabbah]] (1940, 19652).<ref>For criticism of this edition that appeared in [[HaTzofe]] see https://www.hebrewbooks.org/26799.</ref> In his view that version had been current among Sephardi Jewry, while the standard text had been that of Ashkenazi Jewry. In 1947 he published ''Hilkhot ha-Yerushalmi'' which he identified as a fragment of a work by [[Maimonides]] on the Jerusalem Talmud in a similar vein as the [[Isaac Alfasi|Rif]] is to the Babylonian Talmud. Lieberman also edited the hitherto unpublished Tosefta commentary ''Hasdei David'' by [[David Pardo (Italian rabbi)|David Pardo]] on the order [[Tohorot]]; the first part of this work appeared in 1970.

His two English volumes, ''Greek in Jewish Palestine'' (1942) and ''Hellenism in Jewish Palestine'' (1950), which also appeared in a Hebrew translation, illustrate the influence of [[Hellenistic culture]] on Jewish Palestine in the first centuries C.E.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090108003011/http://www.jtspress.org/greek-in-jewish-palestinehellinism-in-jewish-palestine.html The English edition of both books was reprinted in one volume.]</ref>

A number of his works have appeared in new and revised editions. Lieberman served as editor in chief of a new critical edition of Maimonides' [[Mishneh Torah]] (vol. 1, 1964), and as an editor of the Judaica series of [[Yale University]], where he worked closely with [[Herbert Danby]], the Anglican scholar of the Mishnah. He also edited several scholarly miscellanies. He contributed numerous studies to scholarly publications as well as notes to books of fellow scholars. In these he dwelt on various aspects of the world of ideas of the rabbis, shed light on events in the talmudic period, and elucidated scores of obscure words and expressions of talmudic and midrashic literature.

He also published a heretofore unknown Midrashic work that he painstakingly pieced together by deriving its text from an anti-Jewish polemic written by [[Raymond Martini]], and various published lectures of Medieval Rabbis. Lieberman's work was published while he headed Machon Harry Fishel.

[[Jacob Neusner]], a leading scholar of the history of rabbinic Judaism, criticized the bulk of Lieberman's work as [[Idiosyncrasy|idiosyncratic]] in that it lacked a valid methodology and was prone to other serious shortcomings (''see'' Sources below). However, ten years earlier, in an article published shortly after his death, Lieberman strongly criticized Neusner's lack of scholarship in the latter's translation of three tractates of the Yerushalmi.<ref name="JAOS">''See'' {{cite journal |first=Saul |last=Lieberman |title=A Tragedy or a Comedy |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages= 315–319|year=1984 |doi=10.2307/602175 |jstor=602175 }}</ref> Meir Bar-Ilan, Lieberman's nephew, accused Neusner of being biased against Lieberman due to "a personal issue".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110721133716/https://faculty.biu.ac.il/~testsm/Lieberman.html Saul Lieberman: The Greatest Sage in Israel], note 8</ref>

==Paradox in affiliation==
Perhaps because he was so deeply involved in the Seminary, Lieberman was often accused (especially posthumously) of being on the very right wing of Conservative Judaism.  Personally fully observant of [[Halakha]], he would not pray in a synagogue which did not have separate seating for men and women. Lieberman insisted that all services at the Seminary's Stein Hall, where he prayed daily, have a [[mechitza]] even though most Conservative synagogues did not. Additionally, Lieberman saw that the seminary synagogue where he prayed used an Orthodox [[siddur]] rather than one produced by the Rabbinical Assembly.<ref>David Golinkin, [https://seforimblog.com/2014/12/was-professor-saul-lieberman-orthodox/ ''<nowiki>Was Professor Saul Lieberman “Orthodox” or “Conservative”? [1]</nowiki>''], by footnote 16.</ref>{{better source needed|date=September 2023}}

==The Lieberman clause==
{{main|Lieberman clause}}
The Lieberman clause is a clause included in a ''[[ketubah]]'' (Jewish wedding document), created by and named after Saul Lieberman, that stipulates that [[divorce]] will be adjudicated by a modern ''[[bet din]]'' (rabbinic court) in order to prevent the problem of the [[agunah]], a woman not allowed to remarry religiously because she had never been granted a religious divorce. It was first introduced in the 1950s by [[rabbi]]s in [[Judaism]]'s [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative movement]].

==Personal life{{Anchor|Marriages}}==
[[Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz]] was his first cousin. [[Chaim Kanievsky]] and [[Joseph B. Soloveitchik]] were both his first cousins once removed.<ref name=":0" />

Lieberman married Rachel Rabinowitz in 1922. She was the daughter of Laizer Rabinowitz, the rabbi of [[Minsk]],<ref>[[Making of a Godol]], improved edition p. 1190 (Private Printing Publishers, 2005).</ref> and granddaughter of Yerucham Yehuda Leib Perelmann. They moved to [[Mandatory Palestine]] in 1927, but she died three years later, in 1930.<ref name=":0" />

Lieberman studied at Hebrew University and received a Master's in Talmudic and [[Palestine (region)|ancient Palestinian]] studies.

He remarried in 1932, to [[Judith Lieberman]] (August 14, 1904 – 1978), a daughter of [[Meir Bar-Ilan]], leader of the [[Mizrachi (religious Zionism)]] movement; granddaughter of [[Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin]]; and niece of [[Baruch Epstein]].<ref name=":0" /> Judith Lieberman studied at Hunter College and then at Columbia University under Professor Moses Hadas and Professor Muzzey.  From 1941, she served as Hebrew principal and then as dean of Hebrew studies of Orthodox [[Shulamith School for Girls]] in New York, the first Jewish day school for girls in North America. Among her publications were ''[[Robert Browning]] and [[Hebraism]]'' (1934), and an autobiographical chapter which was included in ''Thirteen Americans, Their Spiritual Autobiographies'' (1953), edited by [[Louis Finkelstein]].

The Liebermans had no children.<ref>''See'' [[Making of a Godol]], improved edition p. 820.</ref>

==Awards and honors==
* In 1957, Lieberman was awarded 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 }}</ref>
* In 1971, he was awarded the [[Israel Prize]] for Jewish Studies.<ref name=prize>{{Cite web| title = Israel Prize Official Site - Recipients in 1971 (in Hebrew)| url = http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashkag/Tashlab_Tashkag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashla}}</ref>
* In 1976, he received the [[Harvey Prize]] of the [[Haifa]] [[Technion]].

He was an honorary member of the [[Academy of the Hebrew Language]], a fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], and a fellow of the [[Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities]].

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

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* ''Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox''. Marc B. Shapiro. [[University of Scranton Press]]. 2006. {{ISBN|1-58966-123-0}}
* ''Saul Lieberman: the man and his work'' / Elijah J. Schochet and Solomon Spiro. New York: [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]], 2005.
* Saul Lieberman, ''Rabbinic Interpretation of Scripture'' and ''The Hermeneutic Rules of the Aggadah'' in ''Hellenism in Jewish Palestine'' JTS, NY, 1994
* ''Seventy Faces'' Norman Lamm, ''Moment'' Vol. II, No. 6  June 1986/Sivan 5746
* ''Tradition Renewed: A History of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America'', Vol. II, p.&nbsp;450, 474, JTS, NY, 1997
* Article by [[Emanuel Rackman|Rabbi Emmanuel Rackman]] published in ''[[The Jewish Week]]'' May 8, 1997, page 28.
* [[Jacob Neusner]], ''Why There Never Was a “Talmud of Caesarea.” Saul Lieberman’s Mistakes.'' Atlanta, 1994: Scholars Press for South Florida Studies in the History of Judaism.

==External links==
* [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/slieberman.html Saul Lieberman (1898 - 1983)], Jewish Virtual Library.
* Rabbi Lieberman's books:
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20110709093253/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_midrash_teiman.pdf מדרשי תימן]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120124180228/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_al_hayerushalmi.pdf On the Yerushalmi (Jerusalem, 5689 – 1929)]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120228223005/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_yerushalmikepshuto.pdf הירושלמי כפשוטו, volume 1 (Shabbath, Eruvin, P'sahim), Jerusalem, 5695]
** Tosefeth Rishonim:
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120228223203/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_tossefet_rishonim_1.pdf Part 1 (Seder Seraim, Moed), Jerusalem, 5697 – 1937]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120228223237/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_tossefet_rishonim_2.pdf Part 2 (Seder Nashim, Nezikin, Kadashim), Jerusalem, 5698 – 1938]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120228223310/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_tossefet_rishonim_3.pdf Part 3 (Kelim – Niddah), Jerusalem, 5699]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120228223351/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_tossefet_rishonim_4.pdf Part 4 (Mikwaoth – Uktzin), Jerusalem, 5699 – 1939]
** Tosefta:
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20121111095158/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/tossefta_zraim.pdf Seder Zeraim (New York, 5715)]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20121111095116/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/tossefta_moed.pdf Seder Moed (New York, 5722)]
*** Seder Nashim [https://web.archive.org/web/20121111094832/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/tossefta_nashim1.pdf Volume One (New York, 5727)] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20121111094515/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/tossefta_nashim2.pdf Volume Two (New York, 5733)]
*** The Order of Nezikin: Bava Kamma, Bava Meẓi'a, Bava Batra (Jerusalem, 1988; reprinted 5761–2001)
** Tosefta Ki-fshuṭah:
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20121111095010/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_tosseftazraim1.pdf Part I, Order Zera'im (New York, 5715 – 1955)]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20121111094412/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_tosseftazraim2.pdf Part II, Order Zera'im (New York, 5715 – 1955)]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120902140638/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_tosseftamoed3.pdf Part III, Order Mo'ed (New York, 5722 – 1962)]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20121111094612/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_tosseftamoed4.pdf Part IV, Order Mo'ed (New York, 5722 – 1962)]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20121111094006/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_tosseftamoed5.pdf Part V, Order Mo'ed (New York, 5722 – 1962)]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20121111093906/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_tosseftanashim6.pdf Part VI, Order Nashim (New York, 5727 – 1967)]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20121111094143/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_tosseftanashim7.pdf Part VII, Order Nashim (New York, 5727 – 1967)]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20121111094656/https://www.massorti.com/IMG/pdf/liberman_tosseftanashim8.pdf Part VIII, Order Nashim (New York, 5733 – 1973)]
*** Parts IX-X, Order Nezikin (Jerusalem, 1988; reprinted 5761–2001)
* {{cite web|url=http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~testsm/Lieberman.html |title=Saul Lieberman: The Greatest Sage in Israel |last=Bar-Ilan |first=Meir |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105232639/http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~testsm/Lieberman.html |archivedate=November 5, 2007 }}
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031014172823/http://www.jtsa.edu/research/lieberman.shtml |date=October 14, 2003 |title=Saul Lieberman Institute for Talmudic Research }}
* {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130415100659/http://eng.liebermaninstitute.org/ The Lieberman Institute for Talmudic Research]}}
* [http://www.bhol.co.il/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=2953928&forum_id=19616 Links to Rabbi Lieberman's books] (Hebrew)
* [http://www.lieberman-institute.com/ The Lieberman Institute for Talmudic Research Text Databank]
* [http://lieberman-index.org/ The Lieberman Institute for Talmudic Research Index Project]

{{Commentators on the Jerusalem Talmud}}
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[[Category:1983 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
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[[Category:20th-century American rabbis]]
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[[Category:American Orthodox rabbis]]
[[Category:Israel Prize in Jewish studies recipients]]
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[[Category:Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities]]
[[Category:People from Motal]]
[[Category:Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine]]
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[[Category:Talmudists]]
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