Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Day 2: Landes reveals the real Rabbi Haim David Halevy



This morning Rabbi Daniel Landes, a professor at the Jerusalem-based Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies joined our group at the S.E.C. to discuss the work of the late Sephardic Rabbi Haim David Halevy. Landes explained that what set Rabbi Halevy aside from other rabbis of his time was the fact that Halevy used modernity and Torah to bring people back to Judaism.

Rabbi Haim David Halevy was the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv from 1972 until his death in 1998. He was a prominent halakhist, prolific author and a creative thinker. Landes said that a large part of Rabbi Halevy's message to Jews during his life was that "individuals need to assu e responsibilities for themselves in the modern era". Landes said that Halevy's mentor, Sephardi chief rabbi of the British Mandate of Palestine, Rabbi Benzion Uziel, helped him provide creative solutions to modern questions of halacha which was in the long standing Judeo-Spanish Sephardic tradition.

The following is video footage I captured of Landes discussing Rabbi Halvey's approach to "Da'at Torah"...






Here are some snapshots from Landes visit I captured...


(Rabbi Daniel Landes)








-- Karmel Melamed

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