{"id":8749,"date":"2009-04-20T15:11:16","date_gmt":"2009-04-20T23:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=8749"},"modified":"2009-04-20T15:17:28","modified_gmt":"2009-04-20T23:17:28","slug":"the-talmudic-encylopedia-head-dead-at-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=8749","title":{"rendered":"The Talmudic Encylopedia Head Dead At 96"},"content":{"rendered":"

(IsraelNN.com)<\/a> Rabbi Yehoshua Hutner, the long-time Director of the monumental Talmudic Encyclopedia project, passed away early Monday morning at the age of 96. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Born in <\/span>Warsaw<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city> in 1913, the deceased was the scion of rabbinical families in <\/span>Europe<\/span><\/st1:place>. Even his grandmother, Hendel Hutner of Bialystok, was known for her Torah knowledge; yeshiva students would often rise for her as they would for their rabbis. The deceased quoted some of her original Torah ideas in his writings.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Talmudic Encyclopedia project, headquartered in Jerusalem, was the initiative of Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan, son of the famed Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin) and brother of Rabbi Chaim Berlin. He developed the concept of summarizing the Talmudic discussions in encyclopedic form, and, together with Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin, founded the project.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Hutner, who ran the monumental project for 50 years, succeeded in bringing it financial stability in its early years. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

The first volume was published in 1947, followed by an additional volume every two or three years, and the project is now approximately half-completed. Volume 27, covering topics as diverse as the Kol Nidrei prayer, honor of Sabbath and festivals, conquest in war, Cuthites (Samaritans), and more, was published two years ago.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, two volumes of indices have been published, as have special volumes on topics such as the Passover Haggadah, the <\/span>Land<\/span><\/st1:placetype> of <\/span>Israel<\/span><\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>, electricity in Jewish Law, the Yom Kippur prayers, and more. The entire project appears in CD form as well, and six volumes have been published in English.                    <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

The renowned Rabbi Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg, a leading <\/span>Rabbinical Court<\/span><\/st1:address><\/st1:street> judge in <\/span>Jerusalem<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, is the editor-in-chief of the project, and Rabbi Prof. Avraham Steinberg, M.D., author of the five-volume Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics, serves as its Executive Director. Administrator Chaim Falk of Ofra says he hopes that the entire project, running under the auspices of Yad Harav Herzog, will be completed within a generation.<\/span><\/p>\n

RABBI GIL STUDENT WRITES<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a new issue of Kol Hamevaser: The Jewish Thought Magazine of the Yeshiva University Student Body<\/em> on the topic of Jewish Philosophy. The whole issue is available here: link<\/a>. Also, those who would like to subscribe to automatically receive a PDF version of new editions of the paper should send an e-mail here<\/a>.<\/p>\n