Louis Ginzberg ( he, לוי גינצבורג, ''Levy Gintzburg''; russian: Леви Гинцберг, ''Levy Ginzberg''; November 28, 1873 – November 11, 1953) was a
Russian-born American
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...
and
Talmudic scholar
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the center ...
of
Lithuanian-Jewish descent,
contributing editor
A contributing editor is a newspaper, magazine or online job title that varies in its responsibilities. Often, but not always, a contributing editor is a "high-end" freelancer, consultant, or expert who has proven ability and has readership dr ...
to numerous articles of ''
The Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906), and leading figure in the
Conservative movement of
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...
during the early 20th century. He was born in
Kaunas,
Vilna Governorate (then called ''Kovno'') and died in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Biographical background
Ginzberg was born into a religious
Lithuanian-Jewish family whose piety and erudition was well known. The family traced its
lineage
Lineage may refer to:
Science
* Lineage (anthropology), a group that can demonstrate its common descent from an apical ancestor or a direct line of descent from an ancestor
* Lineage (evolution), a temporal sequence of individuals, populat ...
back to the revered
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
ist,
halakhic scholar, and
kabbalist master
Gaon of Vilna. Ginzberg sought to emulate the Vilna Gaon's intermingling of "academic knowledge" in Torah studies under the label "historical Judaism"; for example, in his book ''Students, Scholars and Saints'', Ginzberg quotes the Vilna Gaon's instruction, "Do not regard the views of the
Shulchan Aruch
The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in ...
as binding if you think that they are not in agreement with those of the Talmud."
He wrote in his memoirs that he felt saddened that he had grieved his father, as he recognized that his pious father was disappointed that his son had chosen a more liberal path with regards to Jewish law in contrast to those of his forefathers. Ginzberg first arrived in America in 1899, unsure where he belonged or what he should pursue. Almost immediately, he accepted a position at
Hebrew Union College and subsequently wrote articles for the ''
Jewish Encyclopedia''. Still, he had not found his niche.
Judaism studied in a historical context
In 1903, he began teaching at the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...
(JTS) in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he taught until his death. Throughout his life, all of his works were infused with the belief that Judaism and Jewish history could not be understood properly without a firm grasp of
Jewish law
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...
. Instead of just studying the halakha, Louis Ginzberg wrote
responsa, i.e. formal responses to questions of Jewish law.
Many of Ginzberg's Orthodox Jewish peers had deep reservations about his choice to work at JTS. The seminary explicitly encouraged its faculty and students to study
rabbinical literature within its social and historical context; this was sometimes known as ''
Wissenschaft des Judentums'', or the "scientific study of Judaism." As a result of this, most Orthodox Jews viewed his works as unacceptable, and virtually none refer to them, much less rely on them, today.
On account of his impressive scholarship in
Jewish studies, Ginzberg was one of sixty scholars honored with a doctorate by
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
in celebration of its tercentenary. Ginzberg's knowledge made him the expert to defend Judaism both in national and international affairs. In 1906, he defended the Jewish community against
anti-Semitic accusations that Jews ritually slaughtered
Gentiles. In 1913,
Louis Marshall requested that Ginzberg refute the
Beilis blood libel charge in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Ky ...
.
Legacy at the Jewish Theological Seminary
Ginzberg began teaching the
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
at the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...
(JTS) from its reorganization in 1902 until his death in 1953. For fifty years he trained two generations of future
Conservative rabbis. During his era, Ginzberg influenced almost every rabbi of the Conservative movement in a personal way. For some, Louis Ginzberg serves as a role model even today. Today's leading Conservative
posek in Israel, rabbi
David Golinkin, has written profusely on Louis Ginzberg. Golinkin has recently published a collection of responsa containing 93 questions answered by Ginzberg.
In the opening address, Ginzberg spoke of the need to keep Conservative Jewry under the
rubric
A rubric is a word or section of text that is traditionally written or printed in red ink for emphasis. The word derives from the la, rubrica, meaning red ochre or red chalk, and originates in Medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 13th ...
of halakha. The conception that in religious matters anyone, however ignorant, can judge for himself, is the direct denial of the old Jewish
maxim, 'The ignorant cannot be pious' (
Avot 2:5)… The majority vote of a Board of Directors of a synagogue is, after all, a negligible quantity when it is in opposition to the vote of historical Judaism with its myriad of Saints and thousands of Sages…The sorting, distributing, selecting, harmonizing and completing can only be done by experienced hands. Ginzberg's initiative to base halakhic decisions on law committees and not laymen is the method the Conservative movement describes as its present one till today.
In 1918, at the Sixth Annual Convention, Ginzberg, as the acting president, declared that
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism stood for 'historical Judaism' and thus elaborates:
"Now let us understand the exact meaning of the expression historical Judaism…Looking at Judaism from a historical point of view, we become convinced that there is no one aspect deep enough to exhaust the content of such a complex phenomenon as Judaism…Accordingly, Torah-less Judaism… would be an entirely new thing and not the continuation of something given…
Responsa on wine during Prohibition
One of his ''
responsa'' concerns the use of wine in the Jewish community during the
Prohibition Era. The
Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Eighteenth Amendment (Amendment XVIII) of the United States Constitution established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States. The amendment was proposed by Congress on December 18, 1917, and was ratified by the requisite number of ...
,
ratified on January 16, 1920, declared that "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of
intoxicating liquors within... the United States... for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited." The subsequent
Volstead Act defined "intoxicating liquors" and provided for several exceptions, one of which as for
sacramental use. The
Christian Church
In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a synonym fo ...
was able to successfully regulate the use of ceremonial wine. The clergy could easily monitor the nominal amount of
sacramental wine that each worshipper drank, especially because it was usually drunk only in Church and only on Sundays (for the
communion or Eucharist ceremony).
This was not the case for the Jews. Jews needed a greater quantity of wine per person. Furthermore, the wine was drunk in the privacy of the home on
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stori ...
,
Jewish holidays
Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainst ...
, Jewish wedding, weddings, and ''brit milah'' (circumcision ceremonies). This alone would have made the regulation of ceremonial wine complicated. It was not difficult for crooks to rig illegal "wine synagogues" to trick the government to receive their wine which would then be bootlegged.
While contemporary Orthodox Jewish authorities are generally permissive of grape juice as a wine substitute, Orthodox rabbis of the 1920s soundly rejected its use.
The
Reform movement in 1920 proclaimed that
grape juice
Grape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. In the wine industry, grape juice that contains 7–23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as '' must''. The sugars in grape juice allow it to ...
be used instead of wine to eliminate future complaints. Shortly afterwards, on January 24, 1922, the
Conservative movement publicized the 71-page response written by Ginzberg tackling the halakhic aspects of drinking grape juice instead of wine in light of the historical circumstances. Besides Ginzberg's well-grounded decision to permit grape juice, he includes meta-halakhic reasoning:
"…The decision of the author of
Magen Abraham that the commandment is honored best by the use of old wine is rejected. Even this authority would admit that it is better to pronounce the
Kiddush over new wine than to
desecrate the Divine Name and to disgrace the Jewish people, and we well know the damage caused the Jewish people by the trafficking in sacramental wine."
At the time of Ginzburg's responsum, the Orthodox rabbinate had exclusive authority to sanction sacramental wine for Jews, and the responsum was thought by the Orthodox community to be tainted by self-interest.
Works
Ginzberg was the author of a number of scholarly Jewish works, including a commentary on ''Talmud Yerushalmi'' (the
Jerusalem Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...
) and his six-volume (plus a one-volume index) ''The Legends of the Jews,'' (1909) which combined hundreds of legends and
parables from a lifetime of
midrash
''Midrash'' (;["midrash"]
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
research.
''
Legends of the Jews'' is an original synthesis of a vast amount of
aggadah
Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism ...
from all of classical
rabbinic literature
Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic w ...
, as well as
apocryphal,
pseudopigraphical
Pseudepigrapha (also anglicized as "pseudepigraph" or "pseudepigraphs") are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past.Bauckham, Richard; "Pseu ...
and even early Christian literature, with legends ranging from the creation of the world and the fall of Adam, through a huge collection of legends on Moses, and ending with the story of Esther and the Jews in Persia. Ginzberg had an encyclopedic knowledge of all rabbinic literature, and his masterwork included a massive array of aggadot. However he did not create an anthology which showed these aggadot distinctly. Rather, he paraphrased them and rewrote them into one continuous narrative that covered four volumes, followed by two volumes of footnotes that give specific sources. See
Jewish folklore and
Aggadah
Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism ...
.
Apart from ''Legends of the Jews'', perhaps his best known scholarly work was his ''Geonica'' (1909), an account of the Babylonian
Geonim containing lengthy extracts from their responsa, as discovered in the form of fragments in the
Cairo Genizah. This work was continued by him in the similar collection entitled ''Ginze Schechter'' (1929).
Professor Ginzberg wrote 406 articles and several
monograph-length entries for the ''
Jewish Encyclopedia'' (Levy 2002), some later collected in his ''Legend and Lore.''
He was an important
halakhic authority of the
Conservative movement in North America; for a period of ten years (1917–1927), he was virtually ''the'' halakhic authority of this movement. He was also founder and president of the American Academy of Jewish Research.
Many of his halakhic responsa are collected in ''The
Responsa of Professor Louis Ginzberg,'' ed.
David Golinkin, NY: JTS, 1996.
Personal life
Ginzberg had a long term platonic relationship with
Henrietta Szold, who was his editor at
JPS. She was in love with him, but was 13 years older than him.
Ginzberg visited Berlin in 1908 and became engaged to
Adele Katzenstein while he was there. Katzestein was about 22 at the time. They had two children. Son
Eli Ginzberg Eli Ginzberg (April 30, 1911 – December 14, 2002) was born in New York City and earned an A.B., an A.M., and a Ph.D. from Columbia University between 1931 and 1934. He was son of the famous Louis Ginzberg, Professor of Talmud, at the Jewis ...
(1911–2002) was a professor of economics at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. The second child was a daughter, Sophie Ginzberg Gould (1914–1985).
References
External links
Excerpts from ''The Responsa of Professor Louis Ginzberg''*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginzburg, Louis
19th-century Lithuanian rabbis
19th-century Jewish theologians
20th-century American rabbis
20th-century Jewish theologians
1873 births
1953 deaths
American Conservative rabbis
American Jewish theologians
American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States
Jewish Theological Seminary of America people
Rabbis from Kaunas
Talmudists
Writers from Kaunas