Avraham Goldberg (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: אברהם גולדברג, January 22, 1913 – April 13, 2012) was an Israeli

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

scholar.

Life

Goldberg was born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, and was educated at yeshivot Torah V'Daat and Chafetz Chaim, as well as at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

, where he studied English literature. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1941. After serving as a chaplain in the United States armed forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Goldberg moved to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

to study at the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, where he remained until his retirement. He volunteered for Mahal and served in the IDF during the

War of Independence Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

. In 1952 Goldberg received a PhD in Talmud from Hebrew University, with a critical edition of '' Massechet Ohalot'' serving as his dissertation. He completed his doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Nahum Epstein; following Epstein’s death, Hanoch Albeck succeeded him as supervisor. After graduation, Goldberg served at the Hebrew University as professor and professor emeritus of Talmud, as well as chair of the Talmud department. He also served as visiting professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary and

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. Goldberg was married to Rivka Abramowitz and they had four daughters.

Published works

Books

Goldberg published four books: Critical editions of the Mishnah for Massechtot Oholot,

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

Eruvin An eruv is a religious-legal enclosure which permits carrying in certain areas on Shabbat. Eruv may also refer to: * '' Eruvin (Talmud)'', a tractate in ''Moed'' * Eruv tavshilin ("mixing of cooked dishes"), which permits cooking on a Friday H ...

, and an analytic study of

Tosefta The Tosefta ( "supplement, addition") is a compilation of Jewish Oral Law from the late second century, the period of the Mishnah and the Jewish sages known as the '' Tannaim''. Background Jewish teachings of the Tannaitic period were cha ...

Bava Kamma. A collection of his essays in Hebrew entitled “Literary Form and Composition in Classical Rabbinic Literature” was published by

Magnes Press The Hebrew University Magnes Press, known for short as Magnes Press, is the publishing house of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. History Magnes Press was founded in 1929, four years after the founding of the Hebrew University, and is the o ...

Articles

He also published many articles in scholarly journals. * Abraham Goldberg. “The Sources and Development of the Sugya in the Babylonian Talmud” '' Tarbiz'' , no. 32 (1963): 143–52. * Abraham Goldberg. “Rabbi Ze’ira and Babylonian Custom in Palestine.” ''Tarbiz'', no. 36 (1967): 319–41. * Abraham Goldberg. “On the Authenticity of the Chapters ‘Vayehi Baḥaẕi Hallayla’ (Ex. XII, 29) and ‘Shor O Kesev’ (Lev. XXII, 27) in the Pesiqta.” ''Tarbiz'', no. 38 (1968): 184–85. * Abraham Goldberg. “‘All Base Themselves upon the Teachings of Rabbi 'Aqiva’.’” ''Tarbiz /'' no. 38 (1969): 231–54. * Abraham Goldberg. “The Use of the Tosefta and the Baraitha of the School of Samuel by the Babylonian Amora Rava for the Interpretation of the Mishna.” ''Tarbiz'', no 40. (1971): 144–57.

Reviews on his books

* Schlüter, Margarete. eview of ''The Mishna Treatise Eruvin'', by A. Goldberg ''Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period'' 19, no. 1 (1988): 112–15. * Segal, Eliezer. eview of ''Tosefta Bava Kamma: A Structural and Analytic Commentary with a Mishna-Tosefta Synopsis'', by A. Goldberg ,''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' 123, no. 3 (2003): 662–64. * Goldin, Judah. Review of ''On the Editing of Mishna Eruvin'', by Abraham Goldberg. ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' 108, no. 3 (1988): 471–74.

Awards

* In 1955, Goldberg was awarded the Rav Kook Prize from the city of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

for his dissertation. * In 2000, he was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

in Talmudic studies.