Judah David Bleich (born August 24, 1936) is an American

Haredi Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...

rabbi and professor known for his expertise in Jewish law, ethics, and bioethics. He serves as a professor of Talmud (rosh yeshiva) at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and heads its postgraduate institute for the study of Talmudic jurisprudence and family law. At Yeshiva University, he holds the Herbert and Florence Tenzer Chair in Jewish Law and Ethics. Bleich also teaches at Cardozo Law School and has been involved in governmental deliberations on bioethics.

Early life and education

Judah David Bleich was born in

Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Greenburgh, New York, Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, Unit ...

. He received his education from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. He holds rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva Torah Vodaas.

Publications

Bleich is the author of several influential works including ''Contemporary Halakhic Problems'', ''Bioethical Dilemmas: A Jewish Perspective'', and ''Jewish Bioethics''. He has written extensively on the application of Jewish law to Judah David Bleich (born August 24, 1936 in

) is an authority on

Jewish law ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

and

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

, including Jewish medical ethics. He is a professor of

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 ...

(

rosh yeshiva Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, plural, pl. , '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and th ...

) at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a Private university, private Modern Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.

, as well as head of its postgraduate institute for the study of Talmudic jurisprudence and family law. At Yeshiva University, he holds the Herbert and Florence Tenzer Chair in Jewish Law and Ethics. He also teaches at Cardozo Law School. He is married to Dr. Judith Bleich, a historian of 19th-century European Jewry. Bleich brings an Orthodox perspective to governmental deliberations on

bioethics Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, me ...

. For example, in 1988 he served on the NIH Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel and testified before Congress on the Pain Relief Promotion Act. In 1984, New York Governor

Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo ( , ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ...

appointed Bleich to the Governor's Commission on Life and the Law.

Early life and education

Bleich is the older of two sons of Rabbi Manning H. Bleich and his wife Beatrice. He attended public elementary school and received private tutoring on Jewish subjects. Later, he studied in Yeshiva Torah Vodaath and Beis Medrash Elyon, under Rabbi Elya Chazan. From 1958–1962, he attended the Kollel in Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim of Radun. He received a bachelor's degree from

in 1960, a master's degree from

in 1968, and a PhD from

in 1974. Bleich is a

Woodrow Wilson Fellow The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) is a nonpartisan, non-profit institution based in Princeton, New Jersey that says it aims to strengthen American democracy by "cultivating ...

, a postdoctoral fellow at the

Hastings Center The Hastings Center for Bioethics is an independent, nonpartisan bioethics research institute in Garrison, New York. Its mission is to address ethical issues in health care, science, and technology. Through its projects and publications and its pu ...

, and fellow of the Academy of Jewish Philosophy. He received rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, and advanced ordination ("''Yadin Yadin''") from Rabbis

Moshe Feinstein Moshe Feinstein (; Lithuanian pronunciation: ''Moishe Fainshtein''; ; March 3, 1895 – March 23, 1986) was a Russian-born American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, scholar, and ''posek'' (authority on ''halakha''—Jewish law). He has been called ...

and Mendel Zaks. Bleich was a close student of the late Rabbi

Yaakov Kamenetsky Yaakov Kamenetsky (February 28, 1891 – March 10, 1986), was a prominent rabbi, rosh yeshiva, ''posek'' and Talmudist in the post-World War II American Jewish community. Biography Yaakov Kamenetsky was born at a folwark called Kalyskovka owned ...

Publications

Bleich is the author of
Contemporary Halakhic Problems
' (eight volumes); ''Bioethical Dilemmas: A Jewish Perspective'' (two volumes); ''Jewish Bioethics'' (a collection of essays, which he co-edited with Fred Rosner); ''With Perfect Faith: Foundations of Jewish Belief''; ''Time of Death in Jewish Law''; ''Judaism and Healing''; ''The Philosophical Quest: Of Philosophy, Ethics, Law and Halakhah''; and ''DNA in Halakhah''. He has written a book about the blessing on observing the sun return to the original position it occupied at creation (''Bircas Hachamah'', updated in 2009: ). In Hebrew, he has published ''Be-Netivot ha-Halakhah'' (four volumes). His Ph.D. thesis is ''Providence in the late medieval Jewish philosophy'' (NYU, 1974). He has written extensively on the applications of Jewish law to contemporary social issues and on the interface of Jewish law and the American legal system. He serves as the long-standing contributor of the survey of halakhic literature for '' Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought''.

Yeshiva University

Bleich holds the position of rosh kollel for the Yadin Yadin Kollel (Institute for the Study of Jewish Monetary Law) in Yeshiva University. Additionally, he gives a Chullin/Yoreh Deah course (Jewish dietary laws) in RIETS, as well as a few courses in Jewish Philosophy in IBC.

Yorkville Synagogue

Bleich has been the

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 of t ...

(Jewish spiritual leader) of the Yorkville Synagogue, located in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

for over 55 years. He teaches

classes on

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 ...

. He also teaches Jewish halakhic or philosophical issues in a program every other Sabbath. The topic usually is related to the subject matter of the weekly Torah portion.

References

External links

Rabbi Bleich's recorded Torah lecturesArticles by J. David Bleich
on the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological SeminaryYorkville Synagogue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleich, J. David American Haredi rabbis Brooklyn College alumni Columbia University alumni New York University alumni Beth Medrash Elyon alumni Yeshiva University rosh yeshivas Jewish ethicists Jewish medical ethics People from Tarrytown, New York Living people 1936 births Authors of books on Jewish law