Reuven Hammer (; June 30, 1933 – August 12, 2019) was an American-Israeli

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

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 ...

, scholar of

Jewish liturgy Jewish prayer (, ; plural ; , plural ; Yinglish: davening from Yiddish 'pray') is the prayer recitation that forms part of the observance of Rabbinic Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the '' ...

, author and lecturer who was born in New York. He was a founder of the "Masorti" (Conservative) movement in

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 ...

and a president of the International

Rabbinical Assembly The Rabbinical Assembly (RA) is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, an ...

. He served many years as head of the Masorti Beth Din in Israel. A prolific writer in both the Israeli and international press, he was a regular columnist for ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

'' "Tradition Today" column. He lived in

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 ...

Biography

Hammer earned a doctorate in theology and rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. As president of the 1,500-member Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative movement in Israel, Hammer authored the movement's official commentary on the prayer book, ''Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals'', published in March 2003. This work contains the complete text of Siddur Sim Shalom for

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 ...

and

festivals A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

, surrounded by a comprehensive commentary. The page layout loosely resembles that of the

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 ...

. In 2008 Rabbi Hammer, also authored the commentary for ''Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays''. From October 2005 to July 2007 Hammer was the Interim Rabbi at the New London Synagogue in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Hammer died of a

brain tumour A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...

on 12 August 2019 in

at the age of 86.

Honors and awards

In 2003 Hammer was named to the

Forward 50 ''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Seth ...

as one of the most influential Jews in the American Jewish community for his achievements as president of the Rabbinical Assembly. That same year, he received the Simon Greenberg Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Rabbinate by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies of the

University of Judaism A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

(now the

American Jewish University American Jewish University (AJU) is a Private university, private Jewish university in Los Angeles, California. It was formed in 2007 from the merger of the University of Judaism and Brandeis-Bardin Institute. AJU's academic division includes ...

). His books ''Sifre: A Taanaitic commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy'' (1986) and ''Entering the High Holy Days: A guide to origins, themes, and prayers'' (2005) were awarded the

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of qual ...

as the best book of scholarship for their respective years.

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * (with

Jules Harlow Julius Edwin Harlow (June 28, 1931 – February 12, 2024) was an American Conservative rabbi and liturgist. Birth Harlow was born in Sioux City, Iowa, to Henry and Lena Harlow ( Lipman) in 1931. Career In 1952, he earned a B.A. at Morningside ...

Harold Kushner Harold Samuel Kushner (April 3, 1935 – April 28, 2023) was an American rabbi, author, and lecturer. He was a member of the Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism and served as the congregational rabbi of Temple Israel of Natick, in Nat ...

, and Avram Israel Reisner) * * * * *

References

External links

List of "Tradition Today" columns by Rabbi Reuven Hammer in ''The Jerusalem Post''List of columns by Rabbi Reuven Hammer in

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

''The Pope and I'' by Reuven Hammer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammer, Reuven 1933 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American rabbis American Conservative rabbis American emigrants to Israel American male non-fiction writers Deaths from brain cancer in Israel Israeli Conservative rabbis The Jerusalem Post people Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish Theological Seminary of America semikhah recipients Religious leaders from Syracuse, New York

Biography

Honors and awards

Bibliography

See also

References

External links