David Hartman (rabbi)

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David Hartman (born 1931) is an American rabbi and philosopher of contemporary Judaism and an internationally renowned Jewish author.

Born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York, Hartman attended Yeshiva Chaim Berlin and the Lubavitch Yeshiva. In 1953, having studied with Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, he received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva University in New York. He continued to study with Rabbi Soloveitchik until 1960, while pursuing a graduate degree in philosophy with Robert C. Pollock at Fordham University. From his teacher Rabbi Soloveitchik, David learned that the practice of Judaism can be integrated with a deep respect for knowledge regardless of its source. From Professor Pollock he learned to joyfully celebrate the variety of spiritual rhythms present in the American experience.

After serving as a congregational rabbi in the Bronx, New York, from 1955-1960, David Hartman became Rabbi of Congregation Tiferet Beit David Jerusalem in Montreal, where he had a profound influence on the lives of many of his congregants, some of whom followed him to Israel when he moved there in 1971. While in Montreal, he also taught and studied at McGill University and received his Ph.D. in philosophy.

In 1971, Hartman immigrated to Israel with his wife Barbara and their five children, a move which he viewed as an essential part of his mission to encourage a greater understanding between Jews of diverse affiliations – both in Israel and the Jewish diaspora – and to help build a more pluralistic and tolerant Israeli society^{[citation needed]}. It is with this vision that David Hartman founded the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem in 1976, dedicating it to his father. At the institute, Prof. Hartman leads a team of research scholars in the study and teaching of classical Jewish sources and contemporary issues of Israeli society and Jewish life. His work emphasizes the centrality of the rebirth of the State of Israel – the challenge as well as the opportunities it offers to contemporary Judaism. His teachings draw upon the tradition of Orthodox Judaism and emphasize religious pluralism, both among Jews and in interfaith relations.

Professor of Jewish Thought at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he taught for over two decades, Hartman was also visiting Professor of Jewish Thought at the University of California, Berkeley during 1986/1987 and at the University of California, Los Angeles during 1997/1998. His involvement goes beyond the academic fields, in which he has published extensively, and his influence has also been felt in Israel’s political and educational arenas: from 1977-1984, he served as an advisor to Zevulun Hammer, former Israeli Minister of Education, and he has been advisor to a number of Israeli prime ministers on the subject of religious pluralism in Israel and the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora.

Hartman’s publications in Jewish philosophy have received wide recognition and become standard references in academic scholarship. He was awarded the National Jewish Book Award in 1977 for Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest (Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1976) and in 1986 for the recently reissued A Living Covenant: The Innovative Spirit in Traditional Judaism (Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, Vermont, 1997 www.jewishlights.com). In 1993, the Hebrew translation of A Living Covenant From Sinai to Zion (Am Oved Publishers) was awarded the Leah Goldberg Prize. A Heart of Many Rooms: Celebrating the Many Voices Within Judaism was published by Jewish Lights Publishing in 1999. Israelis and the Jewish Tradition: an Ancient People Debating Its Future was published by Yale University Press, 2000, Love and Terror in the God Encounter: the Theological Legacy of Joseph B. Soloveitchik was published by Jewish Lights 2001. The Hebrew translation of Israelis and the Jewish Tradition - Moreshet B’Machloket was published by Schocken Publishing House, 2002.

Hartman was awarded the AVI CHAI Prize in the year 2000 and on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Shalom Hartman Institute he was awarded the Guardian of Jerusalem Prize. He was the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Yale University in May 2003. In 2004 David Hartman received an honorary doctorate from Hebrew Union College and was awarded the Samuel Rothberg Prize for Jewish Education by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Books by Rabbi Hartman:

• A Living Covenant: The Innovative Spirit in Traditional Judaism (Jewish Lights, 1998)
• Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest (Jewish Publication Society, 1976)
• A Heart of Many Rooms: Celebrating the Many Voices Within Judaism (Jewish Lights, 1999)
• Israelis and the Jewish Tradition: An Ancient People Debating Its Future (The Terry Lectures Series) (Yale Univ Press, 2000)