Nahum Rabinovich

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rabbi Dr. Nahum Eliezer Rabinovich (1928-) is a prominent Israeli Orthodox rabbi. He was born in Montreal, Canada.

Rabbi Rabinovich learnt in Yeshivas Ner Israel, where he received Semicha. He also obtained a masters degree in mathematics from Johns Hopkins University. Rabbi Rabinovich taught Judaism in several places and served as a congregational rabbi. In the 1970s, he completed a Ph.D. in the field of statistics and probability in the Talmud; the results are in his book which is highly cited: "Probability and Statistical Inference in ancient and medieval Jewish Literature" (Toronto, 1973).

Rabbi Rabinovich also lived in London, where he served as dean of Jews' College and had a reputation as an influential scholar. He later agreed to be a head of the yeshiva Birkat Moshe in Ma'ale Adummim, Israel, a Hesder institution.

In a recent interview [1] (in Hebrew), Rabbi Rabinovich said that he backed religious studies for women and did not see a problem in Halachic decisions taken by women. Jewish law has always spoken of monarchy as an ideal, but Rabbi Rabinovitch said that it might not be dictatorial, and draws a picture of constitutional society, where the law is above all else.

Rabbi Rabinovitch has written 14 volumes of commentary entitled Yad Peshuta ("Outstretched Hand" or "14 Elucidated") to Rambam's Mishneh Torah, in addition to other works.