Samuel Belkin

Infobox Person
name = Rabbi Dr. Samuel Belkin


caption = "Photo courtesy of Yeshiva University"
birth_date = birth date|1911|12|12
birth_place = Svisloch, Russian Empire
death_date = "1976"
death_place = New York City
education = PhD, Brown University
occupation = President of Yeshiva University
spouse =
parents =
children =

Rabbi Samuel Belkin (1911-1976) is best known as the second University President of Yeshiva University. A distinguished Torah scholar, he is credited with leading Yeshiva University through a period of substantial expansion [Museum of the Jewish People, "Samuel Belkin", http://www.bh.org.il/names/POW/Belkin.asp ] .

Biography

Belkin was born in Svisloch, Russian Empire (now Svislach, Belarus) and studied in the yeshivas of Slonim and Mir. Recognized at a young age as an "illui", a genius, he was ordained as a rabbi at the age of seventeen by the famed Yisrael Meir Kagan, the "Chofetz Chaim".

As a child, he sought to leave Poland after he saw his father shot at his home by Polish policeman in 1919. [ Samuel Belkin, Rabbi William G. Braude, Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 44, 1977 (1977), pp. xvii-xx in JSTOR, American Academy for Jewish Research] He emigrated to the United States in 1929, studied with Harry Austryn Wolfson at Harvard and received his doctorate (concerned with the writings of Philo) at Brown University in 1935, one of the first awarded for Judaic studies in American academia. In 1940, an elaboration of his Ph.D. thesis was published with the title “Philo and the Oral Law; the Philonic Interpretation of Biblical Law in Relation to the Palestinian Halakah.” [The Jewish Virtual Library, "Samuel Belkin" ]

He then joined the faculty of Yeshiva College, New York, where he taught Greek. He became a full professor in 1940 and was appointed dean of its Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) the same year. In 1943, Belkin became president of the college and the seminary and under his guidance the institution expanded to become Yeshiva University in 1945. Belkin was a visionary who transformed YU from a small college and rabbinical seminary into a significant institution of considerable stature not only in Judaic Studies but also in natural and social sciences and the humanities.

As a scholar he published many works on Jewish law and Hellenistic literature. His most significant published works are "Philo and the Oral Law" (Cambridge; Harvard University Press, 1940) and "In His

In his work, “In His Image,” Dr. Belkin describes Judaism as a Democratic Theocracy. A Theocracy because the first principle of Jewish thought describes the Kingship of God. And a Democracy because the Written and the Oral Law emphasize the infinite worth of each human being. [Jewish Virtual Library, "Samuel Belkin" ]

The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law gives an award to one graduating law student each year in Dr. Belkin's honor. The award recognizes exceptional contribution to the growth and development of the law school. Past recipients of the Dr. Samuel Belkin Award include:

*Frank M. Esposito (1994)
*Magda M. Jimenez (1995)
*Vsevolod "Steve" Maskin (2000)
*Alan Gotthelf (2001)
*Brandyne S. Warren (2005)and
*Kimberly N. Grant (2007)

Bibliography

*Belkin, Samuel. "In His image; the Jewish philosophy of man as expressed in rabbinic tradition". 290 p London, New York, Abelard-Schuman [1960]
*Belkin, Samuel. "Philo and the oral law; the Philonic interpretation of Biblical law in relation to the Palestinian Halakah". Pp. xiv, 292. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard university press, 1940.
*Belkin, Samuel. "The philosophy of purpose". Pp. 39 p. 3d ed. New York, Yeshiva University, 1958.
*Belkin, Samuel. "Midrash ha-shemot be-Filon". Pp. 61. [New York, 1956]
*Belkin, Samuel. "Essays in traditional Jewish thought". Pp. 191. New York: Philosophical Library [c1956]
*Belkin, Samuel. "Midrash she´elot u-teshuvot `al Bereshit u-Shemot le-Filon ha-Aleksandroni". Pp. 74p. [New York, 1960]
*Yeshiva University. "Inauguration of Rabbi Samuel Belkin, PH.D., as president, Tuesday afternoon, May twenty-third, nineteen hundred and forty-four, at three o'clock, in the Nathan Lamport auditorium". Pp. 57. [Easton, Pa., Printed by Mack printing co., 1945]

References

* [http://www.bh.org.il/Names/POW/Belkin.asp Samuel Belkin (1911-1976), educator] , www.bh.org.il
* [http://www.yucommentator.com/media/paper652/news/2005/05/16/Yudaica/Samuel.Belkins.Application.To.Riets-951245.shtml Samuel Belkin's Application to RIETS] , yucommentator.com
* [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/sbelkin.html Samuel Belkin, Jewish Virtual Library] , www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org

Notes