Twenty-Eighth Volume of Encyclopedia Talmudit

The twenty-eighth volume of the Hebrew Encyclopedia Talmudit came off the press in Jerusalem a short time ago. It  includes entries beginning with the letter Khaf, from Kezayit Bikhdei Akhilat Peras until Kol Nidrei.
The  new volume carries an introduction by Rabbi Professor Abraham Steinberg. Described as the “general editor,” he is a Panim Hadashot (new face)  in the encyclopedia. The scion of a family of famous Galician rabbis, he is a well known physician and great Talmudic scholar. He was the first director of the Falk Schlesinger Institute for Medical Halakhic Research at the Shaarei Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, has served as an advisor to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and also worked closely with the Halakhic authority, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, publishing numerous Halakhic decisions in the former’s  name. His publications include the six volume Encyclopedia Hilkhatit Refu’it (1988-1998, English edition: Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics, 3 volumes).
Rabbi Steinberg was appointed to his new position at the Talmudic Encyclopedia by its long time director Rabbi Yehoshua Hutner, who now carries the title Head of Yad HaRav Herzog’s Institutes. Rabbi Hutner, who recently celebrated his ninety-eighth birthday, (Ad Meah Ve’Esrim), directed the work of the encyclopedia from its very beginning. He worked closely with Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan, the founder, and with Rabbi ShlomoYosef Zevin, its famous editor -in-chief. Rabbi Hutner was involved in choosing the editorial staff and established the encyclopedia’s financial bases in Israel and in the lands of the Diaspora. He also planned the English edition of the Talmudic Encyclopedia.
In his introduction, Rabbi Steinberg states that the twenty-eighth volume of the Talmudic Encyclopedia appears in the year which marks the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog, after whom the institutes of the encyclopedia are named (Yad Harav Herzog). On the occasion of the anniversary, Yad HaRav Herzog, in cooperation with various personalities and other important institutes, organized an international conference on the practical application of Halakha in the Yeshurun Synagogue in Jerusalem. Rabbi Herzog worshipped in this synagogue and in its courtyard tore up in the spring of 1939 the British White Paper on Palestine. At the conference were discussed  a variety of subjects in areas of the rabbinate, Dayyanut, Kashruth, the army, Jewish law, medicine, economics, agriculture, ecology, technology and Tekhelet. These areas were of special interest to Rabbi Herzog and he contributed greatly to their understanding.
Yad HaRav Herzog also published a volume in memory of Rabbi Herzog which includes a description of the latter’s life and work, sermons and articles by him, as well as a series of articles by rabbis and scholars about Rabbi Herzog’s Halakhic views on certain subjects. Prepared was also a film about Rabbi Herzog’s life and achievements.
Further on in the introduction, Rabbi Steinberg informs us that, Yad Harav Herzog, because of financial difficulties, was forced to sell its large facilities in Bayit VeGan and last year its institutes, the Talmudic Encyclopedia and the Institute of the Israeli Talmud, their researchers and editors moved to a wing of Jerusalem’s Yeshurun Synagogue which was specially prepared for them. Rabbi Steinberg expresses gratitude to the directors of the Yeshurun Synagogue for its aid and cooperation.  (Many years ago, long before Yad Harav Herzog established itself in Bayit Vegan, there was a time when the writers and editors of the Talmudic Encyclopedia did their work in the library of the Yeshurun Synagogue.)
(To be continued)

The Jewish Press March 20,2009

In his introduction to the latest volume of the Talmudic Encyclopedia, Rabbi A. Steinberg writes also about the special reprints by the encyclopedia of various of its entries.