RABBI DR. DAVID WEISS HALIVNI OBM was one of the Jewish world's leading Talmudists and theologians. In his talk Professor Weiss Halivni will discuss the key issues of faith after the Shoah. What can the Holocaust mean for persons who have devoted their lives to Jewish belief and practice? Can a time of suffering be reconciled with faith in a benevolent G-d? How does the Shoah change the shape and meaning of Judaism for contemporary Jews?
Professor Weiss Halivni, born in Sighet, Romania, is a survivor of Aushwitz, Wolfsberg and Mauthausen. After being liberated from the camps, he moved to the U.S. and studied at Yeshivat Rabbi Chaim Berlin. He served on the faculty of the Jewish Theological
Seminary for 30 years prior to his appointment as Littauer Professor of Talmud and
Classical Rabbinics in the Department of Religion at Columbia University. He is the
author of several books on Talmudic scholarship, as well as his memoir, The Book and
the Sword, and a book on post-Holocaust theology, Breaking the Tablets.