Louis Ginzberg
Rabbi Louis Ginzberg (Hebrew: לוי גינצבורג, Levy Gintzburg, November 28, 1873 – November 11, 1953) was a Talmudist and leading figure in the Conservative Movement of Judaism of the twentieth century. He was born on November 28, 1873,
... Read more
Rabbi Louis Ginzberg (Hebrew: לוי גינצבורג, Levy Gintzburg, November 28, 1873 – November 11, 1953) was a Talmudist and leading figure in the Conservative Movement of Judaism of the twentieth century. He was born on November 28, 1873, in Kaunas, Vilna Governorate (then called Kovno); he died on November 11, 1953, in New York City.Ginzberg was born into a religious family whose piety and erudition was well known. The family traced its lineage back to the revered talmudist, halachist, and kabbalist Gaon of Vilna. Ginzberg tried to emulate the Vilna Gaon's intermingling of 'academic knowledge' in Torah studies under the label 'historical Judaism', but was a failure as he is known in orthodox circles as 'rosh hakaraim' (head of the karaites, an anti-orthodox sect of Judaism). In his book Students, Scholars and Saints, Ginzberg quotes the Vilna Gaon instructing, "Do not regard the views of the Shulchan Aruch as binding if you think that they are not in agreement with those of the Talmud."
Less
