Prof. Amihai Radzyner

Telephone
03-5317083
Email
Amihai.Radzyner@biu.ac.il
Office
Building 306, Room 202
Reception Hours
Meetings should be coordinated in advance
    Short Biography

    Amihai Radzyner is a Professor of Jewish Law and Legal History in the Faculty of Law of Bar-Ilan University. His researches deal with Talmudic Law, history of Jewish law and its research, the history of Israeli law and current Halakhic family law in Israel. He is also the Chief Editor of "HaDin veHaDayan (The Law and its Decisor): Rabbinical Court Decisions in Family Matters", a position he has held since 2003. He has received numerous academic awards and grants over the years, including the 2008 Cegla Prize for the Best Article of a Young Legal Scholar in Hebrew, and the 2010 Tager Prize for the Best Article in Jewish Law. He is the author of 'Dine Qenasot': A Research in Talmudic Law (2014), co-author of The Religious Community and the Constitution: What Can History Teach Us?, and co-editor of Studies in Halakha and Jewish Law: Judge and Judging (2006). Additionally, he has written several articles and book chapters, which have been published both in Israel and the United States. In 2015, he was a Harry Starr fellow at the Harvard center for Jewish studies.

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    Research

    Jewish Law and Halakha; Legal history; Talmudic law; The status of the rabbinical courts and their current rulings; History of the rabbinical court system and halakhic family law in Israel; The history of the Israeli legal system; The idea of “Mishpat Ivri” and its research methods.

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    Publications

    https://biu.academia.edu/amihairadzyner

     

    Refereed Publications

    Books (as author)

     

    'Dine Qenasot': A Research in Talmudic Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: The Sacher Institute for Legislative Research and the Institute for Jewish Law, 2014 (Heb.), 666+xi pages.

    Books (as editor)

    Studies in Halakha and Jewish Law: Judge and Judging, Bar-Ilan University Press 2007 (Heb.) (with Dr. Y. Habbah), 345 pp.

    Rabbi Ben-Zion Ouziel – Halakhah, Philosophy and History, Bar-Ilan University Press 2020 (Heb.) (With Prof. Zvi Zohar and Prof. Melech Westreich), 384 pp.

     

    Articles and Chapters in Books

    1. “P. Yadin 21-22: Sale or Lease?", R. Katzoff and D. Schaps (eds.), Law in the Documents  of the Judaean Desert, Brill, Leiden 2005, pp. 145-163.
    2. “The Instruction of Jewish Law and the Faculty of Law: Between a Feasible Vision and a Theoretical Reality”, Bar-Ilan University: From Concept to Enterprise (D. Schwartz ed.), Bar-Ilan University press 2006, pp. 489-529 (Heb.).
    3. “Justice Justice shall you pursue: Varied concepts of judicial justice in Tannaitic doctrine”, My Justice, Your Justice: Justice across Cultures (Y.Z. Stern ed.), The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History 2010, pp. 59-110 (Heb.).
    4. "The Wars of the Jews: The Shaping of the Criminal Law against Bigamy among Jews in Mandate Palestine", One Law for Man and Women: Women, Rights and Law in Mandatory Palestine (M. Shilo, R. Halperin-Kaddari, E. Katvan eds.), Bar-Ilan University press 2010, pp. 151-198 (Heb.).
    5.  "Fifty Shekels of Silver", Kathleen Abraham and Joseph Fleishman (eds.), Looking at the ancient Near East and the Bible through the same eyes: a tribute to Aaron Skaist, CDL Press, University Press of Maryland 2012, pp. 355-374.
    6.  "The Intellectual Ambivalence: Contemporary Halakhah and the Question of Copyright Defenses", Miriam Marcowitz-Bitton and Lior Zemer (eds.), Interdisciplinary Analysis of Intellectual Property Law, Nevo 2015 , pp. 169-214 (Heb.).
    7. "The Irish Influence on the Israeli Constitution Proposal, 1948", Eoin Carolan (ed.), The Irish Constitution: Perspectives and Prospects (Bloomsbury, 2012), pp. 69-89.

    8. "hoda’ot ve-halva’ot (admissions of liability and loans)", in: D. Dueck, D. Schaps, U. Yiftach-Firanko (eds.), When West Met East: The Encounter of Greece and Rome with the Jews, Egyptians, and Others (Triest, 2017) 179-207.

    9. "Meagenet et atzma (the wife is making herself Agunah): On The Possibility of Conditioning the Get and On Halakhic Problematic Innovation", A. Edrei, D. Glicksberg, A. Hacohen and B. Lifshitz (eds.), Menachem Elon Memorial Book, 607-640 (2018) (Heb.).

    10. "Jewish Law in Pre-State Palestine", Christine Hayes (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Judaism and Law (Cambridge U. Press, 2017), pp. 317-336.

    11. "Guardianship of Orphans in Talmudic Law", M. Faraguna, U. Yiftach (eds.), Legal Documents in Ancient Societies VI: Ancient Guardianship: Legal Incapacities in the Ancient World (EUT: Edizioni Università Di Trieste, 2017), pp. 245-269.

    12. “The Impact of Supreme Court Rulings on the Halakhic Status of the Official Rabbinical Courts in Israel”, Leora Batnitzky and Hanoch Dagan (eds.), Institutionalizing Rights and Religion: Competing Supremacies, (Cambridge U. Press, 2017), pp. 224-240.

    13. "‘What is crooked cannot be made straight’? – On the Use of the Maharsham’s Marriage Annulment in the State of Israel," Justice Elyakim Rubinstein’s Festschrift (forthcoming, 2020) (with Avishalom Westreich, Heb).

    14. “Philosophy of Punishment in Jewish Law,” to be published in Suzanne Last Stone and Yair Lorberbaum (eds.), The Jewish Legal Tradition. 

    Articles in Periodicals

    1. “Hefqer Bet-Din Hefqer' (the Court has the Power to Expropriate) in Talmudic Sources”, 16 Sidra (2000), pp.111-133 (Heb.).
    2. “Witnesses' Hatra'ah (Warning) and the Beginning of Their Testimony”, 20-21 Dine Israel (2001), pp. 515-551 (Heb.).
    3. “Rabbi Ouziel, the Tel-Aviv-Jaffa Rabbinate and the Rabbinical Court of Appeal: A Play in Four Acts”, Bar-Ilan Law Studies 21 (2004), pp. 129-243 (Heb.).
    4. “ ‘A Scholar who was not Properly Eulogized’ – J.S. Zuri and his Jewish Law Studies on the Background of Jewish Law Research History”, 23  Shenton Ha-Mishpat Ha-Ivri (2005), pp. 259-349 (Heb.).
    5. “The Israeli Legislator and Jewish Law: Haim Cohn between Tomorrow and Yesterday”, 29 Tel-Aviv University Law Review (2005), pp.167-244 (Heb.) (with S. Friedman).
    6. Mishpat ‘Ivri is not Halakhah (But is nonetheless of Value)” Akdamot 16, (2005), pp. 139-167 (Heb.).
    7. “From Dogmatist to Historian: Asher Gulak and the Research on Jewish Law in the Hebrew University, 1925-1940” Jewish Studies 43 (2005-2006), pp. 169-200 (Heb.).
    8. “Talmudic Law as Religious Law: The Source of the Desire to Limit Judicial Powers”, 12 Maarav - A Journal for the Study of the Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures (2006), pp. 121-153.
    9. “ ‘Qenasot’ as Tortious Payments in Tannaitic Literature”, 24 Shenaton Ha-Mishpat Ha-Ivri (2007), pp. 287-358 (Heb.).
    10. “Between Scholar and Jurist: The Controversy over the Research of Jewish law using comparative methods at the early time of the field”, Journal of Law and Religion 23 (2007-2008), pp. 189-248.
    11. “On the Beginning of Rabbinical Courts’ Procedural Regulations: ‘Takkanot Ha-Diyun’, 1943”, Dinei Israel  25 (2008), pp. 185-260 (Heb.).
    12. “Jewish Law in London: Between Two Societies”, 18 Jewish Law Annual (2009), pp. 81-135.
    13. “On the Beginning of Rabbinical Courts’ Procedural Regulations: ‘Sidrei Ha-Mishpatim’, 1921”, 25 Bar-Ilan Law Studies (2009), pp. 37-75 (Heb.).
    14. “From Lvov to Tel-Aviv: 'Wrongful Divorce' Judgments in the Israeli Rabbinical Courts”, 39 Mishpatim (Hebrew University Law Journal) (2009), pp. 155-231 (Heb.).
    15. “A Constitution for Israel: The Design of the Leo Kohn Proposal, 1948”, Israel Studies 15.1 (2010), pp. 1-24.
    16. “ 'Jewish Law' between 'National' and 'Religious': The Dilemma of the Religious-National Movement”, 26 Bar-Ilan Law Studies (2010), pp. 91-178 (Heb.).
    17. Forgotten Basic Elements in ‘The Law and Administration Ordinance’ and the Covert Struggle over Religion and State in Israel”, 136 Cathedra (2010), pp. 121-150 (Heb.).
    18. “The Halachic Status of the Israeli Official Rabbinical Courts, and the influence of the Israeli Supreme Court's decisions on them”, 13 Mishpat U-Mimshal (Faculty of Law, University of Haifa) (2011), pp. 271-355 (Heb.).
    19. “Problematic Halakha: Creative Halakhic Rulings in Israeli Rabbinical Courts”, 20 Jewish Law Annual (2013), pp. 103-177.
    20. “Annulment of Divorce in Israeli Rabbinical Court”, 23 Jewish Law Association Studies (2013), pp. 193-217.
    21. "'We Act as Their Agents' and the Prohibition of Judgment by Laymen: A Discussion of BT Gittin 88b", 37 AJS Review (2013), pp. 257–283.
    22. "On Civil Marriage in Israel after HC 2232/03: A Response to Avishalom Westreich", The Family in Law 6-7 (2014), pp. 579-604 (Heb.).
    23. "Zion Shall Be Redeemed With Justice: Introduction to the Legal Thought of Shabtai Ben-Dov", to be published in: IYUNIM BITKUMAT ISRAEL Thematic Series Volume 10 (2015), pp. 319-355 (Heb.).
    24. "'The Essential Thing is not studying, but Deed': Get Procedures after Tort Claims and the Publishing Policy of Rabbinical Courts Judgments", 45 Mishpatim (Hebrew University Law Journal) (2015), pp. 5-84 (Heb.).
    25. "Jewish Land Law: One More (Impressive, yet Unsuccessful) Attempt to Insert Jewish Law into Israeli Legislation", 28 Shenaton Ha-Mishpat Ha-Ivri (2014-2015), pp. 239-319 (Heb.).
    26. "The Israeli legislation as both Halakhic Problem and its Solution: The complicated case of Heter ha-Mekhirah", to be published in JSIJ [Jewish Studies Internet Journal].
    27. "Inheritance from Uncle Sam: The American Influence on Israeli Succession Law", 4 Comparative Legal History (2016), pp. 19-50.
    28. "Gittin: Mitzvot Ha'teluyot Be'aretz? - Prenuptial agreements for the prevention of divorce refusal", Mishpatim (Hebrew University Law Journal), pp. 5-59 (2018) (Heb.).
    29. "Halakha, Law, and Worldview: Chief Rabbis Goren and Yosef, and the Permission to Marry a Second Wife in Israeli Law", 32 Dine Israel (2018), pp. 261*-304*.
    30. "Rabbis Drafting Criminal Legislation: The Shaping of the Prohibition against Bigamy for Jews in Mandatory Palestine", 66 American Journal of Comparative Law (2018), pp. 369–410.
    31. "Jewish Law, State, and Social Reality: Prenuptial agreements for the prevention of divorce refusal in Israel and the United States", 33 J. of Law and Religion (2018), pp. 61-88.
    32. "Halakhah, Power Struggle and 'Angle of Deflection': Recourse to Civil Court as Grounds for Divorce", 32 Dine Israel (2018), pp. 223-247 (Heb.).
    33. "Get under the Supervision of Badatz : Divorce Matters in Israeli Unofficial Rabbinical Courts", 1 Law, Society and Culture [=Law and Ultra-Orthodox in Israel] (2018), pp 69-105 (Heb.).
    34. "From Chained Wives to Bastards (Mamzerim): On Revolutions and Creativity in Rabbinical Court Rulings," Bar-Ilan Law Studies (forthcoming, 2019) (with Avishalom Westreich, Heb).
    35. "From the Archives: Zerach Warhaftig and R. Haim David Halevi on Civil Marriages", 3 Religious Zionism (2019), pp. 203-216 (Heb.).
    36. "The Underground and its Trial Which Were Not: Criminal File 8106/57 The State of Israel v. The Journal Sulam (and vice versa): More about Politics, Law and the Kasztner Affair", Bar-Ilan Law Studies (forthcoming, 2019) (Heb.).
    37. "Law and History: Rabbi Itzhak Arieli and the founding of Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva", 3 Religious Zionism (2019), pp. 97-133 (Heb.).
    38. "The Revival of the “Death of Marriage” Cause: R. Jerucham's Opinion in the Rabbinical Courts", 49 Mishpatim (Hebrew University Law Journal) (2019), pp. 113-168 (With Shay Zilberberg, Heb.).
    39. " 'Legal Alternative and Social Vision' ": Procedural Aspects in the Private Rabbinical Courts for Montary Cases", Bar-Ilan Law Studies (forthcoming, 2020) (with Zvi Dorot, Heb.). 
    40. "From the Archives: Two More Letters from R. Joseph B. Soloveitchick to Yitzhak Goldshlag", 4 Religious Zionism (2020), pp. 219-234 (Heb.).
    41. “Revolutionism and conservatism in the rulings of the Israeli Rabbinical Court: The enforcement of divorce on the grounds of ‘Mais Alai’, 42 Tel Aviv University Law Review (2020), pp. 639-686 (with Avishalom Westreich, Heb).
    42. “Rabbenu Gershom in the State of Israel: Enforcing Get on the Woman or Permitting the Husband to Marry a Second Wife?”, Dine Israel (forthcoming 2020) (Heb.).
    43. “’Ma’aseh Bet-Din’: Zerach Warhaftig, the Publication of Rabbinical Courts Decisions and Unknown Draft of such Decisions”, 5 Religious Zionism (2020) (Heb.), pp. 281-289.
    44. “Rabbenu Tam's Return: Imposing Religious, Social and Economic Sanctions on Get Refusers in Israeli Rabbinical Courts”, 31 Shenaton Ha-Mishpat Ha-Ivri (forthcoming) (Heb.).
    45. “ ‘For the Dignity of the Jewish People’ - Reflections on Rivka Brot, In the Gray Zone: The Jewish Kapo on Trial”, 44 Tel Aviv University Law Review Forum (2020) (Heb).
    46. “ ‘There is a Mamzer from the Torah only if his Parents were Imprisoned Together’: Innovative Solutions for Purifying Mamzerim in Israeli Rabbinical Courts”, JSIJ [Jewish Studies Internet Journal] (forthcoming, 2021).
    47. Kim Li Claim in Get Procedures”, Dine Israel (forthcoming 2021) (Heb.).

    Non-Refereed Publications

    1. “Reason as a Supreme Principal in Halacha”, Justice 13 (June 1997), pp. 40-42.
    2. “The Validity of a Contractual Obligation for Payment”, Justice 23 (Spring 2000), pp. 31-34. 
    3. “Giving a GET before a war”, 27 Techumin (2007), pp. 418-425.
    4. The Religious Community and the Constitution: What Can History Teach Us?, RESEARCH PAPER 69, The Israel Democracy Institute, 2006, 108 pp.
    5. Halakha, Mishpat Ivri and the State of Israel”, Justice 45 (Spring 2008) pp. 8-13.
    6. “The Attitude of R. I. Herzog to the Comparative Research of Jewish Law”, Masuah Le-Yitzhak: Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac ha-Levi Herzog Memorial Volume (Jerusalem: Yad ha-Rav Herzog, 2008), pp. 506-532.
    7. “Annulment of Divorce in Rabbinical Courts”, 30 Techumin (2010), pp. 256-274.
    8. “Appeal”, The New Judaica Encyclopedia 2007.

     

    Chief Editor, HaDin veHadayn (The Law and its Decisor): Rabbinical Court Decisions in Family Matters, The Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women, Faculty of Law, Bar-Ilan University (55 Issues), 2001-

    Most of my publications are available at https://biu.academia.edu/amihairadzyner

     

    For a pdf file 

    Last Updated Date : 16/05/2022