Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
Encyclopedia
Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, (b. Mir, Russia
, 1816 - d. Warsaw, Poland, August 10, 1893), also known as Reb Hirsch Leib Berlin, and commonly known by the acronym Netziv, was an Orthodox
rabbi
, dean
of the Volozhin Yeshiva
and author of several works of rabbinic literature
in Lithuania
.
in 1816 into a family of Jewish scholars renowned for its Talmud
ic scholarship. His father Jacob, while not a rabbi, was a Talmudic scholar; his mother was directly descended from Rabbi Meir Eisenstadt
. Although initially a weak student, legend has it that Berlin applied himself to his studies after overhearing his parents debating whether he should pursue a trade.
His first wife was the daughter of Rabbi Yitzchok of Volozhin, the son of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin
. His second wife was his niece, a daughter of Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein
, the author of the Aruch haShulchan. A son from his first marriage, Chaim Berlin
, became the rabbi of Moscow
, a daughter married Rabbi Refael Shapiro
, and his son from his second marriage was Rabbi Meir Berlin
(later Bar-Ilan).
), then the largest institution of its kind, from 1854 to its closure in 1892. Despite the destruction (twice) of the town and the yeshiva building in large fires, its enrollment increased steadily under his leadership, and the yeshiva would produce a number of prominent rabbinic figures who led Eastern Europe
an Jewry until World War II
. Amongst them was Rabbi Shimon Shkop
.
In Volozhin, his leadership was contested by the popular Rabbi Joseph Dov (Yoshe Ber) Soloveitchik, whose style of Torah study
differed substationally from Rabbi Berlin's. Rabbi J.D. Soloveitchik ultimately became rabbi of Slutsk
, Warsaw
and Brisk
, where he founded the rabbinical dynasty that still carries his name.
In 1892, the Volozhin yeshiva shut down. Russian
authorities (influenced by Haskalah
elements) sought to introduce secular studies into the yeshiva. Berlin was willing to initially accept some secular studies. However, the requirements became more and more onerous with the government eventually stipulating that "All teachers of all subjects must have college diplomas ... no Judaic subjects may be taught between 9 AM and 3 PM ... no night classes are allowed ... total hours of study per day may not exceed ten." Faced with these restrictions, Berlin chose to close the Yeshiva.
and other cities, trying to clear the yeshiva's debt.
In the last few months of Berlin's life he suffered from diabetes
and the consequences of a stroke
. While he intended to travel to the Land of Israel
, his medical condition made this impossible. He spent his last weeks in Warsaw
, and died there on August 10, 1893.)
that was at odds with the highly analytical style of lomdus ("learned intellectual analysis") that was pioneered by Soloveitchik.
Politically, he favored Jewish settlement of the Land of Israel
(Eretz Yisrael), then under the control of the Ottoman Empire
; he was initially a member of the Chovevei Tzion
movement (founded by his contemporary Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalisher), but later distanced himself from them.
Mir, Belarus
Mir is an urban settlement in Kareličy raion, Hrodna Voblast, Belarus on the banks of Miranka River, about 85 kilometers southwest of the national capital, Minsk....
, 1816 - d. Warsaw, Poland, August 10, 1893), also known as Reb Hirsch Leib Berlin, and commonly known by the acronym Netziv, was an Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
, dean
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...
of the Volozhin Yeshiva
Volozhin yeshiva
The Volozhin Yeshiva, also known as Etz Chaim Yeshiva, was a prestigious Lithuanian yeshiva located in the town of Volozhin, Russia, . It was founded by Rabbi Chaim Itzkovitz, a student of the famed Vilna Gaon, and trained several generations of scholars, rabbis, and leaders...
and author of several works of rabbinic literature
Rabbinic literature
Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, can mean the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term...
in Lithuania
Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks are Jews with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania:...
.
Family
Berlin was born in Mir, RussiaMir, Belarus
Mir is an urban settlement in Kareličy raion, Hrodna Voblast, Belarus on the banks of Miranka River, about 85 kilometers southwest of the national capital, Minsk....
in 1816 into a family of Jewish scholars renowned for its Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ic scholarship. His father Jacob, while not a rabbi, was a Talmudic scholar; his mother was directly descended from Rabbi Meir Eisenstadt
Meir Eisenstadt
Meir ben Izsak Eisenstadt was the author of responsa and other works of rabbinic literature. An authority on Halakha, he was consulted by rabbis from Turkey, Germany and Italy. He is known as the Panim Me'irot after his major work called Shu"t Panim Me'irot...
. Although initially a weak student, legend has it that Berlin applied himself to his studies after overhearing his parents debating whether he should pursue a trade.
His first wife was the daughter of Rabbi Yitzchok of Volozhin, the son of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin
Chaim Volozhin
Chaim Volozhin was an Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and ethicist. Popularly known as "Reb Chaim Volozhiner" or simply as "Reb Chaim", he was born in Volozhin when it was a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
. His second wife was his niece, a daughter of Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein
Yechiel Michel Epstein
Yechiel Michel Epstein , often called "the Aruch ha-Shulchan" , was a Rabbi and posek in Lithuania...
, the author of the Aruch haShulchan. A son from his first marriage, Chaim Berlin
Chaim Berlin
Chaim Berlin was an Orthodox rabbi and chief rabbi of Moscow from 1865 to 1889. He was the son of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin....
, became the rabbi of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, a daughter married Rabbi Refael Shapiro
Refael Shapiro
Rabbi Refael Shapiro was the famed Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin yeshiva and a son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin . After the Volozhin yeshiva was closed down in 1892 by order of the Russian government, he reopened it, albeit on a smaller scale in 1899...
, and his son from his second marriage was Rabbi Meir Berlin
Meir Bar-Ilan
Meir Berlin, later Hebraized to Meir Bar-Ilan, , born Volozhin, Lithuania, died Jerusalem, Israel) was anOrthodox rabbi and leader of Religious Zionism, the Mizrachi movement in USA and British Mandate of Palestine...
(later Bar-Ilan).
The Volozhin yeshiva
Berlin led the yeshiva in Volozhin (in what is presently BelarusBelarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
), then the largest institution of its kind, from 1854 to its closure in 1892. Despite the destruction (twice) of the town and the yeshiva building in large fires, its enrollment increased steadily under his leadership, and the yeshiva would produce a number of prominent rabbinic figures who led Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an Jewry until World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Amongst them was Rabbi Shimon Shkop
Shimon Shkop
Shimon Yehuda Hakohen Shkop was a rosh yeshiva in the Yeshiva Shaar Hatorah and in the Telshe yeshiva and a renowned Talmudic scholar. He was born in Torez in 1860. At the age of twelve he went to study in the Mir yeshiva, and at fifteen he went to Volozhin yeshiva where he studied six years...
.
In Volozhin, his leadership was contested by the popular Rabbi Joseph Dov (Yoshe Ber) Soloveitchik, whose style of Torah study
Torah study
Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts...
differed substationally from Rabbi Berlin's. Rabbi J.D. Soloveitchik ultimately became rabbi of Slutsk
Slutsk
Slutsk is a town in Belarus, located on the Sluch River south of Minsk. As of 2010 its population is of 61,400).-Geography:The town is situated in the south-west of its Voblast, not too far from from the city of Soligorsk.-History:...
, Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
and Brisk
Brest, Belarus
Brest , formerly also Brest-on-the-Bug and Brest-Litovsk , is a city in Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the city of Terespol, where the Bug River and Mukhavets rivers meet...
, where he founded the rabbinical dynasty that still carries his name.
In 1892, the Volozhin yeshiva shut down. Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
authorities (influenced by Haskalah
Haskalah
Haskalah , the Jewish Enlightenment, was a movement among European Jews in the 18th–19th centuries that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew language, and Jewish history...
elements) sought to introduce secular studies into the yeshiva. Berlin was willing to initially accept some secular studies. However, the requirements became more and more onerous with the government eventually stipulating that "All teachers of all subjects must have college diplomas ... no Judaic subjects may be taught between 9 AM and 3 PM ... no night classes are allowed ... total hours of study per day may not exceed ten." Faced with these restrictions, Berlin chose to close the Yeshiva.
Final months
After the closure, Berlin traveled to VilnaVilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
and other cities, trying to clear the yeshiva's debt.
In the last few months of Berlin's life he suffered from diabetes
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced...
and the consequences of a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
. While he intended to travel to the Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
, his medical condition made this impossible. He spent his last weeks in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, and died there on August 10, 1893.)
Views and influence
Berlin had a traditionalist approach to Torah studyTorah study
Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts...
that was at odds with the highly analytical style of lomdus ("learned intellectual analysis") that was pioneered by Soloveitchik.
Politically, he favored Jewish settlement of the Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
(Eretz Yisrael), then under the control of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
; he was initially a member of the Chovevei Tzion
Hovevei Zion
Hovevei Zion , also known as Hibbat Zion , refers to organizations that are now considered the forerunners and foundation-builders of modern Zionism....
movement (founded by his contemporary Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalisher), but later distanced himself from them.
Sources
- Epstein, B.Baruch EpsteinBaruch Epstein or Baruch ha-Levi Epstein was a Lithuanian rabbi, best known for his Torah Temimah commentary on the Torah...
. Mekor Baruch. Sections translated as: My Uncle the Netziv by Rabbi M. Dombey. Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah publications ltd. ISBN 0-89906-493-0 - Biography at the Jewish Virtual Library
- No Two Minds are Alike”: Tolerance and Pluralism in the Work of Netziv, by Gil S. Perl, in Torah U-Maddaj Journal, vol 12