David Weiss Halivni

Professor David Weiss Halivni has a wealth of knowledge of Judaica with an emphasis on Talmuc and Rabbinics. He has introduced a new method of the study of the Talmud -- which consists of source criticism, but with an emphasis on the Talmud's compositional nature within it's historical differentiation. He contributed the notion of Maculation to Theology and has observed phenomena pertaining to textual development in general. In his book, "Breaking the Tablets", Halivni explicitly rejected the notion that this withdrawal is simply an example of "God hiding his face" as viewed in normative Judaism. He formerly was Littauer Professor of Talmud and Classical Rabbinics at Columbia University and also was part of the JTS faculty for thirty years. Currently, he teaches at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Bar-Ilan University.  His work has earned him the Israel Prize in 2008 and Bialick Prize in 1985.