Draft:Meir Simcha Feldblum


Meir Simcha Feldblum (1929-2002) was a professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University and Bar Ilan University. A noted Talmudic scholar, both traditionally and academically, he also put forth suggestions to solve the agunah problem.

Biography

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Meir Simcha Feldblum was born in Lithuania and studied at the Yeshiva of Ukmergė. During WWII, Feldblum's family was murdered by the Lithuanians and he survived the war as a partisan.[1] Following the war, Feldblum moved to the U.S. and studied in the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland and eventually received rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.[2][1] A student of Abraham Weiss, Feldblum also received his Ph.D. in Talmud from Yeshiva University and continued his mentor's work in the academic study of Talmud.[3][4] Between 1952-1968, Feldblum taught in Yeshiva University as both a Rosh Yeshiva teaching traditional Talmud study, as well as professor teaching academic Talmud, an incredibly rare combination.[1] In 1968, Feldblum made Aliyah to Israel and taught at Bar Ilan University for over 18 years. Feldblum was the author of two books on Talmudic research, as well as numerous articles and presentations.[1]

Feldblum married Esther Feldblum (née Yoles), the daughter of Rabbi Ephraim Eliezer Yolles, a Hasidic Rebbe (the Samborer Rebbe) of Philadelphia. Esther Feldblum received her Ph.D. in Jewish history from Columbia University and taught for one year at Brooklyn College before dying in a car accident at the age of 41.[5] Feldblum then married Ayala Levy. His daughter Chai Feldblum is a noted legal scholar and activist for disability and LGBT rights. Feldblum died on August 8, 2002, in Petach Tikvah, Israel, of pancreatic cancer.[2]

Works

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Known for his work on Tractate Gittin, Feldblum wrote a critical commentary on the tractate and, continuing Raphael Nathan Nota Rabinovicz's incomplete project of Dikdukei Soferim, wrote the volume for the tractate. Feldblum also attempted to solve the Agunah problem by suggesting couples enter into Derekh Kiddushin, or quasi-marriage.[6]


Dikdukei Soferim: Mesekhet Gittin (via Otzar HaHochma)

Perushim u-Mekhkarim be-Talmud: Mesekhet Gittin (via Otzar HaHochma)

מאיר שמחה פלדבלום,״ בעיית עגונות וממזרים - הצעת פתרון מקיפה וכוללת,״ דיני ישראל כרך יט תשנז-תשנח עמ' רג-רטז






References

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  1. ^ a b c d Cohen, Avinoam (2006). "Meir Simcha Feldblum: The Man and his Talmudic Research Methodology". Bar Ilan University: From Concept to Enterprise, Vol. 2, ed. Dov Schwartz (Jerusalem: Graphrit Press): 49-65 [Hebrew].
  2. ^ a b "Death Notice: FELDBLUM, PROFESSOR RABBI MAYER SIMCHA". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Feldblum, M.S. (1964). "Feldblum, M.S. "Prof. Abraham Weiss: His Approach and Contributions to Talmudic Scholarship"". The Abraham Weiss Jubilee Volume: 1–36.
  4. ^ "An Enlightenment of Scholars". Yeshiva University. 2024-10-21. Retrieved 2024-10-27.
  5. ^ "Out in front". 2018-06-13. Archived from the original on 2018-06-13. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
  6. ^ "Critiquing and Rethinking Kiddushin". AJS Perspectives. 2014-05-18. Retrieved 2024-10-15.