Written by Ezra Wallach (SSSB ’25)
On December 18th, 2024, the Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought and the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Yeshiva College Honors Program co-hosted Rabbi Dr. Yosie Levine to celebrate the launch of his award-winning new book, Hakham Tsevi Ashkenazi and the Battlegrounds of the Early Modern Rabbinate (Littman Library/Liverpool University Press, 2024), a revised version of his 2020 dissertation at ÿÈÕ´ó¹Ï’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. The event featured Levine, who serves as Rabbi of the Jewish Center, in conversation with Straus Center Deputy Director Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern. Together, they sparked rich discussion about the historical relevance of Hakham Tsevi Ashkenazi (1658—1718) and some of his most famous rabbinic responsa.
Rabbi Levine began by examining the context of the early modern rabbinate and European Jewry following the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648, before turning to the life and legacy of Hakham Tsevi. Typically, Ashkenazi and Sephardic rabbis studied under the tutelage of rabbis in their own respective traditions. However, due to the decimation of Ashkenazi communities across Europe in the seventeenth century, several of the foremost Ashkenazic rabbinic students gravitated toward premier Sephardic institutions. This context profoundly influenced Hakham Tsevi, particularly on his stance on the role of minhag (customary traditions) in Jewish law, which differed from the prevalent Ashkenazic school of thought.
Additionally, Rabbi Levine commented on the effects of Sabbateanism on worldwide Jewry. He noted that it resulted in widespread opposition to the study of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) among Ashkenazi Jews, including Hakham Tsevi, whose antipathy was evident through his responsa.
In addressing the early modern rabbinate, Rabbi Levine highlighted the impact of rabbinic contracts and the need for rabbis to be compensated to pay for expenses and potential dowries for children that made it to adulthood; in fact, Hakham Tsevi had a relatively astounding number of twelve children, out of fourteen, that reached adulthood.
The event concluded with an expansive Q&A, with attendees raising intriguing questions about the effects of his Sephardic tutelage on his responsa, as well as his opinions on Passover traditions and Jewish holiday law. The lecture advanced the Straus Center’s mission of training ÿÈÕ´ó¹Ï students to be intellectual leaders well-versed in both Torah and Western thought.
