Beyond a Code of Jewish Law: Rabbi Avraham Danzig's ?ayei Adam

by Simcha Fishbane

Overview

The Ḥayei Adam, an abridged code of Jewish law, was written by Rabbi Avraham Danzig (1748-1820) and was first published in 1810. This code spread quickly throughout Europe, and the demand for it required a second publishing which the author printed in 1818. Beyond a Code of Jewish Law attempts to understand the implicit message of its author and discuss various approaches of its writer to both Judaism and Jewish law. While the Ḥayei Adam without any doubt unveils Rabbi Danzig to be a brilliant rabbinic scholar, with a comprehensive knowledge of Jewish law as well as a coherent and concise system of presentation, it also expresses his great concern for the Jewish community and each individual Jew. Aspects of this concern such as Hasidism, musar, kabbalah, are explored.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781644697047
Publisher:	Academic Studies Press
Publication date:	12/14/2021
Series:	Judaism and Jewish Life
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Dr. Simcha Fishbane is a Professor of Jewish Studies in the Graduate School of Jewish Studies at Touro College, New York. He has published extensively on Jewish subjects and texts. Dr. Fishbane’s publications include Deviancy in Early Rabbinic Literature (2007); The Boldness of an Halakhist (2008); The Shtiebelization of Modern Jewry (2011); The Impact of Culture and Cultures Upon Jewish Customs and Rituals (2016); and The Rabbinic Discussion about Bat Mitzvah Celebrations (2017).

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments

1. Introduction
2. Preambles: An Insight into Rabbi Avraham Danzig’s Ḥayei Adam
3. Minhag in the Ḥayei Adam—The Case of Kitniyot on Passover
4. Esoteric Halakhah and the Ḥayei Adam
5. Rabbi Avraham Danzig’s Polemic against Hasidism
6. The Democratization of Halakhah: The Ḥayei Adam and Musar
7. A New Role and Status: The Ḥayei Adam and the Mishnah Berurah
8. Jewish Pride in Rabbi Avraham Danzig’s Ḥayei Adam as Instantiated in the Aleinu

Appendix 1
The Life of the Man: The Life and Times of Avraham Danzig, by Dashiell Ferguson

Appendix 2
Rabbinic Texts and Authors Referred to in This Volume

Bibliography

Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“[H]ighlights of the book include Fishbane’s advancing his arguments with lengthy citations from Hayei Adam, in translation, allowing readers to taste its style of writing—to ‘hear’ R. Danzig’s rabbinic voice. Similarly noteworthy is the image of a Torah scholar who never intended to write, was forced into that part of his career by circumstances beyond his control, struggled to fit in with the rabbinic culture of his time, and produced a work popular but not universally respected, until elevated by Mishnah Berurah, even as that later work supplanted it for widespread use and popularity. It is a reminder of the ups and downs of Torah literature, the vicissitudes of the works by even our greatest sages and scholars.

Prof. Fishbane should be commended for drawing our attention to R. Danzig’s life and Hayei Adam’s role, two centuries ago, as an access ramp for laymen to deepen their knowledge and practice of Jewish law.”

– Rabbi Gidon Rothstein, Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought

“In Beyond a Code of Jewish Law, [Simcha] Fishbane has written a fascinating biography and textual analysis of one of the most influential Jewish texts of the last 200 years. This is an interesting read for anyone looking to understand the development and background of one of the most influential halachic guides.”

— Ben Rothke, the Jewish Link (February 2022)

“Dr. Fishbane has written extensively on nineteenth-century halakhic works, including the Mishna Berura and the Aruch Hashulchan, and does a great public service by introducing the far less known Ḥayei Adam to the public.”

–Rabbi Barry Gelman, ERJCC Blog

"Simcha Fishbane’s work on Rabbi Abraham Danziger’s Ḥayei Adam continues his ongoing studies of eighteenth- through twentieth-century codifiers of Jewish law and practice. In Beyond a Code of Jewish Law he provides the background and setting which he sees as responsible for the particular views stressed in Ḥayei Adam. The latter part of the nineteenth century saw extraordinary events with the effects of the Enlightenment impinging on Jewish belief. While edicts eased the restrictions on some Jewish communities in the West, cruel policies of severe persecution grew in the East. Rabbinic authority was threatened by liberal movements in Germany and Hungary, while it was challenged by mystical and charismatic movements in Eastern Europe. Fishbane shows us how the rabbi produced a work which gained unimagined popularity in trying to stem the tide of these threats. His chapters are geared towards guiding the reader through his work by selecting units to expose the consistent message of the work as a whole. At times thoroughly scholastic, and sometimes intriguingly speculative, while at other times perceptively academic, he always combines his creative insights with rigorous attention to detail. This work is vintage Fishbane."

—Herbert W. Basser, Professor emeritus, Queen’s University, Canada


"This book completes Dr. Simcha Fishbane’s trilogy on three of the leading halakhic rabbinical authorities of nineteenth-century Ashkenazi Jews of Lithuania and Eastern Europe. This volume, on Rabbi Avraham Danzig’s Ḥayei Adam, continues Dr. Fishbane’s work from his previous books The Method and Meaning of the Mishnah Berurah, about the adjudicator Rabbi Israel Meir Hacohen Kagan of Radin, and The Boldness of an Halachist, on the writings of the adjudicator Rabbi Yechiel Mechal Halevi Epstein of Novogrudok, author of Arukh Hashulhan. With his pioneering and innovative approach, using social-anthropological analysis, Dr. Fishbane gives us a key to understanding the different ways of decision-making of three prominent Rabbis, and analyses how they were prepared to deal with new issues that challenged the Jewish world under the pressures of growing secularization and russification. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the Jewish way of life in the near past."

—Nissan Rubin, Professor emeritus, Bar Ilan University