Joseph Hirsch Dünner ( (also known as (הריצ״ד)); 11 January 1833 – 13 October 1911) was a Dutch Jewish leader and scholar, who served as

Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi ( he, רב ראשי ''Rav Rashi'') is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

(including

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Biography

Dünner was born in Cracow, Poland, in 1833. He received his rabbinical education in his native city, and studied philosophy and

Oriental The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

philology at

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. He received a PhD from the latter institution with a thesis on Abraham ibn Ezra. In 1862 he was called from Bonn to the rectorate of the in

. His ability soon made it famous as a school of Jewish theology, ancient languages, and religious philosophy. In 1874 he was made

of the Amsterdam community and of the province of

, and though was strictly

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

, no dissension has marred his administration. The government recognized his ability and activity by decorating him with the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands. Dünner is known for his studies on the ''

Halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

'' of the

Tannaic ''Tannaim'' ( Amoraic Hebrew: תנאים , singular , ''Tanna'' "repeaters", "teachers") were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the ''Tannaim'', also referred to as the Mis ...

period, and by his disquisitions on the

Tosefta The Tosefta (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ( ...

. Dünner argued that the Tosefta was "a post-Talmudic compilation of Talmudic baraitot and authentic Tannaitic material" and was an important precursor to

Hanoch Albeck Hanoch Albeck (Hebrew: חנוך אלבק) (August 7, 1890 - January 9, 1972) was a professor of Talmud at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. He was a foremost scholar of the Mishna and one of the pioneers of the scientific approach to Mis ...

's thesis concerning the Tosefta. Additionally, Dünner's commentary to the

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

, republished as ''Ḥidushei ha-riṣad'' by Mossad HaRav Kook, was one of the first modern academic studies of Talmud. Stephen G. Wald, "Talmud, Babylonian," ''Encyclopaedia Judaica''2nd ed., eds. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (Macmillan Reference USA, 2007), 19:481. Together with Meijer Roest, he founded the ''Nieuw Israëlietisch Weekblad'' (1865) and the ''Israëlietische Nieuwsbode'' (1875). He also acquired a reputation as an orator, and contributed to the ''Joodsch Letterkundige Bijdragen'', ''Monatsschrift'', ''Weekblad voor Israeliten'', and ''Israelitische Letterbode''.

Publications

* * * (Republished as ''Ḥidushei ha-riṣad'') (Volume
12567
available vi
Hebrewbooks.org
* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dünner, Joseph Hirsch 1833 births 1911 deaths 19th-century Dutch rabbis Chief rabbis of cities Dutch Orthodox rabbis Heidelberg University alumni Polish emigrants to the Netherlands Rabbis from Amsterdam University of Bonn alumni Writers from Amsterdam