Saul Lieberman: Encyclopedia II - Saul Lieberman - Biography

Saul Lieberman - Biography

Born in Motol (now Motal'), near Pinsk, Belarus (then Russian empire), he studied at the yeshivot of Malch and Slobodka. While studying at the Slabodka Yeshiva, he befriended Rabbi Isaac Ruderman and Rabbi Isaac Hutner, both of whom would become leaders of great Rabbinical seminaries in America. In the 1920s he attended the University of Kiev, and, following a short stay in Palestine, continued his studies in France. In 1928 he settled in Jerusalem. He studied talmudic philology and Greek language and literature at the Hebrew University, where he was appointed lecturer in Talmud in 1931. He also taught at the Mizrachi Teachers Seminary and from 1935 was dean of the Harry Fischel Institute for Talmudic Research in Jerusalem.

In 1940 he was invited both by Rabbi Isaac Hutner to teach in Yeshiva Chaim Berlin, and by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America to serve as professor of Palestinian literature and institutions. Lieberman chose the offer by the Jewish Theological Seminary. When asked why he chose a Conservative Jewish institution, he responded, "I had twenty-thousand reasons." This was his annual salary. However, when a newly hired professor asked R. M.M. Schneersohn of Lubavitch whether he should remain in the Seminary, the response was "as long as Lieberman is there." Nine years later he was appointed dean, and in 1958 rector, of the Seminary's rabbinical school.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Biography", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki