Hellenism in Jewish Palestine

Saul Lieberman is considered one of the greatest Talmudic authorities of the modern era. Born in Motal, Russia (present-day Belarus), Lieberman received a traditional religious education and completed secular studies in Kiev and later in France. He also studied Talmudic philology and classical Greek at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. It was there that Lieberman’s talent and intellect were first recognized; the university appointed him a lecturer in Talmud in 1931. In 1940, he moved to the United States, where he would come to lead the rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. As a scholar, Lieberman was extremely prolific, producing some 225 books and articles, including commentaries on a range of rabbinic texts.