Rabbi Dr, David Zvi Hoffman and the study of the Mishnah

PROF. MICHAEL CHERNICK: The Modern Study of Mishna: Rabbi Dr. David Zvi Hoffmann’s Approach (TheGemara.com).

Abstract: Rabbi Dr, David Zvi Hoffman (1843-1921), a pioneering scholar of rabbinic literature and a committed Orthodox Jew, did not shy away from applying academic methods to the study of rabbinic texts. His work on the Mishnah posits an early, uniform, undisputed, and therefore authoritative collection of the Oral Law which he called the First Mishnah. In the intervening years new critical methods and approaches have contributed even more convincing insights into the sources, growth, and history of “our” Mishnah. Nevertheless, Hoffman remains an intellectual father of contemporary rabbinic scholarship.

HT AJR.