Obituary: Rabbi Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz), 83, Renowned Scholar, Author and Devoted Chassid

by Menachem Posner – chabad.org

Rabbi Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz), the world-famous Talmudist, Kabbalist, educator, community rabbi, philosopher, prolific author—and, above all, devoted Chassid—who was internationally regarded as one of the leading rabbis of this century, and was once hailed by Time magazine as a “once-in-a-millennium scholar,” passed away in Jerusalem on Aug. 7. He was 83 years old.

Born in 1937 in Jerusalem to Avraham Moshe and Leah Steinsaltz—Polish immigrants with avowedly secular left-leaning worldviews—young Adin was consummately curious as a boy and teenager growing up in the Katamon neighborhood of the Holy City, and would recall how he explored the religious texts he first encountered with the same rigor and voraciousness that he had applied to the writings of Communist and Socialist thinkers that his parents had proffered to him.

With a determination that closely matched his intellect, the teen won his parents’ permission to study Talmud and Chassidic philosophy full-time in the Chabad yeshivah in Lod. There he was exposed to the teachings of the Rebbe the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson of righteous memory—who had recently taken up the mantle of leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement following the passing of his father-in-law and predecessor, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, of righteous memory.

In the model of many great rabbinic scholars throughout Jewish history, Steinsaltz complemented his religious studies with immersion in scientific study as well, and he studied chemistry and physics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem before entering the field of education. He established several experimental schools and became Israel’s youngest school principal at the age of 24.

In 1965, he married Chaya Sarah Azimov, the daughter of Rabbi Chaim Hillel Azimov, director of the Chabad day school in Paris, and the scion of a longtime Chabad family.

A Devoted Chassid

In the Rebbe, he found more than an intellectual and spiritual guide and Torah teacher. “I firmly believe that he possessed some sort of supernatural capability and that he was in contact with another state of being, which I do not hesitate to call the Divine,” recalled Even-Israel in My Rebbe, his 2014 biography of the Rebbe, which be begins by stating: “The first time I met the Rebbe, I felt his intense personality, his almost complete otherness.”

That first meeting took place in 1970, when at the age of 33, he was sent to bring greetings to the Rebbe as the representative of President Zalman Shazar.

The Steinsaltzes had three children, Esti, Meni and Amechayeh. Besides providing guidance in his Torah studies and communal leadership, the Rebbe provided fatherly care and Divinely inspired advice in personal matters as well.

In 1989, the Rebbe advised him and his wife that the family change their name from Steinsaltz, which suggests bitterness, to a Hebrew alternative.

Shortly therafter, their 15-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia, and the Rebbe blessed the boy and told the parents that they were not to pursue a marrow transplant. “The doctors were furious that we chose to follow the Rebbe’s guidance, not theirs,” recalled Even-Israel in My Rebbe. “Despite their prediction, our son healed, married and had children … years later the doctors admitted … that their approach had been wrong.”

Award-Winning Author of Groundbreaking Jewish Texts

For many, Rabbi Even-Israel will be best-remembered for translating and elucidating the entire Talmud in Modern Hebrew and then English—an unrivaled solo feat he began around the time of his marriage and completed decades later.

His classic work on Kabbalah, The Thirteen Petalled Rose, was published in 1980 and has been reprinted in eight languages. In all, he authored more than 60 books and hundreds of articles, including groundbreaking translations. Videos and excerpts from many of his writings can be found on Chabad.org.

A frail man with a wry smile and a soft voice, Even-Israel was known for his caustic sense of humor and a disdain for pretense. An admirer recalls once complimenting him after a class on Talmud for beginners, innocently telling the rabbi how much he had enjoyed it. “You were not suppose to enjoy it,” was the reply. “You were suppose to learn something.”

The recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Israel Prize, he served as scholar in residence at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies in Washington and the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton.

Even-Israel received numerous accolades, including the Israel Prize for Jewish Studies in 1988; the President’s Prize and National Jewish Book Award in 2012, for making the study of Talmud more accessible; and the Yakir Yerushalayim (“Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem”) medal in 2017. His honorary degrees include doctorates from Yeshiva University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Bar-Ilan University, Brandeis University and Florida International University.

Since the late 1950s, he regularly taught a class on Chabad philosophy every Thursday at 10:40 p.m. Originally presented by Rabbi S.Y. Zevin, the class attracted the upper crust of Israeli intellectual society, including Shazar, who attended while in office.

At the Rebbe’s behest, he served as rabbi of the Tzemach Tzedek synagogue, the only Jewish place of worship in Jerusalem’s Old City that survived the Jordanian occupation between 1948 and 1967. He began the task a few years after the liberation and continued making the long trek from his home to the Old City every Shabbat until his frail health prevented him from doing so.

In Israel, the schools under his leadership provide Chabad Chassidic teachings and are geared to students from a diverse range of backgrounds, particularly those from Modern Orthodox (National Religious) circles.

In 1989, he founded the Yeshivat Shamir in post-glasnost Moscow.

At one time, he felt he was overwhelmed by his crushing workload and wrote to the Rebbe, asking which duties he should drop. The Rebbe’s reply: Continue doing everything and add more projects. It was a directive that he took to heart, and he remained one of the world’s most prolific Jewish authors, publishing commentaries on the widest range of topics into his 80s.

In time, his children joined him in his publishing and educational endeavors, and the Steinsaltz Center is currently directed by his son Rabbi Meni.

As word of his passing spread, accolades and tributes have poured in from across the landscape of Jewish life.

He was a man of great spiritual courage, deep knowledge and profound thought who brought the Talmud to Am Yisrael in clear and accessible Hebrew and English,” tweeted Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.

Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz) is survived by his wife, their three children, 18 grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, including a boy who was born the day before the passing of his great-grandfather.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic the family requests that the funeral procession and burial be limited to family members.

A more extensive obituary article is in preparation

This article was reprinted with permission from chabad.org