Adin Steinsaltz. Photo: www.migdalworld.org.

Adin Steinsaltz

Scholar

A prominent rabbi, as well as an accomplished student of physics, chemistry and mathematics, Adin Steinsaltz has dedicated his life to introducing his fellow Jews to the wisdom of the Talmud. His Koren Talmud Bavli won the National Jewish Book Award in 2012, and he has continued publishing new volumes since then. Based in Jerusalem, Israel, Steinsaltz is intimately involved with the national life of his country. Last year, a student of Steinsaltz’s described in the pages of The Algemeiner how the rabbi broke down when he learned of the murder of the three Jewish teenagers abducted in the West Bank. “Why, Rabbi, does God do this?” the student asked him. After a long, considered pause, Steinsaltz quoted from The Psalms: “Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not abandon us forever!”