Louis Ginzberg

Louis Ginzberg (, Levy Gintzburg; , Levy Ginzberg; November 28, 1873 – November 11, 1953) was a Russian-born American rabbi and Talmudic scholar of Lithuanian-Jewish descent, contributing editor to numerous articles of The Jewish Encyclopedia, and leading figure in the Conservative movement of Judaism during the early 20th century.

Early life Ginzberg was born in Kaunas, Vilna Governorate (then called Kovno). His religious Lithuanian-Jewish family's piety and erudition were renowned, seeing that they traced their lineage back to the Gaon of Vilna's brother. Ginzberg received a traditional Jewish education, and later studied in German universities.

Career Ginzberg first arrived in the United States in 1899. He began teaching the Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) from its reorganization in 1902 JTS leader Louis Finkelstein described him as a "living symbol of love for Torah".

Ginzberg's knowledge made him the expert to defend Judaism both in national and international affairs. In 1906, he defended the Jewish community against antisemitic accusations that Jews ritually slaughtered Gentiles. In 1913, Louis Marshall requested that Ginzberg refute the Beilis blood libel charge in Kiev . On account of his impressive scholarship in Jewish studies, Ginzberg was one of 66 scholars honored with a doctorate by Harvard University in celebration of its tercentenary in 1936.

While contemporary Orthodox Jewish authorities are generally permissive of grape juice as a wine substitute, Orthodox rabbis of the 1920s soundly rejected its use. The Legends of the Jews is an original synthesis of a vast amount of aggadah from all of classical rabbinic literature, as well as apocryphal, pseudopigraphical and even early Christian literature, with legends ranging from the creation of the world and the fall of Adam, through a huge collection of legends on Moses, and ending with the story of Esther and the Jews in Persia.

Ginzberg also write Geonica (1909), an account of the Babylonian Geonim containing lengthy extracts from their responsa, as discovered in the form of fragments in the Cairo Genizah. He continued this work in the similar collection entitled Ginze Schechter (1929).

Ginzberg wrote 406 articles and several monograph-length entries for the Jewish Encyclopedia (Levy 2002), some later collected in his Legend and Lore. He was also founder and president of the American Academy of Jewish Research.

Many of his halakhic responsa are collected in The Responsa of Professor Louis Ginzberg, edited by David Golinkin.

Personal life Ginzberg had a long-term platonic relationship with Henrietta Szold, his editor at the Jewish Publication Society. She was in love with him but 13 years his senior.

Ginzberg visited Berlin in 1908 and became engaged to Adele Katzenstein while there. Katzenstein was about 22 at the time. They had two children: a son, Eli Ginzberg (1911–2002), who was a professor of economics at Columbia University, and a daughter, Sophie Ginzberg Gould (1914–1985).