Gedaliah Nadel

show This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Hebrew. (April 2010) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Hebrew article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 259 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary Content in this edit is translated from the existing Hebrew Wikipedia article at [[:he:גדליה נדל]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|he|גדליה נדל}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Rabbi Gedaliah Nadel (1923–2004) was an influential rabbi in Israel's Haredi community. He was known for being one of the heads of Kollel Chazon Ish and was the leading authority of Jewish Law in the Chazon Ish neighborhood of Bnei Brak. He was celebrated as an expert in all facets of Torah and Talmudic knowledge.

Biography[]

Gedaliah Nadel was born in Šiauliai, Lithuania to Rabbi Reuven Keshel. In 1936, his family immigrated to Mandatory Palestine and settled in the in what is now Northern Israel. After briefly studying in a yeshiva in Tel Aviv, he transferred to the Lomza Yeshiva in Petach Tikvah where he studied under Rabbi Elazar Menachem Shach. As a child, Gedaliah was known for his diligence and devotion to studying Torah, reportedly studying for up to eighteen hours consecutively.^[1] Afterwards Gedaliah studied under Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, known as Chazon Ish, who molded him into his principal student (recalling his time with the Chazon Ish, Rabbi Nadel said that the Chazon Ish garnered knowledge in medical science by reading medical journals).^[2]

Rabbi Nadel married the daughter of Rabbi Eliyahu Weiner, a student of the Chofetz Chaim. Following the wedding, they lived in Jerusalem for a short while, before moving to Bnei Brak where he lived an ascetic life. When the Chazon Ish decided to establish a special community of religious devotees, he chose Rabbi Gedaliah Nadel to lead the community. As leader of the community, such leaders as Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky (the Steipler), and his son Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, turned to Rabbi Nadel for decisions. Rabbi Nadel's house was used as a gathering place for the Rabbinic personalities of his day, such as Rabbi Shach and the Steipler. Rabbi Nadel also briefly served as the Rosh Yeshiva of the Vishnitz Hasidic yeshiva.

Rabbi Nadel would learn Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed immediately after praying Shacharis vatikin.^[3]

He died on June 5, 2004.^[4]

Opinions[]

Rabbi Nadel asserted that certain concepts mentioned in the Torah and Talmud that were not of a legalistic nature were not necessarily to be taken literally.^[5] His writings were analyzed and taken into account during the Slifkin affair. Jewish British zoologist Rabbi Natan Slifkin's acceptance of evolution and belief "that the world was billions of years old" is reportedly in accordance to views espoused by Rabbi Nadel.^[6] According to Marc Shapiro, Rabbi Nadel maintained that it is acceptable to believe that the Zohar was not written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and that it had a late authorship.^[7]

Rabbi Nadel's teachings have continued to exert influence on Haredi leaders.^[8]

Works[]

Many of Rabbi Nadel's lectures were collected by his various students and two volumes were published under the title Shiurei Reb Gedaliah.'^[3]

B'Torato Shel Rav Gedaliah is a compilation of teachings prepared, which according to the book, is taken from Rabbi Nadel's from audio recordings and published at his request.^[3] It was published by Rabbi Yitzchak Sheilat, one of Rabbi Nadel's main students,^[9] and at the personal request of Rabbi Nadel.^[3]

B'Torato Shel Rav Gedaliah was banned by three prominent Bnei Barak rabbis because of its support of Darwin's theory of evolution, including sentences such as "Regarding [the idea that] the creation of man in the image of God marked the end of a long process which started with a non-cognizant animal which gradually evolved until this creature was given a human mind... this is an accurate description. Darwin's proofs, and those of geologists, for the existence of early stages of mankind, seem convincing."^[10]

In 5772 (or 2010/2011 CE), Rabbi Sheilat published a new edition of the book.^{[citation needed]}

References[]

External links[]

• B'Torato Shel Rav Gedaliah (from http://seri-levi.com/2008/11/13/mito/)
• Rabbi Nathan Slifkin, Part I of Partial Translation of B'Toraso Shel R' Gedaliah
• Rabbi Nathan Slifkin, Part II of Partial Translation of B'Toraso Shel R' Gedaliah