Another controversial aspect of Halivni thought is his attempt in his books Peshat and Derash and Revelation Restored to harmonize biblical criticism with traditional religious belief. He has developed a concept that he terms Chate`u Israel, in which he states that the biblical texts originally given to Moses have become irretrievably corrupted. Impact: His impact on the Jewish Theological Seminary has been profound. Most of the Talmud professors at JTS follow his source-critical approach. This has impacted the manner in which Talmud is taught to its students. It has been noted that there is a qualitative difference between the pre-Halivni period and the post Halivni period at JTS in terms of the students` Talmudic literacy and scholarship. Halivni himself has indicated on many occasions that he has been unable to pass on his methodology to his students.Until recently, Halivni was the spiritual leader of Kehilat Orach Eliezer (KOE, [2]), a congregation on Manhattan`s Upper West Side, a position he had held since the congregation`s foundation in 1992. In 2002, there was a big controversy at this congregation, for many members of the community wanted to allow women to be called up to the Torah, which, while supported by a then-recent legal argument by Rabbi Mendel Shapiro, is opposed by many Rabbis for halakhic and sociological reasons. Halivni was not excited about the practice, and told the congregation: “I shall allow it, but only if it is done no more frequently than a few times a year, and only if it is done in a separate room from the ‘real’ service.” Thus, the congregation allows this practice only under very limited circumstances. Nevertheless, even this “compromise” was far too liberal for many congregants. On the other side, many liberals were frustrated by KOE`s failure to include women in the Torah service, and as a result founded their own prayer group, Darkhei No`am ([3]). (See Partnership Minyan for a general description of such prayer groups.); Current work: In July 2005, Rabbi Halivni in retiring from Columbia University, emigrated to Israel. He held a position at Bar-Ilan University, and also taught at Hebrew University.
Prof. Halivni managed to write his commentary on the Tractates Zevahim and Menahot, and a bit of the HullinTract. During his studies at the Hullin tract, his health deteriorated, and he died in 30 Sivan 5782.
