David Zvi Hoffmann

Rabbi
David Zvi Hoffmann
Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann
TitleRector
Personal
BornNovember 24, 1843
DiedNovember 20, 1921
NationalityGerman
Notable work(s)Die wichtigsten Instanzen gegen die Graf-Wellhausensche Hypothese, Melamed Le-ho'il, Commentary on the Pentateuch
Alma materUniversity of Tübingen
Known forOpposition to the Documentary Hypothesis, Commentary on the Pentateuch
OccupationRabbi, Torah Scholar
Senior posting
Post
  • Rector of the Rabbinical Seminary of Berlin (1899–1921)

David Zvi Hoffmann (November 24, 1843, Verbó, Austrian Empire – November 20, 1921, Berlin) (Hebrew: דוד צבי הופמן), was an Orthodox Rabbi and Torah Scholar. He headed the Yeshiva in Berlin, and published a research on the Pentateuch and Mishna[citation needed], both in reaction to erstwhile Biblical criticism. He is referred to as רד"צ הופמן - Radatz Hoffmann - in later Rabbinic writing.

He was an expert in Midrash halakha and the foremost halakhic authority in Germany in his generation.

He is well known for his strident literary opposition to the Graf-Wellhausen theories of Biblical origin, while he quotes prominent Wissenschaft figures in his researches on Mishnah and Talmud.[1]

His commentary on the Pentateuch is still often referred to.

  1. ^ David Zvi Hoffmann, sefaria.org