David Hartman

David Hartman (; September 11, 1931 – February 10, 2013) was an American-Israeli leader and philosopher of contemporary Judaism, founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Israel, and a Jewish author. Biography David Hartman was born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York. He attended Yeshiva Chaim Berlin and the Lubavitch Yeshiva, after which he spent time learning in Lakewood Yeshiva. In 1953, having studied under Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, he received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva University in New York. He continued his studies with Soloveitchik until 1960, while pursuing a graduate degree in philosophy with Robert C. Pollock at Fordham University. In 1971, Hartman immigrated to Israel with his wife Barbara and their five children. Hartman died on February 10, 2013, in Jerusalem at the age of 81. Rabbinic and academic career After serving as a congregational rabbi in the Bronx, New York, from 1955 to 1960, Hartman became the rabbi of Congregation Tiferet Beit David Jerusalem in Montreal. Some of his students moved with him to Israel when he immigrated in 1971. While in Montreal, he also taught and studied at McGill University and received his Ph.D. in philosophy.