Abraham Weiss

Abraham Weiss was born in 1896 in Pidhaitsi

Weiss was born in Podhajce in eastern Galicia. He received a traditional Jewish education there. His sister Hania later married the Talmud scholar Hanoch Albeck.

In 1916 he was ordained as a rabbi by David Horowitz, the rabbi of Stanislaw. In 1917 he began studying history and classical philology at the University of Vienna, and he earned a doctorate in 1921. He also studied Talmud with Avigdor Aptowitzer, who ordained him again in 1922.

In 1928 he became docent for Talmud at the Institute for Jewish Science in Warsaw, where he later served as rector. He was active in the Mizrachi movement and served as its vice president in Poland from 1935 to 1940. As a member of the Warsaw Judenrat, he helped delay the creation of the Warsaw ghetto.

In 1940 he accepted a post as professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University and left Warsaw with his family for the United States. His research argued that the Babylonian Talmud developed over a long process from the Amoraim to the Geonim.

He retired in 1967 and moved to Israel. He lectured at Bar-Ilan University until his death in 1970.