Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Rahamim Zini (born 11 August 1946) is the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Or Vishua, which he founded in Haifa in 2001. In the past, he has served as the rabbi of the Technion, as a lecturer in its Faculty of Mathematics, and in the Department of Humanities and Arts.
Biography
Eliyahu Zini was born on 11 August 1946 to a family of Torah scholars, the eldest of Rachel and Rabbi Meir Zini, the rabbi of Taharat, Algeria. The origins of the Zini family are traced back to Rabbi Joseph Yoshto, a student of Isaac Alfasi from Jaén, Spain in northeastern Andalusia. His mother Rachel, a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp, met his father while he was an officer in the Free French Forces when the camp was liberated.
With the end of French sovereignty in Algeria in 1962, Eliyahu Zini moved with his family to Paris, where he finished his secondary school studies and began studying mathematics in the University of Paris. He began rabbinical studies under Rabbi Shlomo Dahan. He also studied karate and earned his second-degree black belt.
In 1970 he made aliyah to the land of Israel, living first in Bnei Brak and then moving to Haifa. There he became close with Rabbi Professor Benjamin Ze'ev Benedict, rabbi of the Ahuza neighborhood, from whom he would later receive semikhah. At the Technion, he completed his doctorate in mathematics which he had begun in Paris, and he did his post-doctorate at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Afterward, he returned to the Technion as a senior associate lecturer in the Faculty of Mathematics and as a senior associate lecturer of Talmud and Jewish philosophy in the Department of Humanities and Arts.
He served in Israel's Medical Corps and fought in the 1982 Lebanon War.
When the previous rabbi of the Technion decided leave his position, he advised the senate of the Technion to appoint Zini in his place. In 1980, Zini began serving as the rabbi of the Technion in addition to his position as a lecturer.
In 2001, he founded Yeshivat Or Vishua, a hesder yeshiva located near the Technion.
Zini currently lives with his wife and eight children in the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood of Haifa.
Public activities
Education and research in Jewish disciplines
Rabbi Zini dedicates his time to disseminating Torah to the public. He began a program at the Technion which enabled students to add Torah study to their science and engineering studies.
Zini's research in Torah-related fields focuses on books of the Geonim. Some of his research has been published in books, pamphlets, and articles. He has published series of books in Hebrew such as "Olamot BeIhudam" ("Worlds in their Unity"), "Erets Hemdatenu" ("Land of Our Desires"). He has published chidushim (original Torah thoughts) of Rashbatz on tractates Rosh Hashanah and Kinnim of the Babylonian Talmud, as well as "Magen Avot," Rashbatz' commentary on Pirkei Avot. Similarly, he has published research on the history of halakha and the editing of the Talmud, such as "Rabanan Savora'ei ve-Klalei ha-Halakha" ("The Savoraim and the Rules of Halakha"). He has also published letters of Elijah Benamozegh, Hebrew translations of Professor Emmanuel Levinas, Hebrew translations of Rabbi Léon Ashkenazi (with whom he was particularly close), and others. He also print*Olamot be-Ihudam – ed new land of Israel editions of the "Tefilat he-Hadash" siddur and "Mo'adei Hashem" mahzor for the Shalosh Regalim (the Three Pilgrimage Festivals).
Zini advocates for the joining of Torah study and science, claiming that it is fundamentally impossible for them to be contradictory. He opposes the methodology employed by Professor Nathan Aviezer in Aviezer's book "Bereishit Bara." The book uses scientific fact to prove the accuracy of the Torah, while Zini does not believe that such explanations are necessary.
Zini's method of Torah study is based on a broad knowledge of the literature of the Tanaim and Amoraim, a deeper study of the earlier sources in Midrash halakha, and only then a discussion of the words of the Talmud and Rishonim. In Talmud study, Zini uses the writings of the Geonim.
Zini is also involved in philosophy. He met Professor Emmanuel Levinas in France and translated some of his essays. He published four of Levinas' articles in a pamphlet entitled "Divrei Emmanuel" ("The Words of Emmanuel") and cites him in his lectures.