Dawidh Ḥanokh Yissḥaq Bar-Ḥayim (Hebrew: דוד חנוך יצחק בה"ר חיים רפאל ז"ל; born Mandel; born 24 February 1960) is an Israeli rabbi who heads Machon Shilo, a Jerusalem-based rabbinical court and institute of Jewish education dedicated to the Torah of Israel.

Biography

Early life

Bar-Hayim was born in Sydney, Australia.

Rabbinical training

After moving to Israel in 1977, he initially studied in Yeshivat HaKotel, and subsequently in Merkaz Harav Kook in Jerusalem. He studied under Rabbi Moshe Zuriel, and received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Yosef Kapach.

Rabbinical career

For a number of years, Bar-Hayim taught Talmud, Halakha, and Jewish philosophy in Yeshivat Nahalath Tzvi. Bar Hayim lectures in the greater Jerusalem area, and publishes articles in English and Hebrew on various web sites. Since 2001, Bar-Hayim has been working along with Machon HaYerushalmi to publish a new and elucidated edition of the Jerusalem Talmud. In 2006, Bar-Hayim founded the Shilo Institute for the research, elucidation, and dissemination of the Torah of Israel. Bar-Hayim established the Beth HaWa'adh rabbinical court to focus on actualizing the Torah of Israel and serve as an address for Gentiles, particularly the growing Noahide community.

Halachic approach

Though he is Orthodox, Bar-Hayim prefers the terms "Halakhic" or "Torah" Judaism, explaining that the term "Orthodox Judaism” is flawed by its very definition. Bar-Hayim has proposed the re-establishment of the customs of Israel, religious observances and practices that reflect those of the pre-exile Jewish communities in Israel, rather than those of Babylon or Europe. For this purpose, he has published a prayer book intended to reflect the original composition of early Israel, based upon the Jerusalem Talmud.

Halachic rulings

In light of the fact that Israel is yet again a sovereign Jewish state, with Jerusalem as its capital, Bar-Hayim has argued for increased utilization of the Jerusalem Talmud, which in his opinion, in regard to Torat Eretz Yisrael and Minhagei Eretz Yisrael, contains more lucid rulings than the Babylonian Talmud, which was given supremacy in "exile-mode" Judaism. This has led him to issue a number of highly controversial rulings, some of which are listed below: