Solomon Zeitlin (28 May 1886 or 31 May 1892 – 28 December 1976) was an American Jewish historian, Talmudic scholar and in his time the world's leading authority on the Second Commonwealth, also known as the Second Temple period. His work The Rise and Fall of the Judean State is about the Second Temple period.

Biography

Russia

Born in Chasniki, Russia, he attended the Gymnasium and later the Academy of Baron Günzburg. There he met and formed a lifelong friendship with Zalman Shazar. In 1904, while in Russia, he obtained Semikhah.

Paris and USA

In Paris in 1916 he was awarded a Th.D. from the École Rabbinique and an Élève Titulaire de la Section des Sciences Religeuses from the University of Paris. In 1915 he emigrated to America. He received his doctorate in 1917 and became professor of Rabbinics. Zeitlin taught at Yeshiva College in New York for two years before going to Dropsie College in Philadelphia, where he served as a Fellow in Rabbinics. He edited the academic journal, the Jewish Quarterly Review (JQR)(1940–1976). With A.A. Neuman he co-edited volumes 31–57, and continued as sole editor until his death in 1976. He controversially devoted considerable page-space of the JQR between 1949 and 1964 to engage in scholarly claim and counterclaim over the authenticity and pre-Christian origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Publishing some two dozen articles on the subject, he remained convinced of their late date. In the JQR July 1961 edition he published an article "Jewish Rights in Palestine" by British philosopher and historian Arnold J. Toynbee and his own response "Jewish Rights in Eretz Israel (Palestine)" where he rebukes Toynbee for lack of scholarship. In addition to history he taught Talmud, wrote more than 400 articles and books and was instrumental in organizing the American Academy of Jewish Research.

Private life

He never married and had no immediate survivors.

Works