David Hanoch Yitzchak Bar-Hayim (Hebrew: דוד חנוך יצחק ב"ר חיים; born Mandel; born 24 February 1960) is an Israeli rabbi who heads the Shilo Institute (Machon Shilo), a Jerusalem-based rabbinical court and institute of Jewish education dedicated to the Torah of Israel.[1]
Bar Hayim lectures in the greater Jerusalem area, and publishes articles in English and Hebrew on various web sites.[2] 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.[3]
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 BabylonorEurope. For this purpose, he has published a prayer book intended to reflect the original composition of early Israel, based upon the Jerusalem Talmud.[4]
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.[5]
Bar-Hayim established the Beth HaWa'ad rabbinical court to focus on actualizing the Torah of Israel and serve as an address for Gentiles, particularly the growing Noahide community.[6]
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[7] than the Babylonian Talmud, which was given supremacy in "exile-mode" Judaism.[3] This has led him to issue a number of highly controversial[8] rulings, some of which are listed below:
In a very controversial ruling,[9][8][10] Bar-Hayim announced that any Jew worldwide, regardless of origin, and despite the practice of their forefathers, may eat kitniyot ("legumes") on Passover,[11][12] as most Sefardi Jews do, for it is a practice rejected as an unnecessary precaution by some Halachic authorities as early as the time of its emergence.[13] This position has been widely rejected by other rabbis, including Ovadia Yosef.[14]
Hallel should be recited on Israeli Independence Day.[16]
Stainless steel utensils do not absorb dairy or meat, and may therefore just be washed with soap and water between dairy and meat use.[17]
Bar-Hayim claims that the rulings of the Shulchan Aruch were intended as a resource and depiction of common practice in certain areas, and that the author never intended that his rulings become compulsory for Jewry.[18][19]
The size of an olive in Jewish law is roughly the size of an olive. Those commentators who over-estimated the size of the olive were unfamiliar with olives, for they had lived in lands which lacked them.[20]
The process of conversion to Judaism should be one that welcomes sincere converts and allows them the right to choose a rabbi and community which they identify with.[21]
Jewish law requires one to follow the most convincing position which is truest to the sources. One need not uphold a tradition which can be shown to have been conceived in error.[22]
The common form of reclining on Passover nowadays does not convey the aristocratic nobility it was intended to, and may often defeat its very purpose.[23]
The main purpose of Torah study is to create a holy nation that obeys the law, and not merely withdrawn individuals seeking personal gain.[24]
One may eat poultry followed by dairy without a waiting period.[26]
Torah sages can err, just as the Sanhedrin could (Leviticus 4:13).[27]
Married women should wear a head[28] covering that is not a wig, since a wig is an invalid form of head covering.[29] It is preferable for a married Jewish woman to expose her hair than to don a wig, for the wig actually increases attraction in the public domain and encourages the notion that Halakha is both irrational and intellectually dishonest.[29]
One may change his nusachtefillah at any time, because the idea that a Jew should not change his nusach tefillah, and has to continue to pray in the way of his forefathers, is an invented Halacha of the galut (diaspora,[30] "scattering, dispersion").[31][32][33]
