Rabbi Prof. Shlomo Slonim, a distinguished, gracious man, Torah scholar, and eminent academic, recently passed away at the age of 95. He wrote extensively for The Jerusalem Post, contributing articles until just a few weeks before his death.
Throughout his long and prolific life, Prof. Slonim combined intensive Torah study with rigorous academic scholarship in an extraordinarily uncommon way, allowing both worlds to flourish.
His devotion to Torah and his simultaneous academic career as a professor of American history and department chair at the Hebrew University might have divided his life into two separate paths.
Instead, his remarkable ability to delve deeply and excel in both worlds produced an unusual and compelling synthesis.
Slonim was born in Melbourne, Australia, into a family whose roots were firmly planted in the Lithuanian Jewish scholarly tradition.
He was the great-grandson of Rabbi Yerucham Yehuda Leib Perlman, known as “the Gadol of Minsk,” one of the leading Torah scholars of his generation.
In pursuit of knowledge
At the young age of 16, Slonim left home to pursue Torah studies across the world at the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland, communicating with his family only via letters.
He returned to Australia after six and a half years, having received rabbinic ordination from the head of the Telshe Yeshiva – Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch. Slonim was very likely the first Australian-born to receive such an ordination.
Telshe’s Torah tradition, including its profound emphasis on ethics and character, remained his North Star throughout his life.
Upon returning to Australia, Slonim studied law, but his aspirations ultimately turned toward advanced academic research. He completed his doctoral studies in international law at Columbia University in New York.
His dissertation was published as a book and subsequently became an authoritative work in its field, examining South West Africa (Namibia) and the United Nations.
In line with combining his religious and academic values, Slonim presented an unusual perspective. He recalled being the first to publicly wear a kippah at both the University of Melbourne and Columbia University.
From the late 1960s until his retirement, Slonim taught American history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and became the longtime chair of the American studies department.
Slonim’s contributions to the US Constitution
During his lengthy career, he became an authority on constitutional questions in the United States, as well as on legal and diplomatic issues involving Israel-US relations, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the UN.
A true Jerusalemite, Slonim counted among his important works Jerusalem in America’s Foreign Policy, 1947-1997. He also authored books and articles on the development and substance of the United States Constitution, earning the respect of highly regarded experts and establishing a distinguished reputation in the field.
Stanford Law School Prof. Gerald Gunther, reviewing one of Slonim’s numerous books, wrote that he knew “of no American historian steeped as deeply and intelligently in the formation of the US Constitution as S. Slonim, the distinguished Israeli scholar.”
Further, Slonim’s works on the Electoral College system were repeatedly pronounced as the best analysis of its creation by leaders in the field, such as Jack Rakove of Stanford University.
Alongside his academic career, Slonim remained steadfast in his Torah study and in teaching it to others. He lived, in the fullest and most literal sense, by the biblical injunction to “meditate upon it day and night.”
He studied with extraordinary diligence, maintaining numerous regular study partner relationships, and giving Torah lessons and publishing articles on Halacha and Judaism throughout his life.
His recitation of the Priestly Blessing was moving, delivered in a powerful and deeply emotional voice. It was a tremendous loss to him when, in the final years of his life, physical frailty forced him to give up this cherished practice.
The rich legacy of a family devoted to Torah, ethics, and strength of character
Slonim’s wife, Prof. Michla Pomerance-Slonim, may she live a long and healthy life, likewise descended from the family of the Gadol of Minsk and is the daughter of Rabbi Yaakov Meir Pomerance, a student of the Chofetz Chaim.
She too was a professor at the Hebrew University and gained worldwide recognition in the field of international law within the international relations department.
Pomerance-Slonim produced numerous important scholarly works and was also a learned woman of Torah, deeply devoted to its study. Together, this remarkable couple published a collection of insights on the weekly Torah portion entitled Ohalei Shem, an acronym formed from their names, Shlomo and Michal.
Above all, Slonim was a passionate Zionist. He served in the army reserves and was uncompromising in his commitment to the rights of the Jewish people throughout their ancestral homeland.
His only child, attorney Avigail Slonim-Rothner, has continued this ideological path. Together with her husband, David, she and her family have built a blessed and thriving family of grandchildren and great-grandchildren for her parents.
Following a high school project undertaken by Slonim-Rothner, the Slonim family also became involved in publishing Rabbi Meir Halperin’s biographical work, The Minsker Gadol, a unique work in its own right, as well as the Gadol of Minsk’s Torah insights, Ohr Gadol.
On a personal note, I was a friend and study partner of Slonim’s for nearly half a century, after initially starting as a teaching assistant to the professor. My wife, Miriam, and I owe Shlomo and Michal a profound debt of gratitude for the Torah – quite literally, in every sense of the word – that they shared with us so generously.
May the memory of Harav Shlomo Yisrael ben Harav Yaakov Aryeh Hacohen Slonim be for a blessing; his memory will always be etched in our hearts.
The writer is a former deputy president of the Supreme Court, attorney-general, cabinet secretary, and peace negotiator. He is the current president of the Ashkelon Academic College.
Follow us on GoogleSource: The Jerusalem Post · ELYAKIM RUBINSTEIN
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