Nahum Rakover
Nahum Rakover, professor emeritus at Bar-Ilan University, is an Israeli former deputy attorney general.
Rakover is a leading researcher in the application of traditional Jewish rabbinic law to Israel's state legal system.
Legal career
Nahum Rakover is a prolific author on Jewish law and associated with the Mishpat Ivri movement, and is the author of over 30 books and 200 articles. In addition to important monographs, he has compiled several bibliographies on the use of Jewish law in Israeli judicial opinions, legislative deliberations, and scholarship. He is the advisor on Jewish Law to the Israeli Ministry of Justice.Rakover's 2-volume "Jewish Law in the Debates of the Knesset" explores the applications of Jewish law to the problems of modern Israeli society from a legislative rather than a judicial perspective. Of particular interest is his discussion of the 1980 Foundations of Law Act, which looks at the extent to which Jewish law can be used as a basis or supplement to the legal system of Israel.
Rakover has been the main author and editor for The Jewish Legal Heritage Society.
Awards and recognition
Rakover's work has won him numerous awards, including:- In 2002, he was awarded the Israel Prize, for Jewish thought.
- In 2010, he received the Yakir Yerushalayim award from the city of Jerusalem.
- In 2019, he was awarded The EMET Prize for Art, Science and Culture in the Humanities for Jewish Law.
Selected works
Law and the Noahides: law as a universal valueGuide to the Sources of Jewish LawMulti-Language Bibliography of Jewish Law- Commerce in Jewish Law '
- Copyright in Jewish Law '
- The Rule of Law in the Jewish Sources '
- Unjust Enrichment in Jewish Law '
- Human Dignity in Jewish Law '
- Ends that Justify the Means '
- Sacrificing One to Save Many '
- Environment and Judaism, Legal and Philosophical Perspectives '
- Jewish Law in the Israeli Courts ' 2 volumes.
- Jewish Law in the Debates of the Knesset ' 2 volumes.Jewish Law and Current Legal Problems, Jerusalem: The Library of Jewish Law