Charles Ber Chavel


Rabbi Charles Ber Chavel was a rabbi and scholar who, most notably, published critical editions of medieval Jewish commentators.

Life

Rabbi Chavel was born in Ciechanow, Poland in 1906, and moved to the United States in 1920. He married Florence Krasna in 1933, and had two children, Cyrella and Isaac.
He received rabbinical ordination in 1929 from the Hebrew Theological College, and Ph.B. degree from the University of Chicago in 1928. He served as rabbi of Congregation Anshei Sfard of Louisville, Kentucky, from 1930 to 1945, and received
his M.A. in Ancient History and LL.B. from the University of Louisville in 1932 and 1938, respectively. He then spent a year as director of synagogue activities of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. From 1946-1979 he was the rabbi of Congregation Shaare Zedek of Edgemere, Long Island. He served as a dayyan on the rabbinical court of the Rabbinical Council of America, and served as chief editor of the journal HaDarom published by the RCA, from 1957-1983.
He received the Rabbi Kook Jewish Book Prize in 1953.
In 1979 he moved to Jerusalem, Israel and joined the Board of Directors of the publishers, Mossad HaRav Kook. He died in New York in 1982, and is buried in Beit Shemesh, Israel.

Hebrew Works

Most of Rabbi Chavel's books were devoted to critical editions, with annotation and commentary, of classical Jewish commentators on the Bible and Talmud. Unless otherwise indicated, they were published by Mossad HaRav Kook.
The following commentaries were published separately, and the texts were later included in the Mikraot Gedolot edition, Torat Chaim of Mossad HaRav Kook :
Other works on Nahmanides:
Other Hebrew Works:
Unless otherwise indicated, all translations were published by Shilo Publishing House, New York.