Dr. David Zohar, a clinical psychologist from Tel Aviv, Israel, founded a project to republish an updated version of Rabbi Hayyim Hirschensohn's writings. The objective is to bring these works to the public's knowledge, as they can offer a modern religious Jew ways in which one can combine modern values together with Jewish Values. This new version which contains comments and explanations to better understand the writings and their context, by Dr. David Zohar, was published in 2006. Dr. Zohar is currently working on the second book, Malki Bakodesh Part II. Dr. David Zohar wrote a book on R. Hirschensohn's thinking, "Jewish Commitment in a Modern World" (Tel-Aviv, 2003). Copies of the books can be obtained from the Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem or from the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem
Rabbi Hayyim Hirschensohn (1856-1935), who lived and worked in Jerusalem and in the United States at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, was born in Tzfat. His thought has intrigued many Jews who strive to combine Judaism and modernity, religion and life, thereby seeking to resolve the conflict between their firm commitment to Halakha and their growing openness to the modern world. R. Hayyim Hirschensohn was one of the few among the Religious- Zionist thinkers who confronted the challenges of modernity and grappled with the intricate halakhic problems inherent in the establishment of a modern Jewish state.
