Yale Rosenberg: The Scholar and the Teacher of Jewish Law

In the early 1980s, when he was a young professor at the University of Houston Law Center, the author had the occasion to meet Yale Rosenberg. It was clear from their discussion that Professor Rosenberg had a strong interest in Jewish law as well as a strong knowledge base. They discussed teaching such a course at the University of Houston Law Center. Professor Rosenberg was doubtful about teaching a course in Jewish law at a secular law school, particularly one in Texas. But that conversation began a series of conversations where Yale explored in some depth the course that we were offering at Georgetown. It took several years of discussion, but in 1989, Professor Rosenberg took the plunge and began offering a Jewish law course to the students at the University of Houston Law Center. The rest is a highly successful history. By 1989, Professor Rosenberg also began to publish in the field, co-authoring with his wife, Professor Irene Marker Rosenberg. Together, there are ten major articles with a focus on Jewish law. But when one examines Professor Yale Rosenberg’s other writings, it is clear that the influence of his study and interest in Jewish law permeated all of his thinking and scholarship