DE VRIES, BENJAMIN

DE VRIES, BENJAMIN (1905–1966), Israeli educator and talmudic scholar. De Vries, who was born in Leeuwarden, Holland, studied at the Amsterdam Rabbinical Seminary (where he later lectured), and at Leyden University. After immigrating to Palestine in 1934, he worked both as a teacher and an inspector of education in the religious state schools network. In 1955 he was appointed professor of Talmud at Tel Aviv University. De Vries published numerous articles on educational and religious subjects and made important contributions to the literary and legal study of the Talmud. He also wrote a volume in Dutch on halakhah development, Hoofdlijnen en motieven in de ontwikkeling der Halachah (1959); an introduction to the Talmud, Mavo la-Talmud (1951; 19622); Toledot ha-Halakhah ha-Talmudit (1962; 19662); and a collection of talmudic studies, Mehkarim be-Sifrut ha-Talmud (1968). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benjamin de Vries Memorial Volume (1968), includes bibliography, 334–42. (Ze'ev Wilhem Falk)