Nyu Awards First Doctoral Degree to Student Who Wrote Dissertation in Hebrew

For the first time in its 139-year history. New York University has awarded a doctoral degree to a student who wrote his dissertation in Hebrew. Rabbi Grainom Lazewnik a native of Poland who came to this country in 1946, wrote his thesis on a Talmudic subject–another first at NYU. A resident of Brooklyn, Dr. Lazewnik, analyzed a medieval Hebrew manuscript, using a microfilm copy of the original European document brought to New York University’s Library of Judaica and Hebraica, and concluded that it is a commentary on the 11th-century Rif Code on the Sanhedrin rather than on the original text of the Talmud as had been believed by many scholars prior to his study. Dr. Lazewnik, who received his degree from NYU’s Graduate School of Arts and Science, did his research in the School’s Institute of Hebrew Studies under the direction of Dr. David Rudavsky, the Institute’s acting director.