Chaim Saiman
Professor of Law
Chair in Jewish Law
Biography
Chaim Saiman is a scholar of Jewish law, insurance law and private law and published Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law with Princeton University Press. Saiman has served as the Gruss Visiting Professor of Talmudic Law at both Harvard Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, a visiting fellow at Princeton University and a visiting professor at the University of Toronto, Bar-Ilan, Hebrew University, IDC and Pepperdine University faculties of law. Saiman sits as a rabbinical court judge (dayyan) with the Beth Din of America and serves as an expert witness in insurance law and Jewish law in federal court.
Saiman received his BS from Georgia State University and his JD from Columbia University School of Law. He also studied for a number of years at Yeshivat Har-Etzion (Gush) and Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh in Israel. Prior to joining the faculty at Villanova, he was an Olin Fellow at Harvard Law School a Golieb Fellow at NYU Law School, a law clerk to Judge Michael McConnell on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and worked as a corporate associate with the firm Cleary Gottlieb in New York. At Villanova, Saiman teaches contracts, insurance law, insurance coverage disputes, Jewish law and arbitration.
Practice Experience
- Judicial Clerk to Michael McConnell, United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit)
- Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton (New York)
- Joined the faculty in 2006
Recent Publications
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A Return to Berlin, The Jewish Press, June 2026
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Book Review: Modern Responsa: an Anthology of Jewish Ethical and Ritual Decisions, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2026
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Enforcing Liquidated Damage Clauses: A Case Study in Real Estate Contracts and the Jewish Law of Asmachta, Journal of the Beth Din of America, April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2026
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From Red Lines to Tilted Planes: Reassessing Haym Soloveitchik's Angle of Deflection, Jewish Quarterly Review 2026
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The New Jewish Question: Simon Rabinovitch’s Sovereignty and Religious Freedom, IJL, April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2026
Recent Presentations
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'Annual Tisha Be'Av Lecture', Mourning for Jerusalem as an Act of Protest, Lower Merion Synagogue, Merion, PA . July 2026
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'Jewish Law Roundtable', From Red Lines to Tilted Planes: Reassessing Haym Soloveitchik's Angle of Deflection, Brodie Center, Yale Law School , New Haven, CT . July 2026
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'Hildesheimer Lecture', Is Halakhah Jewish Law and Why its a Harder Question to Answer than You Think, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany. June 2026
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'Scholar in Residence', Corrective and Restorative Justice in Jewish Law , Adas Jisroel Congregation , Berlin, Germany. June 2026
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'Tikvah Legal Fellowship', On the Road to Jericho: The Talmud's Walk beteen Christian Ethics and American Law, The Tikvah Fund, Leesburg, VA . June 2026
Office: Rm 339, John F. Scarpa Hall
Phone: 610-519-3296
Courses and Seminars
- Advanced Insurance Seminar
- Abitration: Law, Policy, and Procedure
- Commercial and Religious Arbitration
- Contracts
- Insurance Law
- Jewish Law Seminar
- Legislation
Education
- Columbia University School of Law, JD
- Georgia State University, BA
- Yeshivat Har Etzion
- Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavne
