Rabbi Soloveitchik: April 2023

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Rabbi Aharon Kotler and Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik - Rabbi Dr. Aharon Rakeffet

Rabbi Aharon Kotler and Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik - Rabbi Dr. Aharon Rakeffet - YouTube

says here that R schneur kotler told him that r aaron kotler sent rav schneur to yU to learn with the rav and the Torah was incredible.

Friday, April 14, 2023

Transcending death

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Walking with the Rav: In memory of Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik - Artutz Sheva

To recognize a person means to affirm that he is irreplaceable. To hurt a person means to tell him that he is expendable, that there is no n

Dr. Itzhak David Goldberg

Apr 9, 2023, 12:21 AM (GMT+3)

Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik Dr. Itzhak David Goldberg

“...and they were walking and talking” - Elisha accompanying his mentor, the Prophet Elijah, on his last earthly walk (2 Kings 2:11 )

The walk from our home to the Maimonides School in Brookline, Massachusetts should typically take 20 minutes. Often I wanted it to last for an eternity.

It is an early spring Shabbat afternoon at 109 Colbourne Crescent in Brookline. Noses pressed against the window panes, our young children Elisha, Irit and Shlomit are watching for a glimpse of the Rav, Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveichik to appear. As he turns the corner into our street on his way from his Addington Road home to the Maimonidies School they shout, bouncing on the couch: “The Rav is coming, the Rav is coming”.

continue:

Walking with the Rav: In memory of Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik | ערוץ 7 (israelnationalnews.com)

Monday, April 10, 2023

lmof, great film but a possible error

LMOF is a great documentary. I have watched it 20 times. It’s very inspiring. But there’s a mistake or two. Here’s one of them. Rabbi JJ Schacter is talking about the Rav’s “complicated relationship with the yeshiva world” and the documentary shows a photo of the Rav with the Lub. Rebbe with whom he did NOT have a complicated relationship and who is NOT in the yeshiva world. (51:39) [Compare to 4:06 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0uF44xLM-k] They were old friends who supported one another without criticism. So this is an error. Or it seems to be. Maybe you can say that his support of the Rebbe further complicated his relationship with the yeshiva world and that's what this photo is all about. But I think you'd have to explain that to the audience. So I think it's a mistake. But that aside, wonderful film.

LMOF:

JEM:

Excerpt: The Rebbe and the Rav

Saturday, April 8, 2023

teach hebrew

In the 1948 meeting notes for the Maimonides school, we see the following:

Question was raised of teaching children Hebrew in Hebrew. Mrs. Soloveitchik pointed out that the Hebrew Dept. of the school stressed the religious content so that the Hebrew language had been neglected. However, for the past few years, the Rabbi [Soloveitchik] has asked the Hebrew teachers to use more Hebrew and great attention to the language and grammar is now being paid. (Minutes book of the Maimonides School, May 29, 1948, p. 16 in Farber, An American Orthodox Dreamer, p. 116)

Friday, April 7, 2023

18th of Nissan, 3rd day of omer - 30th yarzheit of the Rav

Motzei Shabbos to Sunday, 3rd day of chol moed in Israel, 2nd day in chutz

Some Torah from the Rav:

Tzav-1413-Soloveitchik.pdf (torahtidbits.com)

25th Yahrzeit of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik - Machshava from OU - OU Torah

Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Slavery and fear

“The slave lives in fear. He is afraid not only of those who are stronger than he or of those who have jurisdiction over him; the slave is afraid of contradicting anyone, of antagonizing even a stranger. The fear might be unjustified, but this fear is the motivating force in his life.” (An Exalted Evening, p. 23)

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

The Rav in a top-hat

Monday, April 3, 2023

Marking the 30th Yahrtzeit of Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik zt"l

THURSDAY, APRIL 13

7:00 p.m. at BMTL

(1 Rechov Asher)

Rav Moshe Lichtenstein, Rav Meyer Lichtenstein, and Rav Avishai David

THURSDAY, APRIL 20

8:00 p.m. at OYM

Rav Kenneth Brander and Rav Chaim Ilson

FRIDAY, APRIL 21

9:30 a.m. at Kehilat Nofei Hashemesh

Rav Aharon Rakefet

FRIDAY, APRIL 28

9:30 a.m. at BMTL

Rav Hershel Schachter

THURSDAY, MAY 4

8:00 p.m. at Netzach Menashe

18 רחוב ראובן

Rav Aharon Adler and Rav Dovid Miller

THURSDAY, MAY 11

8:00 p.m. at Beit Knesset Feigenson

Womens Beit Medrash Initiative

Speakers TBA

BMTL – Rechov Asher 1, Bet Shemesh, Israel 99544

Nofei HaShemesh: Rechov Sitvanit 1

Bet Haknesset Ohel Yonah Menachem 17 Shivtei Yisrael, Sheinfeld, Bet Shemesh, Israel

Netzach Menashe 18 רחוב ראובן, Bet Shemesh, Israel 99544

Beit Knesset Feigenson - Nofei Aviv 29 Hashoshan Street, Beit Shemesh, 99591, Israel

Our interest in humanity

"There are religiously committed Jews who are indifferent to the concerns of the larger non-Jewish society. They are content to reside in isolated communities with unconcern, if not actual disdain, for the Gentile world and for the problems which afflict humanity. This introversion can be explained as a reaction to the centuries-old derision and persecution which have been the Jewish historical experience and to which they were subjected with particular ferocity in modern times. Nowadays, there are particular aspects of moral perversion afflicting the general society which are repellant to Jewish sensibilities. Nevertheless, this insularity cannot be vindicated as authentic Judaism even if it can be understood and justified in particular historical periods and situations." Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Man of Faith in the Modern World, p. 73.

The Beauty of Religion

The error of modern representatives of religion is that they promise their congregants the solution to all the problems of life − an expectation which religion does not fulfill. Religion, on the contrary, deepens the problems but never intends to solve them. The grandeur of religion lies in its mysterium tremendum its magnitude and its ultimate incomprehensibility. To cite one example, we may adduce the problem of theodicy, the justification of evil in the world, that has tantalized the inquiring mind from time immemorial till this last tragic decade. The acuteness of this problem has grown for the religious person in essence and dimensions. When a minister, rabbi, or priest attempts to solve the ancient question of Job's suffering through as sermon or lecture, he does not promote religious ends, but, on the contrary, does them a disservice. The beauty of religion with its grandiose vistas reveals itself to men, not in solutions but in problems, not in harmony but in the constant conflict of diversified forces and trends.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, "Sacred and Profane", Gesher, Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 7 in Besdin, A, Reflections of the Rav, p. 224)

Ethical Values

…the religious person is given not only a duty to follow the halakha but also a value and vision. The person performing the duty seeks to realize this ideal or vision. Kant felt that the duty of consciousness expresses only a "must" without a value. He demanded a routine form of compliance, an "ought" without aiming at a value. As a soldier carries out his duty to the commanding officer, one may appreciate his service or just obey through discipline and orders. Kant's ethics are a "formal ethics", the goal is not important. For us it would be impossible to behave this way. An intelligent person must find comfort, warmth, and a sense of fulfillment in the law. We deal with ethical values, not ethical formalisms. A sense of pleasure must be gained by fulfilling a norm. The ethical act must have an end and purpose. We must become holy.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Mesorat HaRav Siddur, p. 112-3