Eulogy for Rav Soloveitchik (1993)
Surely, such a prince and such a giant, who became a legend in his own lifetime, deserves an appropriate eulogy. I therefore begin with a confession: I feel uncomfortable and totally inadequate in the role of one delivering a eulogy for my rebbe, the Rav. Only one person could possibly have done justice to this task, and that is – the Rav himself; everyone and anyone else remains a maspid she'lo ke’halakhah – “one who eulogizes without authorization.” Nevertheless, we owe it to him to try our best. And so I ask your—and his—forgiveness at the very outset.The Rav departed from us on the exact same day that, 17 years ago, we lost Dr. Samuel Belkin z.l., the late President of Yeshiva University, and the Rav eulogized him from this very podium on the day that he himself would be interred, erev the last days of Pesach. He referred to him then in the words of the Hagadah, as arami oved, a “wandering Aramean,” and paraphras- ed that as a “wandering Litvak,” who as a youngster was forced from his native town and took the wanderer’s staff to these shores all by himself.Unlike Dr. Belkin, the Rav was not a wandering Aramean. He was not orphaned at an early age. On the contrary, he had the advantage of a stable, aristocratic home, of encouraging and even doting parents. He was heir, at birth, to a distinguished lineage—the bet ha-Rav, that of R. Moshe, R. Hayyim Brisker, the Bet Halevi, the Netziv, back to R. Hayyim Volozhiner.His genius was recognized while he was still in the crib. At age 6, his father had hired a melamed to come to the house to teach him. The tutor was a Lubavitcher Hasid who taught him Tanya without asking leave of his parents. He learned it so well, that his father was shocked and fired the melamed. . . (His affection for Habad, however, would remain with him to the end.) He then became a disciple of his own father—demanding, challenging, and critical, yet approving and proud.At the age of 10 he presented his father with his written Torah hiddushim. His …
