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1980

לבעיות הדרשן והדרש המודרניים (1980)

The Rabbinate
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Ideas for Chag Hasemicha (1989)

The address should consist of a kind of manifesto of Yeshiva University's philosophy of the rabbinate. It should include the primacy of Torah; Torah U'Madda; the ideal of service to the community; the combination of commitment and open mindedness, loyalty to Orthodoxy and Outreach to the non-Orthodox community, dedication to our own religious growth and the spiritual and well-being of others. Included in this, should be a statement on the combination of a sense of responsibility to Torah (and, hence, the careful consultation with Roshei Yeshivah and older colleagues on important questions) together with the assumption of one's own professional, spiritual, and halakhic responsibility. Speak about Rav Chaim Volozhener's teaching of intellectual independence, and how he learned this from the Gaon, and how he even used it in refusing to go along with the Gaon's fulminations against Hasadism. In this connection, two of my greatest recollections of Rabbi Soloveitchik are: when he scolded me in class (see my Introduction to the two volume Soloveitchik Festschrift) and when I asked him about the Manhattan eruv, he told me to go figure it out myself and do what I think is right.
The Rabbinate

Book

The Spirit of the Rabbinate (2010)

The Rabbinate today has fallen upon hard times. In the last year or two, there have appeared a number of articles announcing the imminent demise of the Rabbinate, one of the greatest of Jewish religious institutions. Its functions have been taken over, one by one, by others – the Roshei Yeshivah and the professors, the fundraisers and the social workers – and the Rabbi has become a vestigial functionary, a charming anachronism. Sooner or later, the community will manage very well without him, perhaps devising some other functionary to preside over synagogue services. Now, I do not wish to address myself specifically to this question of the future of the Rabbinate. "I am neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet." Besides, the Talmud makes some un-flattering remarks about those who pretend to the mantle of the seer. Furthermore, our loyalty to Torah unquestionably tran-scends our loyalty to the Rabbinate, and if Judaism can get along without professional Rabbis in the future —as it has in the past — so be it. I may be sad at such morbid prospects, but not crushed.’ This particular address was not delivered at a Chag HaSemikhah, as are the others in this volume. What follows is adapted from an address at the Anglo-Jewish Preachers Conference held in Manchester in 1968, and was published by the Conference.However, I honestly do not believe the grim prognosis. As Mark Twain once said, upon reading an announcement of his death in the morning newspapers, "I have read my obituary and believe it is much exaggerated."It is, of course, true that the Rabbinate is in trouble —and it is in greater trouble in Israel than in the English-speaking countries (although I shall confine my remarks to our communities in the Diaspora). 1 believe we have slipped into a rut, but we are not lost. We are in many ways stricken, but not irreversibly. 1 submit that we still can recapture our commanding role as spiritual leaders and effective guides if we bestir ourselves —before it is too lat…
The Rabbinate

Outline

The Three Fundamentals of Contemporary Orthodox Judaism (1989)

It is accepted as a given today that the three fundamental institutions of Orthodox Judaism are Shabbat, Kashrut, and Taharat Ha-Mishpaha. These are the three items we generally set before ourselves as our goals in convincing people to return to Judaism, the criteria by which we measure a person's Orthodoxy, and even the three major items to which we introduce potential converts. What is the source for specifically this collection of three items? The answer is – I do not know. I do not believe there is a text which can support specifically these three as being of over-arching importance. After all, there are a host of mitzvot – from Talmud Torah to Yom Kippur, etc. – which can claim priority. Wherefrom, then, this three-fold emphasis?I suggest that the source is not a text, but that it corresponds to and is based upon a human-psychological reality.It is well-known that the three major instinctual drives in man are: sex, food, and power.Hence, sex is circumscribed and sublimated by Taharat Ha-Mishpaha; food is limited and orientated by Kashrut; and the lust for power is curbed and directed by the laws of Shabbat which force us to relinquish our supremacy and control over mute nature and over our fellow humans (thus, le'maan yanuah avdekha...)
The Rabbinate