Should My Son Be a Rabbi? (1960)

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How to be a Rabbinic Baalebus (2005)

Ten Commandments – some of which apply to all laymen, and some specifically to non-functioning Rabbis: 1. Respect your Rabbi’s authority. There is a decided difference between your היתר הוראה and his status as מורה הוראה; it is akin to the difference between taking out a marriage license and being married. He, not you, has the obligation and the authority to pasken. He is your רב, and neither your סברא nor your לימוד nor your appeal to higher authority (such as your Rosh Yeshiva) will outweigh his authority. Respect it – and him! The fact that you have המי כהן is no excuse to be מבטל מצות צדקה. That is especially so if you become an officer or otherwise attain prominence in the shul. You may be the shul president – yes, but how shall you behave? From מי שטר ארץ עד מי שטר גארג'י שטר אמערץ – מצוות מא תעשה. Don’t act disrespectfully towards your Rabbi. For instance, don’t walk out – especially not demonstratively – when he begins his דרשה. And don’t, please don’t, look into a מפרש while he’s speaking. It’s not only discourteous – it’s also arrogant. Always try to improve his financial status and security. Rabbis – unlike businessmen or other professionals – are always shy about discussing money with their congregants. So, do it for him. And if he’s making more than you are – so what? Who’s to say that his labors are worth less than yours? Remember what חז"ל said

The Rabbinate

The Makings of a Ben Torah (1983)

To be a rabbi, one must first of all be a ben Torah. What or who is a ben Torah? The translation, “a scholar of the Torah,” does not do the term justice – it is far too restrictive. A better definition would be “a Torah person” – bearing in mind that one cannot truly be a “Torah person” without first being an accomplished Torah scholar. What, then, are the extra ingredients, beyond talmudic learning, that go to make up a Torah person, a Torah personality? Someone once said that education is what a person has left after he has forgotten all that he has learned. Applying this to a ben Torah, we might then ask what distinguishes a ben Torah from others after you have subtracted all that he has learned of Talmud Bavli and Yerushalmi, of Rashi and Tosafot, of Rishonim and Acharonim, of Rambam and Ramban, of Tur and Shulchan Aruch, of Shach and Taz, of R. Hayyim and R. Akiva Eger. Remove all that and ask: What makes (or should make) us different and special? What, in other words, are the attitudinal foundations that inform the mentality of a ben Torah? The most obvious and the primary answer is that a Torah person loves and esteems the Torah and Torah learning. So, if a ben Torah forgets all that he has learned, his first task is—to learn it all over again. “For [the words of Torah] are our life and the length of our days” (Siddur). Inscribed in the cornerstone of our yeshiva is the principle that R. Hayyim of Volozhin cemented 180 years ago in the foundation of his yeshiva, Yeshivat Etz Hayyim, the mother of all yeshivot since. This mishnaic dictum, v'talmud Torah k’negged kulam—the study of Torah outweighs all other commandments—is to be taken not quantitatively, but functionally. The study of Torah is not only greater than the sum of all the other commandments; it is their very source. Torah is the “tree of life“; all the other commandments are the branches of that tree. Accordingly, the study of Torah is the source of all Jewish life. That is why your overarching co…

The Rabbinate