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October 1989

The Three Fundamentals of Contemporary Orthodox Judaism (1989)

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

Article

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

Speech

The Who, What, and Where of the Rabbinate (1998)

In greeting you on our last Chag ha-Semikha of this troubled century, and on the 50th anniversary of the State of Israel, permit me to share with you some thoughts as to your role in a future that is, at one and the same time, both frightening and beckoning. To help you in your transition from a relatively cloistered existence in the Bet Midrash and college classroom to that varied and oft fearsome “outside world,” allow me to turn practical and offer you some thoughts on the “who,” “what,” and “where” of your developing careers, (The “when” is obvious – Now – and requires no elaboration.) And while I address you as pulpit rabbis, those of you going into education or allied fields, simply apply my words to your own context. The “Who” consists of your relationships with your “baalebatim,” your lay people, whether congregants, pupils, parents, board members, etc. Many of you have expressed apprehension, during the sessions I have had with you as Semikha I and Semikha IV students, as to how to deal with the myriad of problems a rabbi has to contend with. I sympathize with you. We at Yeshiva hardly expect you to be full-fledged posekim and accomplished experts in human relations from the moment that you are placed in your first or even second position. But your “baalebatim” do not know and perhaps do not want to know this, and so you must be prepared with some guidelines even as you expect to learn much “on the job.”Of the many things that ought to be on your agenda regarding your “baale-batim,” let me mention three.The first obligation of a Rabbi is cbessed—loving-kindness, care, generosity. I must repeat what the Rav, of blessed memory, would always caution us about. He would tell us what his grandfather, R. Hayyim Brisker, told his son—the Rav's father and predecessor here at Yeshiva, R.Moshe Soloveitchik—when the latter was about to leave for his first “shtelle”: “Listen to me, Moshe: a Rabbi must not only know 'how to learn'; the test of a Rabbi is if he practices…
The Rabbinate