Kol Hamevaser the Jewish T Hought M Agazine of the Y Eshiva University Student B Ody

KOL HAMEVASER THE JEWISH T HOUGHT M AGAZINE OF THE Y ESHIVA UNIVERSITY STUDENT B ODY

DEREKH HA-LIMMUD VOLUME X, I SSUE 1

FEATURING: Talmud Torah and Biblical Scholarship: Challenges and Oppurtunities Miriam Zami Page 6

Of Concepts and Precision: Understanding Torat Brisk Avraham Wein Page 9 Symposium: The Role of Emotions in Mitzva Observance Rabbis Carmy, Saks, and Reichman Pages 21-23

Revisiting Classical Essays: Mindy Schwartz Page 25 22 ,0-)".&7"4&3 people often confuse having an emotion emotion an having confuse often people perspective perspective on secular culture, the more we tokea acquaintances, and household pets in an an effort humanity. their demonstrate to in pets household and acquaintances, families, their of members to affection of or personalities politicians who engage in effusive business displays show of kind the by and psychologists pop by inspired the the encounter with Yom Kippur’s sunset (p. not is does this of demonstration good A he elaborate. Epicureans, and Stoics the a is and men there halakhic the that between distinction n.90) 154 (p. passing in acknowledge to compelled felt have may VKDUSHVWH[DPSOHFLWHG$OWKRXJKWKH5DY the hardly is it known, well more be might anecdote shofar the although fact, In S75). RLO FDVWRU IRU 5[ %ULVNHU WKH VHH H\H perceived H[WUHPHVRIHPRWLRQDOOLIHZLWKDMDXQGLFHG its and movement, Musar the view to men halakhic drove which outlook homo religiosus homo old-world in not Heights, Washington in synagogue the in occurred Man 1 with putting it on display.on it putting with Rav Moshe, and the Lubavitcher Lubavitcher the and father, Moshe, his Rav of anecdote well-known the other the on culture, therapeutic modern in one hand, and by the cheapening of emotion the on trends, behavioristic rationalistic by affected much is life of religious in place emotion and value the of distortion The tendencies. these resist and assess analyze, to arts, liberal the studying for reason one is That attitudes. these of mercy the at are critical a develop we less The attitudes. RIWHQXQFRQVFLRXVO\LQÀXHQFHGE\SUHYDOHQW current coursing through the universal universal the through subjective coursing surging, the current halakha against the dam in “a sees which worldview, fairly a man’s halakhic of is demonstration effective itself story forgiven The be making.) for might reader the mistake a lu Otoo Frm p. 6f Te a’ most Rav’s The of Out in is emotion on 66ff. essay philosophical sustained pp. Forum) (Orthodox Blau of emotion in the Rav’s thought, see Alex Sztuden, Sztuden, Alex see thought, Rav’s the in emotion of place the of discussion lengthy a For Whirlwind. the B The RavBetweenHalakhicMenandLachrymoseLubavitchers www.kolhamevaser.com

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See my further discussion in “The Litvak’s“The in Buried discussion further my See had no idea what the elder elder the what idea no had ; lulav signals the polar polar the signals lulav ; Volume XIssue 1 ikti Torah Likkutei Parashat Bo Parashat ). that despite his reverence for halakhic of him [Reb Velvel] that he was opposed worldview that he has idealized in Halakhic Ha-LimmudDerekh man (who is after all, no more and no less to the State of Israel. This is not correct. Man (and again in “ Mah Dodekh mi-Dod ”). than a typological distillation of his own 2SSRVLWLRQ WR D 6WDWH HPDQDWHV IURP :KLOHLQWKHHXORJ\KHJRHVRQWRH[SODLQ grandfather, father, and uncle), the Rav adopting a position regarding a political the way that he was able to conceive of the does not fully identify with him, precisely body, which is itself a political act. My modern State of Israel within a halakhic regarding his position on the role of uncle was completely removed from all framework, there can be no doubt that he emotion in life and in the service of God. socio-political thought or response. What was moved by an emotional consideration, His lifelong occupation with the matter of may be said of him is that the State found one which his hero, halakhic man, could Kiyyum she-baLev (although admittedly no place within his halakhic thought system not or would not register. present in earlier Brisker Torah) may nor on his halakhic value scale. He was reveal a desire to introduce an emotional unable to ‘translate’ the idea of a sovereign, We, too, revere halakhic men component into halakha proper. Consider secular State to halakhic properties and (and women). But when we look to role WKLV,IWKH5DYZDVDVHOILGHQWL¿HGFDUG values.” It is not that Reb Velvel was an PRGHOV EH WKH\ RI ÀHVK DQG EORRG RU carrying halakhic man could he also have anti-Zionist, per se, but that, as a halakhic philosophical typologies on a page, we authored The Lonely Man of Faith ? matter the secular State of Israel did not must take care when “cutting and pasting” register on his radar screen. Upon reaching WKHLUH[DPSOHVWRRXURZQOLYHV%\GRLQJ The Rav’s ambivalence toward the hero the disappointing conclusion that there so indiscriminately, we may be importing of Halakhic Man EHFRPHV VLJQL¿FDQW LQ was no way to integrate the State into the a characteristics which are neither effective another area when, in 1959, he revisited priori ideals of the halakha, Reb Velvel was or appropriate for ourselves; eclectic WKHKDODNKLFPDQ¿IWHHQ\HDUVDIWHUKLV¿UVW forced to retreat and ignore (not oppose) modelling if done with integrity is often appearance, by way of eulogizing his uncle, the State. At this point in his presentation, more sound. If we do not fully identify with Reb Velvel, the Brisker Rav of Jerusalem. we must pay close attention to the Rav’s Halakhic Man , and it is possible its author The eulogy, later published as “Mah words: “This disappointment led to my GLGQRWIXOO\GRVRVSHFL¿FDOO\RQWKHUROH Dodekh mi-Dod” (available in Be-Sod Ha- uncle separating himself from the most of emotion in religious life, that need not Yahid ve-haYahad ; an English translation important event in modern Jewish history dampen our commitment to “defend the is a serious desideratum), serves as an [i.e., the establishment of the State].” honor of the halakhah and halakhic men” important supplement to our understanding nor to continue striving to “penetrate into of Halakhic Man in general and the 2QFHDJDLQYHU\VXEWO\WKH5DY the essence of halakhah” (the Rav’s stated question at hand in particular (especially as admits that “after many sleepless nights” goals in composing the work; p. 137). its distance in time may make it the product he has broken with the tradition of halakhic of a more mature perspective). 1 man (and in this case, with the family’s Rabbi Jeffrey Saks, an associate editor of rejection of Zionism), and conveys that Tradition, is the founding director of ATID In addressing his uncle’s anti- he himself may not completely share the and its WebYeshiva.org program. =LRQLVP WKH 5DY H[SODLQHG ³7KH\ VDLG

1 For more on this see Jeffrey Saks, “Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on the Brisker Method ,” Tradition 33:2 (Winter 1999).

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BY RABBI HERSHEL REICHMAN

When one approaches a piece other side for another lecture or article. dominant. However, in the Rav’s other of the Rav’s writings, the reader must writings, you see that he also has a heavy EH DZDUH WKDW LQ WKDW FRQWH[W KH PD\ :LWK UHJDUG WR WKLV VSHFL¿F emphasis on the role of emotion in his not be presented with the full picture. TXHVWLRQ WKH SDUDGR[ KHUH LV EHWZHHQ religious philosophy. Particularly in Al This is because the Rav zt ʾʾ loften dealt the role of the emotion versus the role Ha-Teshuva \RX ¿QG D ORW RI HPRWLRQ ZLWK SDUDGR[HV RU ³WDUWL GHVDWUL¶V´ of the intellect, a major issue in Judaism. in the Rav’s derashot, and he talks ZKHUH WKHUH DUH WZR FRQIOLFWLQJ In Halakhic Man , the Rav emphasizes about concepts like emotional teshuva . GLVWLQFWRU SDUDGR[LFDO VLGHV 7KH 5DY the intellectual part of Judaism, and the Furthermore, in U-Vikashtem, the Rav ZDV DQ incredible thinker and teacher, shofar story accentuates the intellectual very much emphasizes the emotional and was able to describe or elaborate side very well. 7KLVVLGHRIWKHSDUDGR[ side of the search for God. one side of D SDUDGR[ LQ RQH FRQWH[W emphasizes strict observance of DQGOHDYHWKH halakha, and not letting emotion become I think most of the year the Rav Volume X Issue 1 www.kolhamevaser.com 23