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Letters

Palo Alto’s Torah Couple from an impeccable source. This indi- cates nothing about the validity of cus- Jewish Action  Knowing some of the wonderful toms that do not clash with other THE MAGAZINE OF THE ORTHODOX UNION people who live in Palo Alto, it was halachic principles. www.ou.org/jewish_action with great interest that I read Chana 2. The article cites Abraham Stoler’s “Torah Comes to Silicon Val- Isaac Hakohen Kook’s and Rabbi Editor ley” (winter 2010). While the article Joseph Ber Soloveitchik’s common in- Nechama Carmel did a wonderful job describing the [email protected] terpretation of Berachot 28b regarding Torah infrastructure in the Bay Area, it Literary Editor the adding of a nineteenth blessing to fell short in one regard. Other than a Matis Greenblatt the Amidah as an illustration of the passing reference to the rosh , the Assistant Editor idea that “those who institute new author failed to acknowledge the enor- Anna Sanders practices must perform the entire mous contribution of Rabbi Avi Contributing Editors process with only the purest of inten- Lebowitz, an individual who is recog- Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein tions.” This formulation misses the Dr. Judith Bleich nized by many as a major draw to essential thrust of both Rav Kook and Rabbi Emanuel Feldman the area. Rav Soloveitchik. For them, the issue Rabbi Hillel Goldberg A musmach of Ner Rabbini- Rabbi Joseph Grunblatt is not innovation per se but the spe- cal College in , Rabbi Rabbi Sol Roth cific nature of this innovation. They Lebowitz is always ready to serve the Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter both stress how creating this berachah Rabbi Berel Wein needs of the community. In addition presented a bigger problem than Advertising Director to delivering a 5:30 A.M. daf yomi shiur other berachot. Most of our prayers Carrie R. Beylus • 212.613.8226 and numerous other shiurim, Rabbi beseech God for compassion, yet this [email protected] Lebowitz is an expert in halachah, novel blessing pleads with God to de- Advertising Coordinator and his opinion is regularly sought by Malka Braun stroy others. Such a blessing can re- rabbanim across the country. His wife, [email protected] lease all kinds of feelings of violence Rebbetzin Fia, is similarly dedicated Israel Advertising Representative and hatred that do not befit a noble to the needs of the community. In ad- Lisa Rubin • 972.54.721.1968 religious personality. Therefore, we dition to raising six children, she reg- Subscriptions needed Shmuel HaKatan, someone 212.613.8146 ularly organizes community events with the purest motivations, to com- and teaches popular classes. The resi- Design pose the berachah. The standard of KZ Creative dents of Palo Alto are indeed fortu- purity needed for other innovations nate to have the Lebowitzes in might be quite different. their community. O R T H O D O X U N I O N 3. Much of the article parallels the ZEV CINAMON discussion in the first section of Executive Vice President Rabbi Steven Weil Cedarhurst, New York Rabbi Schachter’s Nefesh HaRav. In both, Rabbi Schachter heavily em- Executive Vice President, Emeritus Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb phasizes the themes of mesorah, con- More on Mesorah Senior Communications Officer tinuity, and religious conservatism, David Olivestone  Rabbi Hershel Schachter’s contri- themes undeniably part of Rav bution to the symposium on mesorah Soloveitchik’s thought. Conversely, (winter 2010) exhibits his usual great Rabbi Schachter downplays ideas President Dr. Simcha Katz erudition and lucid presentation. I central to the Rav, such as creativity, believe that a few of the nuances singularity, and individualism. Two Chairman of the Board Stephen J. Savitsky need reformulation. representative samples from the 1. The article suggests that to have Rav’s oral discourses follow: Chairman, Board of Governors Mark Bane validity, customs must be instituted by I rejoice in being alone and individ- “God-fearing scholars whose every ac- ualistic. If I am found wanting, then my Publications Commission Gerald M. Schreck, Chairman tion is done for the sake of heaven.” A achievements may very well be incon- Joel M. Schreiber, Chairman Emeritus footnote refers to Magen Avraham, siderable. However, if I am a pygmy, at OH 690:22. The Magen Avraham ad- least I am a pygmy who possesses the © Copyright 2011 by the Orthodox Union. dresses when we say “minhag oker ha- Eleven Broadway, New York, NY, 10004. Divine Image. I must chart my own Telephone 212.563.4000 • www.ou.org lachah,” a discussion regarding course. Our sages refer to Avraham as Periodicals Postage Paid, New York, NY, customs that may violate halachic the “only one” (Sanhedrin 93a) because and at additional mailing offices. principles. In such instances, we he was unique and paved a new way for Printed in Canada should certainly only accept customs mankind. I am always attracted to

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those Gedolei Yisrael who charted new the case, the ruling would not be must have pure origins. This is a re- courses. The same is true in my rela- “against his brothers.” current theme in the Netziv’s writ- tionship with institutions. I am im- Rabbi Schachter has contributed ings, in which the Magen Avraham fits pressed by institutions that are much toward preserving the Rav’s nicely despite the limited context of pacesetters and innovative (Aaron Rak- Torah. Nonetheless, aspects of his his remarks. effet-Rothkoff, The Rav, p. 227). presentation require added nuance, Rav Soloveitchik pointed out on This is also true of my counseling my and some merit alteration. various occasions that our religion does students. I receive many such questions. not approve of the “ceremonialism” RABBI YITZCHAK BLAU I would never give them a yes or no an- Alon Shevut, Israel that was picked up from Christianity. A swer. I just explain the alternatives and minhag may be labeled a minhag shtut, what is involved. One course of action a purely ceremonial act, if it does not may produce one result, and another Rabbi Hershel represent a fulfillment (kiyum) of some course may produce a second result. The Schachter Responds . The whole idea of one volun- decision belongs to the boys. I resent tarily fulfilling a mitzvah in which he is very much that certain roshei yeshivah  Rabbi Blau correctly points out that not obligated is to demonstrate one’s and certain teachers want to impose much of the discussion in my article love for Hashem. How does one their will on the boys. It is against the parallels the essay on mesorah in my demonstrate that he loves his parents law. Both ways are correct, the options book Nefesh HaRav. He feels that the or his spouse? By volunteering to do are correct, and it is up to the individual ideas of creativity, singularity, and indi- something that he knows will make to make the decision (The Rav, p. 237). vidualism, which are so central to Rav them happy. One view in the Talmud The first citation clearly conveys Soloveitchik’s thinking, sometimes got ( 23a) is that the binding force that the Rav did not expect rabbanim to lost in my presentation. However, the for all rabbinic mitzvot is the verse in purely copy the ideas of their teachers. very next essay in Nefesh HaRav, Ha’azinu (Devarim 32:7): “Ask your fa- The second reveals that the Rav was which is entitled “Vehalachta ther, and he will show you; your elders, against deciding important per- Bidrachav,” dwells at length on those and they will tell you.” This verse is not sonal questions for students. Both em- very concepts. They are also reflected counted as one of the 613 mitzvot. How phasize singularity and individual in the beginning of the second section can it possibly serve as the source for responsibility, themes that sometimes of my article where I quote midrashim the binding effect of rabbinic mitzvot? get lost in Rabbi Schachter’s presenta- that Hashem appreciates chiddushei The explanation that is usually given is tion. Appreciating these concepts leads Torah and that there is not a day in that all rabbinic mitzvot, as well as min- to a different perspective on the Rav’s which Hashem does not innovate some hagim, are expressions of the ahavat thought. For example, the Rav’s atti- new halachah in the heavenly court. Hashem in which we are commanded tude toward Zionism differed sharply Rabbi Blau quotes the Rav in his in Keriyat Shema. One way to demon- from his family tradition. Rabbi address to the Mizrachi as stating that strate that love is going above and be- Schachter explains that this was not a his position on Zionism was a devia- yond what Hashem commanded us by move away from family mesorah since tion from his family tradition. My un- following the spirit of the law in ways the times and situation changed (Ne- derstanding is that the Rav believed not mandated by the letter of the law. fesh HaRav, pp. 23-24). This presenta- that Rav Chaim himself would also In this way we will (kivyachol) make tion implies that Rav Soloveitchik did have changed his position had he wit- Hashem happy. But how can we deter- not truly differ from his grandfather; nessed the Holocaust and the estab- mine what is the spirit of the law? they simply faced different situations. lishment of the Medinah. This is The Talmud quotes the verse in However, the Rav said in an address at exactly what he meant when he said Ha’azinu: Ask the elders, the rabbis a Mizrachi convention: that hashgachah ruled in favor of the who have a broad perspective of Torah, If I now identify with the Ramban, that we should establish a and they will be able to determine Mizrachi, against my family tradi- medinah and all move to Eretz Yisrael. what is in accordance with the spirit of tion, it is only because, as previously Yes, the Rav after the war disagreed the law. Minhagim which have no rec- clarified, I feel that Divine Provi- with what Rav Chaim held before the ognized rabbinic approval are cere- dence ruled like “Joseph” and war. Had Rav Chaim lived after the monies and represent a problem of bal against his brothers; that He em- war he would also have disagreed with tosif (see the introduction to my sefer ploys secular Jews as instruments to his pre-war position. MiPninei HaRav, page 11, and my sefer bring to fruition His great plans re- Rabbi Blau correctly notes that the Nefesh HaRav, pages 24-25). garding the land of Israel (The Rav Magen Avraham, quoting Masechet Rabbi Blau is correct that the Rav Speaks, p. 36). Sofrim, only states that we must reject and Rav Kook were speaking about a Since the Rav speaks of Divine customs that were not instituted with specific innovation, but his implication Providence ruling “against his broth- rabbinic approval when those customs that other innovations do not require ers,” he clearly does not assume that contradict halachah. The Netziv, how- purity of heart is incorrect. People ac- his own shift in affiliation would be en- ever, whom I quoted both earlier and quire attitudes from a wide variety of dorsed by his ancestors given the later in the article, makes the broader sources, many of them antithetical to changed circumstance. Had that been point that all original innovations Torah values. writes on Shemot

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28:4: “And my heart leads me to under- call for different strategies and tactics. stand…” In Yiddish folklore they point How he conducted his battle for Ju- out that this comment of Rashi is prob- daism in his time is not germane to the lematic. How is he allowed to follow ways we conduct ours today. Were he the dictates of his heart? Don’t we read living in late twentieth-century , in Keriyat Shema: “V’lo taturu acharei I dare say he would agree that the black l’vavchem, One should not follow the robe was imitative of non-Orthodox dictates of his heart”? practices and certainly of non-Jewish The answer given is that Rashi felt practices. (Interestingly, some that he had fulfilled the instructions of Hirschian students claim that the Ger- Mishlei (3:3): “Katveim al luach man government required religious libechah, Write [the words of Torah] on leaders to wear some kind of robe, and your heart.” If one is steeped in piety that the choice was not Hirsch’s alone.) and his heart is entirely shaped by the As for changes in Jewish practice, Torah, then the Torah speaks from his within certain parameters halachah heart, and we can be certain that his in- moves with the times, and there is de- novations will certainly be in accor- velopment and subtle change in ha- dance with the spirit of the Torah (see lachic practice over the centuries—all Nefesh HaRav, p. 43). One whose heart within the framework of Jewish law. is not that pure, and is not that steeped But first and foremost, as I pointed out in Torah, may unleash with his innova- in my essay, these always evolve with tion of a new minhag all kinds of im- the approval of the posekim of any given proper values. generation. Here, too, different times require different approaches for the preservation of Torah and halachah. As  I enjoyed reading the different per- Dr. Katz himself realizes, this subject is spectives on “Preserving the Mesorah nuanced and subtle, and requires a full in Changing Times” (winter 2010). discussion of its own. However, I would like to point out a Regarding “blind adherence to few things. Rabbi Emanuel Feldman mesorah”: the point of my essay was eloquently explained why he would not that consultation with posekim is the wear a black robe when he officiated on sine qua non of what constitutes meso- Shabbat. Nevertheless, it is well known rah. The metzitzah b’peh as well as the that Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch did pre-nuptial issues involved serious ha- just that. lachic issues which needed resolution, Additionally, none of the contribu- and had nothing to do with blind adher- tors discuss the flip side of the coin: ence to mesorah. In any case, I suspect that blind adherence to mesorah can be that Dr. Katz would agree that—if one counterproductive. Witness how long it must choose—adherence to the meso- took for even the most “modern” rah of the Jews, blind or not, is to be branches of Orthodoxy to agree to pre- preferred over adherence to the non- nuptial agreements to prevent agunot, Jewish standards of any given time.  or the difficulty of eliminating the un-

healthful practice of metzitzah b’peh in

, . . certain communities.   Correction   BEN Z. KATZ, MD   Chicago, Illinois In a letter that appeared in the Carrie Beylus spring issue of Jewish Action, it

was implied that Daniel Renna, Rabbi Emanuel Feldman who was profiled in these pages, Responds did not attend yeshivah. This is incorrect. Daniel attended Hillel Lisa Rubin  I thank Dr. Katz for the opportunity Day School in Deal, New Jersey, to clarify certain points in my essay. for both elementary and high Whether or not Rav Hirsch wore a school. Subsequently, he at- black robe (he also wore a large black tended University. We yarmulke) in nineteenth-century Ger- regret the error. many is rather irrelevant for twentieth- century America. Different battlefields

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