BookEssay excursuses. The text seems to resemble R. Hayyim of Brisk’s reply to R. Isaac known as the Alter, is perhaps the a Talmudic text; the footnotes are Rashi Blaser, when the latter came to Volozhin focal figure in Making of a Godol. Rav and the excursuses are Tosafot. in an attempt to persuade the heads of Noson enables us to be party to Rav the yeshivah to introduce the study of Finkel’s mindset and temperament, to Favoring History Over Storytelling: Musar in their academy is well known. gain new insight into his achievements The book is the outgrowth of R. Blaser, in support of his position, and to suffer through his setbacks. Rav research that Reb Noson began after cited the statement of the sages: “A man Finkel was a student of Reb Yisrael’s his father died in 1986 at the age of should always incite the good impulse to disciples, and he became the leading 95. His research first resulted in the fight against the evil impulse…. If he educator and mashgiach ruchani in the MAKING OF A GODOL 1993 publication of the book Reb subdues it, well and good; if not, let him Lithuanian yeshivah world. The By Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff Yaakov: The Life and Times of HaGaon study the Torah… If he subdues it, well founder of the Slabodka Yeshiva, Rav Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, authored by and good; if not, let him…remind him- Finkel greatly inspired and influenced Yonason Rosenblum and published by self of the day of death” [Berakhot 5a]. both Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky and his The book under review has provoked a storm of controversy mainly because of its alleged affronts to the memories of Mesorah Publications. (The title page Evidently, R. Blaser emphasized, the childhood friend and study partner, some gedolim. Individuals of stature have differences of opinion as to whether the book should be condemned. Since the notes that the volume is “based on the sages preferred the effectiveness of the Arele Sislovitzer, a young orphan who book’s accuracy does not seem to be at issue, the crux of the debate revolves around the question of how to treat the research of Rabbi Noson Kamenetsky.”) remembrance of the day of death to the was named after the city of his birth. lives of gedolim. Rabbi Shimon Schwab, zt”l, while conceding that history must tell the whole truth, questioned history’s Reb Yaakov is similar to traditional study of the Torah, for do we not have The latter would subsequently gain here stated that at times occupying one- value regarding our great leaders. Rabbi Schwab maintained that while stories of gedolim that provide inspiration are of biographies published by Mesorah renown as Rabbi Aharon Kotler, the Publications as part of the ArtScroll self with Torah will not subdue the evil Kletsker rosh yeshivah and founder of value, history, which might reveal facets of their lives not in conformity with contemporary expectations of what an ideal History Series. In Making of a Godol, impulse while the remembrance of the Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, gadol should be, serves no ethical purpose. On the other hand, Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, zt”l, in a much quoted letter, however, the author takes the reader day of death will vanquish it? R. Hayyim New Jersey. pointed to Proverbs 24:16, “Seven times a tzaddik falls but rises up,” which he understood to mean that a tzaddik is not behind the scenes to experience the replied: If a person is sick we prescribe Most revelatory and enlightening for born full-blown, but precisely because he overcomes failures does he grow and emerge to greatness. challenges, tribulations, disappoint- castor oil for him. However, it is certain the contemporary student is the ments and successes of the Torah envi- that if a healthy person ingests castor oil description of the poverty, which was Rav Hutner compared the life of contemporary youth to the “movement of a ship in a stormy sea, rather than ronment in which his father spent his he will become very sick. If that vile endemic to the Lithuanian yeshivah the movement of a wagon on solid earth.” In the context of the complexity and tension of modern life, it would early years. The self-published book wretch [the evil impulse] meets you, and world. Obtaining food, clothing and seem that today’s youth can gain strength from awareness of the “falls” and the adversities—both physical and only covers the initial seventeen years if you are sound in spirit and soul, if lodging was an ongoing challenge for spiritual—gedolim faced before they achieved greatness. (This is not to say that Rav Hutner would have endorsed of Reb Yaakov’s life and concludes your consciousness and character are still newcomers to Torah institutions. Even the printing of everything that appears in the book.) with his return home from the whole and intact, occupy yourself with more difficult than the physical chal- Slabodka Yeshiva for Passover in 1908. the Torah, drag him to the study house lenges were the spiritual confrontations. Our reviewer has wisely chosen not to focus on the current controversy. Rather, recognizing the book’s value as a Making of a Godol was to be the first [see Sukkah 52b; Kiddushin 30b]. This The “isms” impacting the general comprehensive history of the Lithuanian yeshivah world, he has assessed its long-term contribution to our understand- of a multi-volume set. is the most effective and tried remedy in European community were also creat- ing of that world. The first edition of the book sold out and is currently out of print. It is expected that a second edi- Reb Noson uses his father’s early man’s ongoing battle with his evil ing havoc within the Jewish world. tion will be printed, which will elaborate on a number of passages that are open to misunderstanding —Ed. years to serve as a launching pad to re- impulse. However, if you are spiritually Concepts of social justice that spawned create a good deal of Torah history of sick, if a fit of madness has seized hold Socialism, Communism and various the nineteenth and early part of the of you, if some psychic anomaly has put subdivisions of secular Zionism all had twentieth centuries. The author very forth its diseased tendrils in your inner their adherents among the Jewish mass- sources he cites is extraordinary. What Rabbi Nathan Kamenetsky has ably creates a living tradition through world, then you must use more powerful es. It was an era in which “…she has makes the book even more attractive to proven that formal education is a detri- citations from memoir literature, his drugs, those that are designed for the felled many victims, the number of her the Talmudic scholar is the style in ment to attaining knowledge. If I am father’s recorded reminiscences and no very ill—the remembrance of the day of slain is huge” (Proverbs 7:26). The which it was written. Unlike a trained correct, Reb Noson, as he is affection- less than 357 interviews. The spiritual death. We in Volozhin, thank God, are yeshivah world was not spared these historian whose reasoning and thought ately known, is not a high school gradu- quests of Reb Yisrael Salanter, the healthy in spirit and body, are whole in challenges. Many future rabbinic lumi- process is only vaguely delineated in his ate. With the four university degrees founder of the Musar Movement in our Torah; there is no need here of castor naries had siblings and friends who left footnotes, Reb Noson reveals his that I possess, I had to keep Webster’s Lithuania, and those of his disciples are oil. If the scholars of Kelm and Kovno the fold and embraced non-Torah thought process in great detail, and the Unabridged Dictionary nearby as I pored recorded and scrutinized. Reb Noson feel compelled to drink bitter drugs—let lifestyles. Nowadays we live during a reader is led through a labyrinth of over his two-volume book, Making of a also exerted much effort to ascertain them drink to their heart’s content, but time when many are returning to their sources and theories until a conclusion Godol (Jerusalem, 2002). Even more exactly what year Reb Itzele Blaser let them not invite others to dine with Torah heritage. At the turn of the last is reached. In this book—which is a ver- impressive than his vocabulary is his attempted to introduce musar into the them [translated from the Hebrew by century, however, the trend was to itable pilpul in Jewish history—the read- extensive and far-ranging knowledge. Volozhin Yeshiva curriculum. My Lawrence Kaplan (Philadelphia, break away from family and tradition. er shares in the research and is invited to He is a master of rabbinic, cognate and rebbe, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, 1983), 75-76.] Many wished to imbibe the liberal and evaluate the author’s theories. general literature, and the range of the already publicized this incident in his Thanks to Reb Noson’s innovative supposedly refined ideas of the world Reb Noson approached his work as if philosophic magnum opus, Halakhic pen, we now have a more detailed beyond the synagogue and beit midrash. Rabbi Rakeffet-Rothkoff teaches at the it were a daf Gemara. The actual text is Man, when he recorded the dialogue account of this fascinating moment in It was particularly informative for Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Kollel 66 pages long; the rest of the 1,398- between his grandfather Rav Hayyim Lithuanian lore.