Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner The Vision Before His Eyes By Matis Greenblatt n a time when ideas and indi- ing sense of humor. Perhaps his wit had a direct line to one of the most Ividuals are classified and pigeonholed permitted joy rather than stress when original personalities of l9th century into neat boxes, it is well to study the conflicts were experienced; often there Jewr y. A child prod i g y , he was taught life and thought of a towering figure was a message which became palatable by private tutors and at l5 was brou g h t who defied easy categorization. Rabbi through wit. In commenting on the to the Slabodka Yes h i v a, ren o wned for Yitzchak Hutner, zt"l whose twentieth apparent miracle of 70 scholars segre- its blend of brilliant Torah learning and yahrzeit recently passed, was associated gated into 70 separate rooms all pro- a unique brand of mu s a r , which with particular institutions (Yeshiva ducing the identical Greek translation em p h a s i z ed the greatness and grandeur Rabbi Jacob Joseph, Mesivta Rabbi of the Torah, he remarked that a of man, rather than his lowliness. Th e Chaim Berlin, Kollel Gur Aryeh, in greater miracle would have occurred founder and director of the yes h i va h America and Pachad Yitzchak and had they all been in the same room was Rabbi Noson Tzvi Finkel, known Kollel Ohr Eliyahu in Israel). But he and produced the same result. as the Alter. The Alter placed Yi t zc h a k was essentially a private individual A certain student in the yeshivah into a group of outstanding you n g who accepted official positions with was generally meticulous in his obser- men much older than he. They res e n t - reluctance. vance, but deficient in the respect he ed the intrusion of the rel a t i v e you n g - He sought to integrate many differ- gave his parents. Rav Hutner st e r , but wer e admonished by the Alter ent paths into his being. By choice remarked to him that mayim achronim for not recognizing that you n g rather than happenstance he became was not mentioned in the ten com- Yi t z chak was destined for greatness. intimate with the Chassidic worlds of mandments. A most unusual event occurred one Poland, the Lithuanian Misnagdic Shortly before Rav Hutner’s death, a Yom Kippur shortly before N’eilah world, the different segments of nurse placed a pillow under his head soon after young Yitzchak’s arrival in German Orthodox Jewry and the and asked if he was comfortable Slabodka: the bais hamedrashwas musar world in all its forms. He was (Haim noach lo?) to which he replied, brimming with bachurim and the Alter sophisticated and complex, which to “They ask me if it is Noach and I have asked Rabbi Yecheskel Burstein, later some made him appear contradictory. just about reached Lech Lecha.” Rosh Yeshiva and famed author of the Rarely mentioned was his scintillat- Rav Hutner was born in Warsaw in Divrei Yechezkel, to ascertain Yitzchak’s l906. His uncle Reb Ben Zio n mother’s name, apparently as the Alter Matis Greenblatt is the literary editor Ost r over had been a disciple of Reb wished to include him in his prayers. of Jewish Action. Mendel of Kotzk, so young Yi t zc h a k Yechezkel made his way to the other Summer 5761/2001 JEWISH ACTION side of the bais hamedrashand asked while concealing his inner self: walk- dimensionality of Rav Kook (his inte- Yitzchak his mother's name. Yitzchak ing humbly within a context of public gration of different schools and replied with characteristic independence prominence. Many years later Rav approaches) by his total mastery of that Yechezkel was only an emissary to Hutner characterized the Alter in the both the nigla (revealed) and the nistar bring the message to Yitzchak, howev- following words: Zechtsig yor dveikus (hidden) segments of Torah, by his er, he,Yitzchak himself would deliver baShem ohna hefsek (S ixty years cleav- sensitive, refined character, by his the message back to the Alter. As he ing to Has h e m without interruption). poetic nature, and by his fresh, got close to the Alter, the Alter, appar- In the spring of l925 he entered the dynamic spirituality. Rabbi Moshe ently not pleased with Yitzchak’s self- newly established Slabodka branch in Tzvi Neriyah reports that Rav Hutner assertiveness, shouted to him,”Do not Chevron where he remained until declared that “had I not met Rav come in my dalid amos”. Yitzchak l929. He established close relation- Kook I would have lacked 50% of my stood back and called out “Yitzchak ships with many of the gedolimof being.” Perhaps the most important ben Chana.” This apparent rebuff was Eretz Yisrael including Rabbis Yosef thing he learned from Rav Kook was undoubtedly a prelude to closer ties Chaim Sonenfeld, Shlomo Eliezer the need to communicate the nishmas between rebbeand talmid. Alfandri, Isser Zalman Meltzer, but HaTorah, the soul of the Torah, At an early age Rav Hutner kept a especially with Rav Avrohom Yitzchak including the whole gamut of non- diary of his inner life which he wrote Kook. Many years later he told Rabbi halachic Torah: Jewish thought, musar, in an astonishingly rich, mature, poeti- Shlomo Freifeld that the root of his kabbalah, and Chassidus. Rav Kook cally introspective style. Here is a soul was the same as that of Rav believed the failure to communicate small sample: “Six months have passed Kook’s. He was taken by the multi- this part of Torah was responsible for since I came to Slabodka. I have many of the defections from Judaism. changed much during this short period. Rav Kook used the term Hilchos Deos Life is rich in problems. The multi-col- Vchovos Halevavos, which became part ored flow, the multiplicity of contradic- of the title of Rav Hutner’s magnum tions and conflicts allow for awesome opus, Pachad Yitzchak. questions which touch the soul and In l950 Rabbi Sholom Noson burn to the depths and all of life from Raanan-Kook, the son-in law of Rav the womb to the grave ...and when I Kook, visited Mesivta Rabbi Chaim came to Slabodka all the diverse Berlin on Purim and partook in the questions and problems were upon Purim gathering in which Rabbi me...and as long as I lack an all- Hutner spoke. When it was over encompassing worldview I can- he said to Rabbi Hutner, "Techiat not become amusari.” HaK odesh ani roeh kan." (I see As he was to write much he r e a renaissance of holiness). later, the concentration on Rav Hutner beamed, apparen t l y musar required an intellectual sensing that he was fulfilling the basis and framework; similarly striving of Rav Kook. Rabbi the intellectual life without Hutner disagreed with the politi- middos and musar was inade- cal and historical views of Rav quate and untenable. Here Kook but this did not preve n t we can already see his lifelong him from gaining immeasurably search for an overarching fr om their close rel a t i o n s h i p . Rav shleimus. He spent several sem- Hutner once rem a r ked that ever y inal years in Slabodka and was person is compared to a building. deeply influenced by the famed For him the first floor was the Alter, Alter’s musar approach. Of equal and the top floor was Rav Koo k . importance was the Alter’s rela- In l929, Rav Hutner returned to tionship with his students and his Warsaw rejoining his parents whom he ability to develop the best qualities in had not seen for eight years. Rabbi each student. The Alter was totally Moshe Soloveitchik needed a teacher devoted to his students and under his for his l2 year old son Aharon. He tutelage most of the greatest roshei was impressed by the brilliant twenty yeshivah of our time developed and three year old Yitzchak, and hired him. bloomed. He also demonstrated how Yitzchak was a frequent visitor to the one could be a major public figure, Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, zt"l (1906-1980) Soloveitchik home and was so close to Summer 5761/2001 JEWISH ACTION very intense and he writes that there were many fundamentals that he understood only by virtue of having lived there. He once remarked that he could not understand the students who arrive in Eretz Yisrael and imme- diately enter a bais hamedrash. When he arrived he first traversed the entire land before he resumed his learning. Upon leaving Eretz Yisraelhe wrote that he had not experienced suffering and therefore felt he had not yet pos- sessed it. ( Eretz Yisrael, Chazal say, is acquired through suffering.) However, he wrote that when he returns in At the railroad station in Kovno, a group of Slabodkan students en route to Chevron. future years he will suffer and only The young Yitzchak Hutner is on the far right. then will he acquire the land. His words proved to be prophetic. the family that he was given the key to Dov Sha p i r o, Chaim Ozer Grod z i n s k i The young couple left in l934 for their apartment. Rav Moshe was not and Avr ohom Yi t z chak Kook. Wh e n America and did not return for 30 in Warsaw at the time and Yitzchak Rabbi Yechiel Yaa k o v Wei n b e r g years.