Volume 67, Issue 11

Two-Week Lecture Series Commemorates Rav’s Yahrzeit

by Tzvi Kahn 

Hundreds of Yeshiva students, faculty, and rabbinic alumni filled the Wilf Campus’s Lamport Auditorium on Tuesday, March 25 for the two inaugural lectures of Yeshiva’s formal commemoration of the tenth yahrzeit of its Rosh Yeshiva par excellence, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.  The addresses, delivered by outgoing Yeshiva President Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm and Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, Rabbi Henoch and Sarah D. Berman Chair in Talmud and director of Yeshiva’s Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Institute in Jerusalem, launched a series of shiurim, remembrances, and appreciations in Rabbi Soloveitchik’s honor by Roshei Yeshiva and university faculty that would continue for the following two weeks.

Dr. Lamm’s shiur was simulcast in real time to approximately 150 people at the Gruss Institute, while Rabbi Lichtenstein’s presentation, delivered at the Gruss Institute, was broadcast live in Lamport Auditorium via a large projector.  Both addresses were also available live via webcast at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary’s web site, www.yu.edu/riets.

Rabbi David Israel, director of the Max Stern Division of Communal Services, opened the proceedings with a short introduction, noting that the gathering served to commemorate not only Rabbi Soloveitchik but also former Yeshiva President Dr. Samuel Belkin and Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spector, the nineteenth century Torah sage after whom RIETS was named.  Rabbi Israel then introduced Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, Max and Marion Grill Dean of the Yeshiva Program/Mazer School of Talmudic Studies, who in turn introduced Rabbi Lamm.

The Yeshiva president’s lecture, drawing heavily on a vast range of rabbinic texts, focused on the role of prayer in the life of a Jewish communal server, and concluded by stressing Rabbi Soloveitchik’s emphasis on the importance of critical inquiry and independent thought.  Dr. Lamm recalled that Rabbi Soloveitchik once told him, “I don’t give you Da’as Torah. I tell you what I think.”

“Disagreeing with the Rav in Halacha was the best tribute to him possible,” said Dr. Lamm.

Though Rabbi Lichtenstein’s speech at the Gruss Institute followed Dr. Lamm’s, computer malfunctions and poor acoustics in the auditorium diminished the quality of the projector’s image and sound.  As a result, much of the audience chose to depart, leaving only a few dozen people left in the room by the time Rabbi Lichtenstein finished speaking.

Nearly all Mazer Yeshiva Program and Stone Beit Midrash Program classes, as well as many Isaac Breuer College, James Striar School, and Yeshiva College courses, were canceled that day to enable students and Roshei Yeshiva to attend the lectures.

“It’s wonderful to see the talmidim [students] of the Rav keeping his Torah alive and transmitting it to a new generation of students,” said Moshe Glasser, YC ’05.

In an interview with the Commentator, Rabbi Charlop explained that one of the purposes of the lecture series was to impress upon students the distinctiveness of the Rav’s influence on Yeshiva and the broader Jewish community.  “The singularity of these shiurim,” he said, “is conveying who the Rav was to a new generation who didn’t know him.”

According to Rabbi Charlop, the multitude and variety of speakers over the two-week memorial period provided students with a matchless opportunity to learn about Rabbi Soloveitchik and his Torah from those who knew him best.  The speakers, all students of Rabbi Soloveitchik, included Rabbis Hershel Schachter, Dr. Moshe Tendler, Menachem Genack, Yoseph Weiss, Michael Rosensweig, Mayer Twersky, Dr. Zvi Reichman, Moshe Lichtenstein, Shalom Carmy, Mordechai Willig, Yosef Blau, Yaakov Neuburger, Dr. David Shatz, Julius Berman, and Charlop himself.

“Our Roshei Yeshiva are diversified.  They’re not all of the same mold,” said Rabbi Charlop.  “The Rav produced a wide range of rabbis and academics, which is not an insignificant part of his legacy.”

The variety of topics vis-à-vis Rabbi Soloveitchik’s life and thought that the speakers addressed highlighted this diversity.  For instance, Dr. Shatz, professor of philosophy at Stern College for Women and adjunct professor of religion at Columbia, spoke about Rabbi Soloveitchik’s philosophical contributions, while Rabbi Moshe Lichtenstein, who teaches at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel, spoke about Rabbi Soloveitchik as a Parshan, or interpreter of texts.

“I think it’s really interesting to see how everyone relates to the Rav and transmits their version of him,” said Moshe Goodman, YC ’05.

To enable students at Yeshiva’s Midtown Campus to participate in the memorial, Dr. Lamm and Rabbi Moshe Lichtenstein spoke at both locations on March 26 and March 27, respectively, while Dr. Shatz and Rabbi Neuburger spoke the following week at SCW only.  In addition, all the lectures at both campuses were broadcast live over the Internet on RIETS’s website.

To coincide with Rabbi Soloveitchik’s yahrzeit, RIETS published a special edition of Chavrusa, the seminary’s official publication for rabbinic alumni, which reprinted a classic speech about loving Torah that he delivered in 1973, as well as a profile of Rabbi Soloveitchik by Rabbi Noah Goldstein, which was originally published in Chavrusa in 1983.

“We wanted to republish a couple of pieces [pertaining to Rabbi Soloveitchik] that were done in past issues of Chavrusa,” Rabbi Israel told the Commentator, “and if there are two pieces that are famous, these are it.”

The heavily publicized lecture series, which was advertised in The Jewish Week and The Jewish Press, among other publications, was sponsored by RIETS board members Helene and Moshe Tolansky.  In addition to the advertising, funds were utilized to bring Rabbi Moshe Lichtenstein from Israel, as well as to produce tapes and videos of the lectures, which will be released within the next few weeks.

“When I spoke to Moshe Tolansky, who was a student of the Rav, and told him the costs, he didn’t hesitate,” said Rabbi Charlop.  “The love of his rebbe was so strong.” ♦