Chumash Mesoras HaRav, Sefer Shemos
compiled and edited by Dr. Arnold Lustiger
Reviewed by Rabbi Ari D. Kahn
Some of my fondest childhood
memories are of Shabbat meals in my parents’ home: Family and guests around the
table, food, songs - and words of Torah. My father would share Torah insights with
us – more often than not, ideas he had
heard from “The Rov.” The highlight of my father’s week was traveling to Manhattan
to participate in Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik’s weekly shiur in the Moriah synagogue. This weekly Gemara class (in which The
Rav dedicated a few minutes to the parasha)
was attended by laymen and rabbis alike, and the words of Torah, the questions,
the answers, the explanations that my father heard there and shared with us, are
the bedrock of my own learning, teaching and religious identity. Only years later
I was privileged to personally learn from The Rov, and to read and study his
writings.
A newly published work by Dr.
Arnold Lustiger reminds me of those early years, and of the glow on my father’s
face as The Rov’s words flowed from his lips to our young ears. Mesoras
HaRav is a digest of Torah commentary, ideas that The Rov either wrote or
delivered orally in different venues, and to different types of audiences, throughout
his career. Despite the fact that this work was not written by The Rov, and
despite the fact that a commentary of the Torah written by The Rov himself
would have undoubtedly been a completely different book, Dr. Lustiger’s Mesoras
HaRav is a major achievement.
The Rov was notoriously careful
with language; this was a family tradition. Had he chosen to write a commentary
on the Torah, every word, every letter, would have been weighed carefully -
first and foremost, in terms of the intended purpose and audience of such a
work. The Rov was a master of pshat,
drash, homiletics, midrash, philosophy and philology (in fact, students who
sat in his classroom sensed that the Rov has mastered all of Judaism); had he
chosen to focus on any one or more of these aspects of the Torah, the result
would no doubt have been magnificent, breathtaking. Furthermore, The Rov had
the unique ability to communicate with audiences that spanned the entire
spectrum of age, affiliation and background. Whatever audience he might have
chosen to address, any and all readers on this spectrum would have benefitted.
But alas, the Rov did not leave
us with such a commentary on the Torah, neither a complete nor even an
incomplete opus. Thus, the purists, the “real” students, the “Rovaphiles”
will have ample room to criticize Dr. Lustiger’s work for what it is not: It surely is not what The Rov or any of those
attempting to imitate or recreate his style would have written. In a sense, though,
the fact that Dr. Lustiger is not among that innermost circle of The Rov’s
students may be an advantage: Mesoras HaRav is not limited to sentences
that The Rov himself would have penned. Instead, Dr. Lustiger attempts to share
a glimpse into the thought of Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik with a new
generation. What emerges is a compilation, smatterings of many things the Rov
said and wrote; and even if it is uneven, it is nonetheless, magnificent.
A new generation has arisen, a
generation that “does not know Yosef.” This generation does not sit in his
daily Gemara shiur, his weekly Chumash
shiur or his mesmerizing public classes and lectures. This new generation
cannot aspire, as did every serious yeshiva student for decades, to reach the
level required to join The Rov’s Gemara shiur. Today’s Orthodox Jewish
community will not experience the sunburst of intellectual and spiritual energy
that previous generations enjoyed at The Rov’s annual Yahrziet and Teshuva drashot. This generation will have no
firsthand acquaintance with The Rov’s well-crafted lectures or the uplifting messages
they conveyed, nor will they know the awe and wonder that earlier students felt
when they came face to face with The Rov’s breathtaking process and methodology
of learning. Although more and more of The Rov’s recorded shiurim are making
their way to the internet in digital form and there is an ever-growing library
of publications based on his teachings, many of these are far beyond the grasp
of those not on the highest levels of Torah scholarship. Some of these
publications treat topics so specific and with such erudition that they are
esoteric; others, although they address broader topics, require the layperson
to keep both a dictionary and encyclopedia close at hand in order to understand
the words and follow the references.
Mesoras HaRav is different,
accessible. Again, the purists may complain: The work is uneven, collected from
many different lectures and articles, cobbled together from sources that differ
in purpose, audience, topic and methodology. The eclectic nature of the sources
is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Despite the disparity of its sources,
the book is cogent, and should be seen as a reflection of The Rov’s vast
knowledge, of the different topics he tackled and the different ways he would
approach the same topic. Many of the Rov’s own writings do not lend themselves
to the creation of a running commentary on the Torah. Long essays in which The
Rov laid out critical elements of his philosophy, such as the delineation
of “Adam I” and “Adam II,” cannot easily
be harvested for micro-comments on specific Torah verses. Such essays, although
they elucidate central components of the Rov’s weltanschauung, are often too unwieldy to be used as primary
sources for Mesoras HaRav and the reader must suffice with small samples
from such a monumental work.
Some suggestions: In my opinion,
more footnotes are needed. Occasionally, thematic connections or overarching
ideas are expressed in several independent comments, but no connection is made,
either between the sources from which these ideas are drawn or between the comments
themselves. When a particular idea or theme is illustrated through various
different verses, it would be useful to note that each independent comment is
part of a larger whole; each verse expresses a larger idea in its own way, but
all are related. For example: The Rov taught, in numerous lectures and to
different audiences, that at one point Moses had actually given up hope in the
redemption of the Jewish People, and had taken up permanent residence (or so he
thought) in Midian. In Mesoras HaRav, the commentary to each relevant
verse illustrates this idea, but at no point do the comments on individual
verses refer to any of the other verses that deal with this topic. An
introductory section would do much to help the reader identify and understand
such concepts as they are applied or expressed in the remainder of the work. Alternatively,
an index and cross-referencing in the footnotes would allow the reader to gain
a wider view of The Rov’s treatment of this recurring theme, and would
alleviate much of the perceived repetitiveness. Moreover, although it is not
unusual for a single source, a single lecture or article written by The Rov, to
lie behind Mesoras HaRav’s commentary to many disparate and far-flung
verses, the reader is generally given no indication of this connection.
While this is not a book the Rov
wrote -- or would have written -- it is a book that reminds me of those Shabbat
meals with family, when my father shared The Rov’s Torah with us. Those early
lessons led me, and both of my brothers, to attend The Rov’s shiur, and led our
entire family to a deeper knowledge and experience of Judaism. Some of the
ideas I first heard at my parents’ Shabbat table appear in print for the first
time in Mesoras HaRav. The citation reads “Moriah,” where my father
attended those weekly shiurim years ago. Each time I see that citation, a smile
comes to my face as I recall the question my father raised at the table or the
answer he relayed. Occasionally, I can recall only one or the other; now,
thanks to Dr. Lustiger, they have come together.
Mesoras HaRav is valuable
in and of itself, as it transmits hundreds of The Rov’s insights and
explanations. If it spurs the reader to further inquiry and investigation, if
it leads the reader to seek out the primary sources – The Rov’s original essays
or recordings of his classes or lectures - perhaps this generation who “do not know
Yosef” will at the very least “see his back” and understand the profound
privilege my generation enjoyed: We had a Torah colossus in our midst, an accessible
and inspiring source of Torah tradition and innovation. I applaud Dr. Lustiger
for his efforts and look forward to the publication of future volumes that will
allow a new generation to bring The Rov to their table and inspire children and
adults alike.
Rabbi Ari Kahn is a student of Rav Soloveitchik, he is author
of numerous books including a series on the Torah called “Echoes of Eden”.
