Update on the Insults: A Battle Over a Book: Haym Soloveitchik v. Talya Fishman

Our once-upon-a-time teacher at Yeshiva University has panned a new book about rabbinic cultural development.

It's a veritable battle over a book, Haym Soloveitchik v. Talya Fishman.

The book is Becoming the People of the Talmud: Oral Torah as Written Tradition in Medieval Jewish Cultures (Jewish Culture and Contexts).

The review by Haym is locked away to subscribers only at the Jewish Review of Books. We infer from hearsay and from the rejoinder that it is quite negative.

Fishman is busy issuing several rejoinders to the review, the first part is here - Response to Haym Soloveitchik “The People of the Book: Since When?” in Jewish Review of Books, Winter 2012, pp. 14-18.

She starts off, "Reading Professor Soloveitchik’s remarks, I was unable to recognize the book that I wrote." She then makes a methodical case for the inaccuracies and errors of Haym's review.

How Peter Salovey is related to Rav J. B. Soloveitchik

In a comment to a Yale Daily News story, Peter Salovey, president of Yale explained his relationship to Rav Soloveitchik. (Hat tip to Billy.)

My Friends,

Here's how the family tree grows, as I understand it:

First there was Joseph Ha-Levi Soloveitchik of Slobodka and Kovno. He had a son Isaac. Isaac had two sons, Moses and Abraham. Moses had a son, Joseph, who was the rabbi of Kovno and was married to the daughter of Chaim Volozhin. Joseph had two sons, Isaac Zeev and Elijah Zevi. Isaac Zeev was the father to Joseph Ber (Beis Ha-Levi). His son was Chaim Brisker whose sons included Velvele Brisker and Moses. Moses was the father of The Rav, Joseph Dov (Ber) Soloveitchik.

Meanwhile, back to Elijah Zevi. He had a son Simcha (The Londoner), who had a son Zalman Yosef, who had a son Yitzchak Lev (Isaac Louis, my grandfather, who changed the name from Soloveitchik to Salovey when he immigrated to this country from Jerusalem), who had a son Ronald (Azreal), who fathered three children, one of them me!

So, my great-great-great grandfather (Elijah Zevi) and Joseph Dov (Ber) Soloveitchik (The Rav)'s great-great grandfather were brothers.

That should clear things up, no?

My sources for this are the Encyclopedia Judaica; Shulamith Soloveitchik Meiselman's excellent book, The Soloveitchik Heritage: A Daughter's Memoir; and family legend.

Thanks for the interest in my family.

Warmly,

Peter Salovey

Is Yale President Peter Salovey Jewish?

Yes, Yale President Peter Salovey is a Jew. He is also a psychology professor, a bluegrass musician (see article) and a cousin of my rabbinic teacher, Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Hat tip to Billy for bringing this to our attention. Here is an article from the Yale Daily News that describes the president's rabbinic relationships.

Salovey’s rabbinic legacy
BY AHRON SINGER

In 19th-century Europe, a Rabbinic dynasty arose that would change the face of Orthodox Jewry and the face in Woodbridge Hall. The dynasty’s name would become synonymous with both brilliance and leadership — the Soloveitchiks. Since the mid-19th century, each generation of the Soloveitchik family has produced, and continues to produce, distinguished scholars and important spiritual leaders.

The family traces its origins to Chaim of Volozhin (1749-1821), founder of the Volozhin Yeshiva, a new and ambitious model in Jewish education, which effectively centralized and internationalized the Jewish academy. The academy endures as a model for present-day ultra-Orthodox institutions. Chaim Soloveitchik, his great-grandson, went on to become one of the greatest Talmudic scholars of the 19th century, renowned for his highly analytical, innovative and strict teaching of Jewish law, known as the Brisker method. His religious philosophy was profoundly insular, thriving in the isolated Jewish communities of Eastern Europe.

The most well-known of these great Rabbis was perhaps Chaim Soloveitchik’s grandson, Joseph B. Soloveitchik, the former dean of Yeshiva University. His influence remains so immense that in some circles he continues to be referred to as simply “The Rav” (The Rabbi). He holds a place as the intellectual inspiration of the Modern Orthodox movement for his work on Torah Umadda — the synthesis of traditional Jewish law and secular knowledge.

Is Philosophy Jewish?

No, philosophy is not Jewish. Philosophy originated in ancient pagan Greece. The practice of philosophy is not at all Jewish. In fact we believe philosophy is antithetical to both biblical and Talmudic modes of thought.

Yes, prominent Jews have written philosophical books, including Maimonides, Rav Soloveitchik and our dad. Rabbi Dr. Zev Zahavy wrote a wonderful book about cosmology and religious philosophy called Whence and Wherefore. If you haven't bought a copy yet, do so today.

An article by Jim Holt that our dad would have liked appeared today, "What Physics Learns From Philosophy" also titled "Physicists, Stop the Churlishness" on NYTimes.com.

It begins in a rather adversarial manner:

A KERFUFFLE has broken out between philosophy and physics. It began earlier this spring when a philosopher (David Albert) gave a sharply negative review in this paper to a book by a physicist (Lawrence Krauss) that purported to solve, by purely scientific means, the mystery of the universe’s existence. The physicist responded to the review by calling the philosopher who wrote it “moronic” and arguing that philosophy, unlike physics, makes no progress and is rather boring, if not totally useless. And then the kerfuffle was joined on both sides.

On “Reflections on the Influence of the Rov on the American Jewish Religious Community” by Dr. Tovah Lichtenstein

Notes by Tzvee Zahavy on "Reflections on the Influence of the Rov on the American Jewish Religious Community" by Dr. Tovah Lichtenstein

Dr. Tovah Lichtenstein, the daughter of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (the Rov) wrote an essay, "Reflections on the Influence of the Rov on the American Jewish Religious Community." (TRADITION 44:4, 2011, Rabbinical Council of America, pp. 7-22.) In it she is up front in her self-assessment and thus characterizes her observations as opinion. She says at the outset, "I hope that my understanding of the Rov's influence on the community in which he lived will ring true to those who knew him and who wish to appraise his contributions to the American Jewish religious community."

She further limits her scope to appraising her father's,

a.       impact upon the religious community

b.       its commitment to Halakha

c.       its public stance in relation to the general society

d.      its self-image

This limited range is disappointing. We would prefer from the daughter of a noteworthy figure some new inside knowledge, perhaps about her father's self-appraisal of his successes or failures. A daughter's mere opinions about abstract issues concerning her father can be highly personal and more than likely they are biased.

Times: The Jeremy Lin Problem and Rav Soloveitchik

Is Jeremy Lin Jewish? No, he is not a Jew.

David Brooks quotes our teacher Rav Soloveitchik to explain the "problem" facing Knick basketball player and religious person Jeremy Lin.

This matter merits some Talmudic analysis. First, we don't have a clue what Brooks means in the essay. It has something to do with being religious and being a sports star. Somehow there is or ought to be a "problem" being both. Huh? Why?

Lonely Man of Faith: Meet the Gregarious Man of Faith

My great teacher Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik is known in part for his essay, "The Lonely Man of Faith." The article was published in 1965 in the Orthodox journal Tradition and then as a book with an introduction by Professor David Shatz. (A film about the Rav with the same title was produced by Ethan Isenberg.)

Koren-Maggid publishers have reissued the essay with a new introduction by Rabbi Reuven Ziegler, a clear and succinct summary of the article.

We greatly admire our esteemed teacher and have always believed that he meant well by publishing in this essay his emotional musings on the first chapters of Genesis and on the existential angst of the Orthodox Jew.

The dichotomy that the Rav imagined and spoke about between spiritual and material, religious and scientific, covenantal and majestic, for years did not speak to us, did not help us achieve religious understanding or satisfaction.

Finally we set forth our understanding of the "Gregarious Man of Faith" in our new book, which closely examines the core spiritual texts of Judaism and identifies six friends that accompany us daily in our own ideal unified and whole spiritual community.

We recommend you read both books, the Rav's lonely treatise, and our gregarious one.

"God's Favorite Prayers" - Six Friends the Gregarious Man of Faith Meets in His Synagogue

Joseph B. Soloveitchik on REDEMPTION, PRAYER, TALMUD TORAH

In November 2009 we reflected:

In 1978, my teacher, Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik published an essay titled REDEMPTION, PRAYER, TALMUD TORAH. It began,

Redemption is a fundamental category in Judaic historical thinking and experiencing. Our history was initiated by a Divine act of redemption and, we are confident, will reach its finale in a Divine act of ultimate redemption.

What is redemption?

Redemption involves a movement by an individual or a community from the periphery of history to its center; or, to employ a term from physics, redemption is a centripetal movement. To be on the periphery means to be a non-history-making entity, while movement toward the center renders the same entity history-making and history-conscious. Naturally the question arises: What is meant by a history-making people or community? A history-making people is one that leads a speaking, story-telling, communing free existence, while a non- history-making, non history-involved group leads a non-communing, and therefore a silent, unfree existence...

I decided to reread this essay because I thought I might add it to the readings in a seminar that I am teaching at JTS. I decided not to. The reasons - for just about every paragraph, I either don't understand the author's intent or I don't agree with how he characterizes Judaism.

To start with, I don't know what a fundamental category is, what Judaic historical thinking is or what experiencing is. It could be that he means to say in sentence one, "God's redemption of Israel is a prominent theme in Judaism." Or maybe not.

It could be that he means to continue in sentence two, "We believe God redeemed us in the past from slavery in Egypt and that he will redeem us in the future in the Messianic age." Or maybe not.

I simply disagree with the claims of the next paragraph. I just never heard anyone define redemption as moving to the center of history - becoming history-making and conscious - being able to speak, tell stories and commune and be free. And actually I do not know what all that means. But even so - I disagree with it, and I think that the physics example doesn't help matters.

The Rav goes on in the essay to speak about slaves and slavery - how slaves are mute and have no narratives, makes a passing reference to concentration camps, and how free people speak and have a voice, and a word, and a logos, how that is what prayer is all about and how prayer is related to the study of Torah.

And he tells us there is another type, an existential slave, whose world is in chaos because he is ignored and anonymous. Man is lost, sin is born until man "finds himself" through prayer in which he finds his needs awareness. Prayer makes man "feel whole" and it is where "God claims man."

My best estimate of what the Rav tried to do here - this is his exercise in insinuating an existentialist  philosophical reflection into a contemplation of Jewish prayer.

The Rav wrote more about prayer elsewhere, some of which I will assign to my seminar, just not this article.

The Strange David Hartman Yediot Interview

We read the strange David Hartman interview in Yediot in Hebrew last week and our reaction was, "How sad." When asked whether we meant sad for Hartman, or sad for religion in Israel, we said, "Both."

But now, after reading again the article in English, we judge that there are more points that jump out from the interview, that overall coalesce, sadly, to portray Hartman as a kvetch and a crank.

Ynet titles the interview, 'Religion now more dangerous than Arabs' and explains, "Rabbi David Hartman, teacher and rebel, is celebrating his 80th birthday and cannot believe the kind of Judaism developing around him: 'Instead of creating a new humanity, Religious Zionism leaders are fighting over stones and verses.'"

Hartman should not have been allowed by his children or disciples to be interviewed without any filtering. Hartman misses every opportunity to explain modern Orthodox values and his own views. Instead he complains and carps and criticizes, here, there and everywhere. And most of what he says is raw opinion, confused, conflicting and self-contradictory.

The interviewer, Uri Misgav, did no favor to Hartman either. After asking, "Is anyone even listening to you?" and getting an evasion, he does not pursue the issue. After asking, "So your life work was in a sense a failure?" and getting no list of dozens of achievements, rather than pursuing the question, the interviewer abruptly changes the subject.

So we are sad, mainly for David Hartman. He comes across as a sore loser, a man of sour grapes. He lost his life's battle. The right wing religious Israelis won. And Hartman is hopping mad.

To sum it up wryly, Hartman's mentor (an ours) Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, published a famous self-defining essay, "The Lonely Man of Faith."

In this interview Hartman has clinched his life-persona as, "The Kvetchy Man of Faith."

Never kvetchy or cranky, read, "God's Favorite Prayers," a book with a destiny

On completing the study once again of Talmud Tractate Hullin

Today marks the completion of daf yomi study of Tractate Hullin.  We are reposting our previous post of our recollections and of Rav Soloveitchik's remarks in 1974 at a siyyum for Hullin, previously published in a well-known compilation .

My translation of Talmud tractate Hullin, as described below, was re-issued recently by Hendrickson in print and on CD.

On April 1, 1973 in Rabbi Soloveitchik's Talmud shiur at Yeshiva University we completed learning the first chapter of Talmud Bavli Tractate Hullin. The Rav gave a dvar Torah at the Siyyum. He explained the meaning of the recitation of the hadran alakh, the prayer that promised upon the completion of learning a Talmud chapter or Tractate that we would return to study you - speaking to the text - again.

I kept the promise. Between 1992 and 1994 as a professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Minnesota I directed my research to the study of this chapter and the remaining eleven chapters of the tractate.

A New More Complex, Opaque and Intimidating Prayer Book

We received a new edition of the daily Jewish prayer book, The Koren Mesorat HaRav Siddur, A Hebrew/English Prayer Book with Commentary by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. We ordered it back in February for $21. It is currently shipping for $31.

And in making initial judgements about this edition and others that we have seen recently, we started to reflect as follows.

What is your preference? Intimidating, opaque and complex? Or inviting, transparent and simple?

That's easy, you say. The second group of characteristics is more appealing. Perhaps.

In the domain of religion, especially a religion that traces its most recent roots back to Europe, it sometimes is the case that the former group prevails.

Yes, some serious religious leaders believe that for their faith system to have authority and respect it must project an aura of complexity, not simplicity. To bolster the faith against challenges, they say, it is better that its beliefs and practices be opaque, rather than transparent. And to keep the followers in line, it is necessary to be intimidating, rather than inviting.

Prayer books ought by logic to be projections of the religious value systems they represent. And so it comes as no surprise that some foster the traits of complexity, opacity and intimidation by adding another overlay of such commentary and introductions to the already challenging core compositions of the daily liturgy.

There is nothing wrong with one style and right with another. It's just important that we describe what we see. Others may see something different. Others may prefer something else.

"God's Favorite Prayers"

Can a Jew Pray Directly to the Divine Attribute of Compassion?

Can a Jew pray directly to the Divine Attribute of Compassion? Yes, in just one prayer each year.

On Yom Kippur in Neilah, in the final series of the prayers of compassion that we call the selihot, we utter the catalogue of God’s thirteen mainly emotional attributes over and over again, the familiar:

“Lord, Lord, God, Compassionate, with loving kindness, patient, with kindness and truth; keeper of mercy for thousands, forgiver of iniquity, transgression and sin; clearing us. Forgive our iniquity and sin and accept us.” (cf. Exodus 34:6-7)

Within this sequence of repeated meditations, the tenth century Italian payetan Rabbi Amitai ben Shepatiah presents in his prayer a direct appeal to the divine attribute of compassion to intercede for us:

Attribute of compassion, pour upon us
In the presence of your creator, cast our supplications
For the sake of your people, request compassion
For every heart has pain and every mind is ill
(Goldschmidt, YK, p. 778)

Forward: Lawrence Grossman Reviews a New Book about Rav Soloveitchik

In the Forward this week, Lawrence Grossman reviews a new book about Rav Soloveitchik, Rabbi in the New World: The Influence of Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik on Culture, Education and Jewish Thought, edited by Avinoam Rosenak and Naftali Rothenberg.

Grossman's review, "Modern Orthodoxy's Human Pillar: Evaluating the Role of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik" is an essay in its own right on the Rav. Grossman is a major Jewish thinker and disciple of the Rav.

He makes a polite yet firm assessment of the collected essays in the book. He calls some of the articles "least important" - those that speculate on the influence of other theologians on the Rav. We agree that showing surface similarities between the Rav's theology and other who preceded him doesn't get us far in understanding the Rav's ideas and methods.

New Book Published: "God’s Favorite Prayers"

"God’s Favorite Prayers" (ISBN 0615509495) is a new published book that unlocks the personalities behind the prayers. Author Tzvee Zahavy introduces readers to the archetypes within Jewish liturgy in this engaging new volume.

"God’s Favorite Prayers" invites the reader into the heart of Jewish spirituality, to learn about its idiom and imagery, its emotions and its great sweeping dramas. The author invites the reader to meet six ideal personalities of Jewish prayer and to get to know some of God's favorite prayers.

According to Zahavy, Jews recite and sing and meditate prayers that derive from six distinct archetypes. He labels those six personalities: the performer, the mystic, the scribe, the priest, the meditator and the celebrity.

Animals in Rabbinic Judaism and other Fact-Filled Jewish Articles

Here are links to a bunch of fact-filled encyclopedia articles that we wrote about ancient rabbis and various Jewish topics.
Macmillan Dictionary of Biblical Judaism (65 entries):

Abadim (tractate); Academy on High; Aha b. Rav; Aha of Shabha; Animals, Treatment of in Rabbinic Judaism; Balsam; Batlan; Beard and Shaving; Beggars and Begging; Birkat David; Birkat Geulah; Birkat Ha'aretz; Birkat Hahodesh; Birkat Haminim; Birkat Hamishpat; Birkat Hanehenim; Birkat Hashanim; Birkat Hashir; Birkat Hatov Vehametiv; Birkat Hatzadikim; Birkat Hazan; Birkat Hatanim; Birkat Yerushalaim; Evil eye, in Rabbinic Judaism; Fables, Rabbinic; Flogging; Gambling; Heqdesh; Jeremiah b. Abba; Lease, Rabbinic law of; Listes; Martyrs, ten; Me`ilah; Medicine, Talmudic; Mekilta of R. Simeon b. Yohai; Men of the Great Assembly; Mezuzah (tractate); Money lending; Monogamy and polygamy; Nations, the seventy; New Moon; Noahides; Oil, use in Rabbinic Period; Partnership; Property, Rabbinic law for lost; Qal vehomer; Sale, Talmudic law of; Sefer Torah (tractate); She'iltot; Shofarot; Sick, visiting; Simeon Hatimni; Simeon b. Shetah; Simeon b. Yohai; Takkanah; Tefillin (tractate); Triennial Cycle; Tzitzit (tractate); Wills; Wine; Zaddiq; 'Abot (tractate); 'Asmakta'; 'Ona'ah; 'Ones. NY, 1996

Beruryah ," "Joshua ben Hananiah," "Judah bar Ilai," "Meir," "Simeon bar Yohai," "Simeon ben Gamaliel," "Tarfon," "Yose ben Halafta." Articles for The Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. M. Eliade, The Free Press, Macmillan: New York, December, 1986.
Here is one example:

New Book: Rabbi Soloveitchik in the New World

The Van Leer Institute and Magnes Press have published a new academic book on Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's impact on Judaism.

The exciting new (Hebrew) book is based on a conference that was held in Jerusalem several years ago.

Rabbi in the New World The Influence of Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik on Culture, Education and Jewish Thought Edited By Avinoam Rosenak and Naftali Rothenberg

רב בעולם החדש עיונים בהשפעתו של הרב יוסף דוב סולובייצ`יק על תרבות, על חינוך ועל מחשבה יהודית בעריכת אבינועם רוזנק נפתלי רוטנברג מו"ל: הוצאת ספרים ע``ש י``ל מאגנס הרב יוסף דוב הלוי סולובייצ`יק (1993-1903) היה מהמנהיגים הבולטים של היהדות האורתודוקסית המודרנית בארצות הברית במשך קרוב לחצי מאה. דמותו בלטה בנוף הרבני בשל השכלתו התורנית והכללית הרחבה, יכולתו הפדגוגית, כוחו הרטורי וסמכותו ההלכתית. פעילותו הרבנית והציונית השפיעה גם על הציונות הדתית בישראל. הספר רב בעולם החדש: עיונים בהשפעתו של הרב יוסף דוב סולובייצ`יק על תרבות, על חינוך ועל מחשבה יהודית, בוחן עד כמה השפיעה מנהיגותו על עיצובן של הקהילות האורתודוקסיות בארצות הברית, מה הן מאפייניה של השפעה זו ובאילו תחומים היא התבטאה; האם יש לראות ברב סולובייצ`יק מורה דרך לקהילתו, או שהשפעתו חרגה מגבולותיה של האורתודוקסיה באמריקה; האם ניתן לקבוע מי מתלמידיו משקף נאמנה את הגותו וחזונו; עד כמה חזונו היה גמיש לקראת אתגרי ההווה והעתיד, ועד כמה היה פתוח לשיח בין-דתי. מאמריהם של עשרים ושישה מלומדים, מומחים בהקשרים ההיסטוריים, הסוציולוגיים, החינוכיים, התאולוגיים והפילוסופיים של יצירתו ותקופתו של הרב סולובייצ`יק, נכללים בספר. ספר זה יצא לאור בשיתוף עם מכון ון ליר בירושלים

Review: Avishai David presents Rav Soloveitchik's lectures on the Weekly Torah Readings

Discourses of Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik on the Weekly Parashah by Rabbi Avishai David

This book is a thoroughly rabbinic treat.

It is written by Avishai David, a prominent rabbi who heads a Yeshiva in Israel. It is about the lectures on the weekly torah readings of Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik, a great gadol of the past generation whose charismatic Torah teachings mesmerized his followers. Rav Soloveitchik was also our teacher when we studied at Yeshiva University.

The Rav draws liberally on the teachings of the ancient rabbis and advances his own insights into the biblical texts.

And the final rabbinic ingredient to this rabbinic feast of a book is the source of publication, the rabbinical authorities at the Orthodox Union who published the book in conjunction with Yeshiva Torat Shraga and the exceptionally gifted Urim Publications of Jerusalem and New York.

The Rav was a man of great dignity and propriety and would have been proud to see the professional manner in which his teachings have been brought together in this volume. It is a handsomely set and bound book, tightly edited and written in impeccable English, with the right level of style for the content that it conveys.

The book brilliantly represents the Rav's Torah as he presented it. This means that it will be a great gift to those of his followers who thirst to hear and read his concepts as they were given over.

And this is the pièce de résistance of the rabbinic feast encompassed in this volume. It will serve future generations as the template or palette for rabbis who wish to use the Rav's content as the springboard from which to develop their own commentaries and as the raw materials for those who elect to build their own structures out of the basic original ideas of Rav Soloveitchik as represented in this book.

We commend the book highly to individuals and to libraries.

Rabbi Soloveitchik DVD, "The Lonely Man of Faith" Review and Memoir

Home version of the DVD on sale here.

---

Review/Memoir by Tzvee of the film, The Lonely Man of Faith, by Ethan Isenberg

The inspiring film, "Lonely Man of Faith," is an homage to and biography of my revered teacher Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, known respectfully as the Rav.

I am hardly a neutral reviewer. I studied for four years in the Rav's shiur (Talmudic seminar) from 1969 to 1973 and I got to know him well outside of the classroom. I was not a full-fledged "shamash" of the Rav (a student personal assistant). But because I was a generous fellow and drove a nice Lincoln Continental, the Rav frequently asked me to drive him on Thursdays to the Boston shuttle at La Guardia Airport, sometimes with stops on the way. One such stop one day was to visit a cemetery, after which we were involved in an auto accident – a car rear ended my Lincoln. The Rav wore a neck brace for a few days after that and I was not at all happy.

On another occasion we stopped at the Fifth Avenue apartment of a wealthy stockbroker, Mr. Gruss, to pick up a five figure check for the Maimonides School. Other times in the car we discussed the shiurim (seminars) of the week, I asked a variety of shailos (religious questions) and the Rav would ask me about various and sundry topics.

Is Esther Petrack Jewish?

Yes, model Esther Petrack is a Jew from Brookline, MA. She was born in Jerusalem, brought up Orthodox and attended the Maimonides school.

Esther, now all of 18, is a contestant on a TV show which up to now we have not seen, America's Next Top Model.

Tyra Banks, a host on the show, put her on the spot, asking her if she would work on the Sabbath, if her competition required that. She said she would.

An article on Tablet calls all of this a "Modern Orthodox Drama" and terms Esther's answer a "blow... to the Modern Orthodox experiment."

And a rabbi in Israel chimes in to say it indicates, "a serious malaise in Modern Orthodoxy." He adds that it means the community has, "accepted the Western illusion that we can 'have it all.'"

The rabbi cites my teacher Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, who preached that Orthodox Judaism demands of its members a "sacrificial and heroic existence."

We say to both these critics, whoa, don't get your panties in such a twist over this! (Always wanted to say that, and it seems apt here, in light of the modeling context and all.)

Snap Talmudic analysis:

Let's not even start a debate over which is the illusion or who are the heroes.

The occasional actions of individuals ought never be framed as challenges to a great and abiding religious system. Those decisions are indications that we Jews, like all other peoples are constituted of many kinds of people and personalities.

To opine that conformity ought to be total is deliberately to ignore the record, from the ye olde bible, through the ages, and now to the Next Top Model.

We think young Esther is no illusion; she is a vision. She is quite a super-hero and we applaud her efforts and her honesty, and we hope she wins.

Added video:

YouTube: Misusing a Puzzling Audio Clip of the Rav in a Book Advertisement

Here is a video clip released for the holidays from the OU - Orthodox Union.



Transcript of the text of the Rav, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, speaking on the clip:

What does the almighty need prayer for? Why did he tell man to pray? Not the Almighty, but man changes through prayer. God hearkens to prayer because there is a change in the identity of man. By praying man attains another identity. And by attaining a new identity the verdict is not applicable anymore to him.

Talmudic Comments:

This is a wholly elliptical passage. We assumed that is was because it had been taken out of context. In its present gnomic form, it provoked us to ask these obvious questions.

• Who ever said that the Almighty needs prayer?
• When did God ever tell us to pray?
• We do believe that prayer can change God's decisions and actions, don't we?
• What does "change in identity of man" mean?
• What does "attaining a new identity" mean? Same as the above or another cryptic idea? Does "new" imply "improved"?
• What is the "verdict"? What "verdict"? Why does it not apply? Is God fooled or confused by prayer? Or is he impressed? We just don't follow...

We don't know if anyone else is listening. But we are because the Rav was our teacher and because we care about prayer, we take it seriously and we think  and write about it a lot.

This random assemblage of sentences did not sound to us like a paragraph that the Rav would have spoken in a public lecture.

We asked Gil Student, managing editor of the OU Press, about this clip. First, we were told about the propriety of using the recording in an advertisement for a book, "It is appropriate to use a brief excerpt from the Rav to inform people about a forthcoming publication with more extensive treatment of the subject." And notice, he used the word "excerpt."

It just did not sound to us like the Rav. We pressed and asked if they spliced and edited this clip. We were told, "Yes, we spliced it to create a coherent thought faithful to the Rav's intent that could serve as a soundbite."

Talmudic bottom line:

Rabbi Soloveitchik was a great rabbi, a scholar and a teacher. We do not think it is proper to splice together a passage out of context and throw the puzzling incoherent result up there on YouTube to help the OU sell a few books.
[Corrected.]