BRH TW$RD

HEWM$H YPM

DERASHOT HARAV

Selected Lectures of

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

Summarized and Annotated by

Arnold Lustiger

The author’s summaries of the derashot from the Yiddish and the related analysis contained in this book, as noted in the Acknowledgements, are based upon a number of informal tape recordings made and notes taken by a number of different attendees of public lectures given by Rabbi Soloveitchik. Neither the translations nor the recordings/ notes have been approved, authorized, or endorsed by any member or representative of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s family.

Printed by Gross Brothers Company, Inc.

Union City, New Jersey

ISBN 0-9666232-1-5

Contents

Prologue v

Acknowledgements vi

Introduction ix

THE PURPOSE AND MEANING OF BERAKHOT (1956).....................................................................................…1

Barukh Attah.... 2

...Ad-nai ………………………………………………………...12

...Melekh Ha'olam……...……………………………………….19

Isaiah's Versus Ezekiel's Kedushah…………………………….34

Notes…………………………………………………………….38

THE DOCTRINE OF ASSIGNMENT (1964)...........................45

God's Sheli=ut Versus Sheli=ut in Halakhah 52

Honor: A Positive or Negative Trait? 63

Na=manides' Definition of Sheli=ut 65

GO DESCEND: THE TEST OF MOSES' LEADERSHIP (1956)…………........................................................................77

The King, the Prince, and the Friend 78

The Forefathers and Moses 83

The Transformation of Moses' Leadership 88

Releasing God From His Vow 94

Notes 103

SUKKOT: THE CREATOR BEYOND THE S’KHAKH (1954).......………………………………………………………105

God Obscured in Nature 108

God Obscured in History 114

The Jew Obscured 124

Notes 134

PESAH: WRITING A STORY UPON A PEOPLE................141

Mastering Haketav Vehamikhtav 146

VE'ATTAH KADOSH: A DERASHAH FOR PURIM (1956) 151

Hallel Hamitzri Versus Pesukei Dezimrah 153

The Miracle of Purim 156

THE AMERICAN JEW AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL

(1958)...................................................…..............................167

Man's Partnership with God 169

Hidden Havdalah / Revealed Havdalah 180

Notes 200

LIMUD TORAH AND THE KETER TORAH (1970).......... 203

The Elevated Personality of the Torah Scholar 206

Torah, Tefillah, and Avodah Shebalev 212

REFERENCES............................................................................221

APPENDIX A: Homiletic Use of Halakhah: The Rav's Approach

to Derush...................................................................................... 223

APPENDIX B: Jewish Ethics and the Ten Commandments

(1972).................................................................................... 229

INDEX...................................................................................239

Introduction

In the early 1990s. I set out to summarize the Rav's annual Teshuvah derashot for an internet group called mail.jewish. I later published this collection under the title, Before Hashem You Shall Be Purified: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on the Days of Awe.

This collection is a sequel of sorts, containing summaries of other derashot of the Rav not related to the Yamim Nora'im.

It is important to note that this book is an annotated summary and not a transcript. For this reason, the Rav is mentioned in third person. As a result, all errors in this book should be attributed to me rather than to the Rav. When the Rav is quoted directly, most often in cases of personal reminiscence, his words are indented and set in italics.

Footnotes are used here to document ideas that the Rav himself discussed in the lectures, but were tangential or parenthetical to his main point. Although these ideas were quite compelling in the context of the oral derashah, the Rav’s essential message might be obscured if they were inserted into the body of the written summaries. Footnotes are also used for citations when the Rav quoted Biblical, Talmudic, or midrashic sources, whether or not the sources themselves were explicitly mentioned in the lectures. Endnotes are used where specific points in these discourses were reflected in other shiurim or published works of the Rav, or others’ summaries of the Rav’s classes and lectures. Endnotes are also used to amplify and/or clarify various points in the derashot.

The use of transliteration versus Hebrew characters is admittedly inconsistent. Hebrew characters are generally used in the text when an extended quote is presented from a primary Biblical, Talmudic, or midrashic source, along with the English translation. When a Hebrew word or phrase is used repeatedly, it generally appears in English transliteration. However. if the phrase is used only once or twice, or if the phrase in Hebrew struck me as particularly evocative, Hebrew lettering was used. As one example, in chapter 4, while the Rav discussed the suffering of the Jewish people throughout history, he used a halakhic metaphor: HKWSB REUCM. This phrase appears in Hebrew characters.

Note that summaries of the first two derashot have already appeared in a Hebrew collection called Yemei Zikaron, edited by Rabbi Moshe Krona, but with some significant differences. Rabbi Krona's summaries were based on the Rav's original lecture notes, which contained some detail that was not included in the Rav's oral presentation. Whenever Rabbi Krona's summaries contained detail that was not contained in the oral lectures, these portions are translated and included in bracketed footnotes throughout the text, concluding with the initials MK. Note as well that in the first chapter there is a segment that did not appear in Rabbi Krona's summary.

The Jewish community longs for more of the Rav’s Torah to make its way into print. I hope that this book will, to a small extent, meet their expectations.

Dr. Arnold Lustiger

Edison, New Jersey

Shevat 5763 (January ~~1993~~2003)