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Yosef Eynenu va'Ani Ana Ani Ba: A Bostonian Memoir
Jeffrey R. Woolf
Issue date: 11/29/06 Section: Legacies
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Thirty-three years ago, this past summer, I entered the Rav's shiur for the first time, and my life was transformed. The place was not Furst Hall, but the Bais Medrash of the Maimonides School in Brookline. Every summer, for six weeks, the Rav would say shiur on a given Massekhta to a group of forty-fifty people. The shiur took place from Monday-Thursday and lasted from 2-3 hours, from 4 PM to 7 PM. It was intense, intensive, inspiring, awe-inspiring and often very daring. Most of the talmidim were from YU, a few were not.
I was in the latter group.
When I came to study with the Rav, something that I was privileged to do for almost ten years, I had never previously been in a formal yeshiva setting, although I had heard shiurim. I was pretty much a very intense auto-didact when it came to learning, though I had had the benefit of an extraordinary Hebrew education at Boston Hebrew Teacher's College, which helped tremendously, and the warm encouragement of teachers who were themselves close to the Rav, such as Rabbi Dr. Isaiah Wohlgemuth and Rabbi David Schapiro (whose suggestion it was that I attend the shiur). It was Rabbi Wohlgemuth who approached the Rav on my behalf, to ask permission to attend the shiur. The Rav, graciously (and he was always gracious), agreed. I found out later that he was intrigued by the prospect of an HTC graduate attending his class. It was only seven years later, on the morning before my wedding, that I discovered that, unbeknownst too me, he had kept abreast of my progress, both in Boston and later, when I came to RIETS. That was typical of him. He did things quietly, especially when it came to acts of hesed.
I shall never forget those first weeks in the shiur. I fell in love with the Rav, and with the Brisker derekh. At the same time, though he had mellowed considerably over the years (as Professor Haym Soloveitchik noted in his unforgettable eulogy of his father), we still very much feared him. I knew, of course, that the Rambam in Hilkhot Yesode ha-Torah, describes the dialectical tension between Love and Awe, Ahavah ve-Yir'ah, in our relationship to God. In the shiur, and later as I was privileged to develop a more personal relationship with him, I learned that in the rebbe-talmid relationship, the two co-existed simultaneously.
I was in the latter group.
When I came to study with the Rav, something that I was privileged to do for almost ten years, I had never previously been in a formal yeshiva setting, although I had heard shiurim. I was pretty much a very intense auto-didact when it came to learning, though I had had the benefit of an extraordinary Hebrew education at Boston Hebrew Teacher's College, which helped tremendously, and the warm encouragement of teachers who were themselves close to the Rav, such as Rabbi Dr. Isaiah Wohlgemuth and Rabbi David Schapiro (whose suggestion it was that I attend the shiur). It was Rabbi Wohlgemuth who approached the Rav on my behalf, to ask permission to attend the shiur. The Rav, graciously (and he was always gracious), agreed. I found out later that he was intrigued by the prospect of an HTC graduate attending his class. It was only seven years later, on the morning before my wedding, that I discovered that, unbeknownst too me, he had kept abreast of my progress, both in Boston and later, when I came to RIETS. That was typical of him. He did things quietly, especially when it came to acts of hesed.
I shall never forget those first weeks in the shiur. I fell in love with the Rav, and with the Brisker derekh. At the same time, though he had mellowed considerably over the years (as Professor Haym Soloveitchik noted in his unforgettable eulogy of his father), we still very much feared him. I knew, of course, that the Rambam in Hilkhot Yesode ha-Torah, describes the dialectical tension between Love and Awe, Ahavah ve-Yir'ah, in our relationship to God. In the shiur, and later as I was privileged to develop a more personal relationship with him, I learned that in the rebbe-talmid relationship, the two co-existed simultaneously.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
sme083
Sam Ehrenhalt
posted 12/23/06 @ 11:45 PM EST
A well written, clearly heartfelt, memoir that conveys quite fascinating insights into the personalities of both the Rav and Rabbi Woolf.
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