The Commentator

"The text, gentlemen, the text" was a constant refrain in the Chumash class of R. Moshe Besdin, the rabbi who opened up the world of serious Torah commentary to me over 40 years ago. Having attended public schools in Mt. Vernon, New York, my background in Judaic studies was fairly primitive. At the encouragement of my shul rabbi, I came to the newly established JSP (Jewish Studies Program) at Yeshiva, which was geared for non-day school students. I really did not know what to expect to find there.

What happened was amazing. I saw the Bible for the first time as a guidebook to life, offering me a path to meaning. R. Besdin's energy, wit, and insight into the human psyche mesmerized me. I began to look forward to each one of his classes, feeling a sense of intellectual power as the text came alive with meaning for me.

As we studied Chumash, R. Besdin always emphasized the importance of the text. Each test that he gave included two parts, one on translation and one on content. Both were equally important in his eyes and necessary ingredients for true scholarship to emerge. It wasn't enough just to get the moral concepts; one also had to able to derive them from a solid grasp of the Hebrew words. He told us: "You don't want to learn about the text. You want to learn the text itself."

R. Besdin also taught me reverence for Biblical personalities. When I first studied about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they were just average people in my mind. On my examination papers, I referred to them as Abe, Ike, and Jake, never thinking that it might be offensive to the rabbi. One day R. Besdin came up to me and explained how Jewish tradition views the patriarchs and how our lofty view of them requires that we refer to them with dignity. They are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not buddies we can address with nicknames.

R. Besdin observed that our class was composed of seventeen students. Seventeen, he told us, is the numerical equivalent to the Hebrew word "tov," which means good. He reiterated this observation many times, as if to suggest that when a diverse group of boys from all over the United States comes together to learn Torah, we were creating a good that transcended each and every one of us. We began to sense that we were special, uniquely privileged to enter the world of Torah learning after high school when so many of our peers were enrolled in secular universities learning how to make a living. We, in contrast, were learning how to lead a life.

R. Besdin was also a skillful administrator. When I reflect on the outstanding educators he assembled to teach in the fledging JSP program, I am continually amazed and impressed with the roster of talent he brought together. R. Moshe Chait, R. Pesach Oratz, R. Israel Wohlgelernter, R. Jacob Rabinowitz, R. Shaya Siff were only some of the master teachers from whom I was able to learn during the time I was a student there. In addition being scholars, these teachers were connected emotionally to the students, which enabled them to transmit not only knowledge, but life wisdom as well.

R. Besdin was a role model for all of us. Small in stature, he was a giant of Torah learning to us. He seemed to know the Bible and all of its commentaries, and he could explain it in ways that made sense to skeptical college freshmen. He had an extraordinary gift for conveying the intellectual power of Torah in a down-to-earth, witty way that related to how we should conduct our everyday life. Embedded in the text were instructions for living.

In the early days of the JSP program, R. Besdin taught five days a week. When I spoke to students in later years, they informed me that he no longer taught every day. I felt fortunate to have gleaned his wisdom on a daily basis. The constant exposure that I received from him made me a stronger talmid, and I appreciated that learning opportunity. When I served as principal in Atlanta, I called R. Besdin in New York and asked him if he would come down and share his teaching approach and his knowledge with our faculty. He declined, but I sensed that he would have wanted to come but for health problems.

R. Besdin was a great teacher who not only understood his subject well, but who also understood his students well. He knew that for Torah to inspire, it must be conveyed not just as an academic discipline, but also as a meaningful guide to life. I was one of the fortunate ones who caught his inspiration, and tried to convey it to my own students in subsequent generations. May the sainted memory of R. Moshe Besdin continue to be a blessing and inspiration to us all.


Rabbi Dr. Herbert Cohen, YC '64, RIETS '70, served as Principal of the Yeshiva High School in Atlanta from 1976 through 1998 and as Headmaster of Columbus Torah Academy from 1999 through 2003. He is currently the Head of School for the Denver Academy of Torah and the author of "Kosher Parenting."

Article Tools