2008 Woodie Awards
Recap of Recent Torah u-Madda Lectures
Menachem Butler
Issue date: 3/29/05 Section: News
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In a recent lecture publicized around and beyond the Yeshiva community, Rabbi Nathan Kamenetsky delivered "Of Bans, Earthquakes and Tsunamis," sponsored by the Torah u-Madda Lecture Series, on March 10, 2005, before a packed audience of nearly 300 students from both undergraduate campuses, faculty and members of the general Jewish community, in Furst Hall room 501. In previous years Rabbi Kamenetsky would frequently visit Yeshiva to deliver lectures and/or spend Shabbat with the students on campus, though these visits have become less frequent since the passing of his father-in-law, longtime RIETS rosh yeshiva Rabbi Dovid Lifshitz, in 1993. However, in recent years, Rabbi Kamenetsky has gained further prominence following the banning of his much-talked book, "Making of a Godol," a biography of his late father - Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva Torah Vodaath - intertwined with accounts about historical yeshiva figures.
Weaving together pesukim in Tanakh, episodes in the Talmud, stories about his father, the banning of his book by various Jerusalem rabbis, and an assortment of historical and contemporary events relevant to natural disasters, Rabbi Kamenetsky kept the hundreds in attendance sitting on the edge of their seats for much of the hour and a half long lecture. (Rabbi Kamenetsky spent the following Shabbat in Boro Park, and delivered a talk, "Making of a Ban," at the Young Israel of Boro Park on Motzei Shabbat, March 12, 2005 and focused specifically on the ban on his book.)
Rabbi Kamenetsky's lecture came at the conclusion of a season filled with Torah u-Madda Lectures, with some in conjunction with the SOY's highly successful annual Seforim Sale, which ran from February 9 - March 2, 2005.
On February 15, 2005, Rabbi Dr. Adam S. Ferziger and Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey R. Woolf, both members of the faculty at Bar Ilan University and both RIETS musmakhim (Ferziger is also a graduate of Yeshiva College), compared and contrasted the socio-religious atmospheres at both Yeshiva and Bar Ilan University, in a Torah u-Madda Lecture entitled "From Washington Heights to Ramat Gan: An Academic Journey." During the presentations, as well as the question and answer session that followed, the panelists gave anecdotal and academic perspectives on the differences between the two educational and religious environments in the United States and Israel.
The following week, one of Yeshiva's up and coming popular Jewish History instructors in the Department of Jewish Studies, Gil S. Perl, delivered his first campus wide lecture, "What Was the Rosh Yeshiva Reading?: Intellectual Openness in 19th Century Lithuania," before an audience of nearly one hundred students and faculty on February 21, 2005, in Belfer 502. The lecture, sponsored by the Torah u-Madda Lecture Series, was based on Perl's research for his Harvard PhD dissertation on the intellectual life of the Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda of Berlin (Netziv), and focused on a circle of prominent rabbinical figures of the late nineteenth century Lithuania whose areas of study focused on topics of Medrash and whose commentaries showed a clear understanding of scientific journals, geography and foreign language sources.
Professor Perl discussed the pattern amongst the rabbinic elite in late nineteen century Lithuania who quoted from the writings of, among others, Moses Mendelssohn and Azariah de Rossi, authors whose works frequently banned for alleged heretical undercurrents. A highlight of the lecture was when Professor Perl cited nearly a dozen examples from the writings of Netziv, specifically in his commentary on the Sifrei, showing an unapologetic usage of a wide range of external sources. Though first published in 1959, over sixty years following the Netziv's death, this commentary on the Sifrei was one of his earliest written, prior to his taking the position of rosh yeshiva at the yeshiva in Volozhin, a position that he held for nearly four decades until its closure in 1892; the Netziv died the following year. Ari Gold, YC '06, took Prof. Perl for his Modern Jewish History survey course, and commented that "Professor Perl's clear and concise methodology of teaching - familiar to his growing following of students - made his lecture interesting and relevant to all those in the audience. I felt like I was back again sitting in our Modern Jewish History class," said Gold.
On the final Sunday of the Seforim Sale, Dr. Marc B. Shapiro, a noted author and prominent professor of Jewish History at the University of Scranton, delivered a Torah u-Madda Lecture, "Maimonides and Superstition," on February 27, 2005, the final Sunday of the SOY Seforim Sale. His talk focused on perspectives on superstition within the halakhic and philosophic writings of Maimonides. Following his talk, Dr. Shapiro was available to sign copies of his two recent books at the SOY Seforim Sale.
A number of months ago, as part of Yeshiva's Hanukkah festivities, Dr. Louis H. Feldman, the Abraham Wouk Family Professor of Classics and Literature at Yeshiva University, in his renowned 'Annual Yahrzeit Shiur for the Greeks,' delivered a talk entitled "Why were the Maccabees opposed to the Greek Religion and Culture?" to a packed audience of nearly one hundred students and faculty members in the Lipshutz - Gurwirth Study Hall and Synagogue in Rubin Residence Hall. In this lecture, cosponsored by SOY and the Torah u-Madda Lecture Series, Dr. Feldman described various aspects of Jewish and Greek culture relevant to Hanukkah and other seasonal holidays. Dr. Feldman, now celebrating his fiftieth year on faculty at Yeshiva College, has been delivering the 'Annual Yahrzeit Shiur for the Greeks' sporadically over the past number of decades in honor of Hanukkah, always at the request of his students. David Erlichman, YC '06, who took Dr. Feldman for Masterpieces of World Literature, said "I was intrigued and inspired by the lecture that Dr. Feldman delivered in his 'Annual Yahrzeit Shiur for the Greeks.' It was remarkable to hear a first-rate talmid hakham and world-renowned scholar offer a unique perspective about the story of Hanukkah. I look forward to attending next year's Yahrzeit Shiur for the Greeks."
More recently, the Yeshiva College English Department, in conjunction with the Torah u-Madda Lecture Series, presented a club hour lecture with Dr. Ira Nadel, Professor of English at the University of British Columbia and UBC Distinguished University Scholar, on "Contemporary Themes in Jewish Literature." This informal discussion, attended by a dozen students and a few faculty members, took place in 'the pit' on the first floor of the Gottesman Library, on February 17, 2005, and focused on trends within contemporary literature. Dr. Nadel contrasted assimilatory attitudes within American and Canadian authors and showed specific recent examples how numerous traditional Jewish themes are coming back into contemporary literature.
Lectures organized by the Torah u-Madda Lecture Series, a division of the Max Stern Division of Communal Services of RIETS, are supported by the Joseph J. & Bertha K. Green Memorial Fund. For further information, please contact lectures@yu.edu.
Weaving together pesukim in Tanakh, episodes in the Talmud, stories about his father, the banning of his book by various Jerusalem rabbis, and an assortment of historical and contemporary events relevant to natural disasters, Rabbi Kamenetsky kept the hundreds in attendance sitting on the edge of their seats for much of the hour and a half long lecture. (Rabbi Kamenetsky spent the following Shabbat in Boro Park, and delivered a talk, "Making of a Ban," at the Young Israel of Boro Park on Motzei Shabbat, March 12, 2005 and focused specifically on the ban on his book.)
Rabbi Kamenetsky's lecture came at the conclusion of a season filled with Torah u-Madda Lectures, with some in conjunction with the SOY's highly successful annual Seforim Sale, which ran from February 9 - March 2, 2005.
On February 15, 2005, Rabbi Dr. Adam S. Ferziger and Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey R. Woolf, both members of the faculty at Bar Ilan University and both RIETS musmakhim (Ferziger is also a graduate of Yeshiva College), compared and contrasted the socio-religious atmospheres at both Yeshiva and Bar Ilan University, in a Torah u-Madda Lecture entitled "From Washington Heights to Ramat Gan: An Academic Journey." During the presentations, as well as the question and answer session that followed, the panelists gave anecdotal and academic perspectives on the differences between the two educational and religious environments in the United States and Israel.
The following week, one of Yeshiva's up and coming popular Jewish History instructors in the Department of Jewish Studies, Gil S. Perl, delivered his first campus wide lecture, "What Was the Rosh Yeshiva Reading?: Intellectual Openness in 19th Century Lithuania," before an audience of nearly one hundred students and faculty on February 21, 2005, in Belfer 502. The lecture, sponsored by the Torah u-Madda Lecture Series, was based on Perl's research for his Harvard PhD dissertation on the intellectual life of the Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda of Berlin (Netziv), and focused on a circle of prominent rabbinical figures of the late nineteenth century Lithuania whose areas of study focused on topics of Medrash and whose commentaries showed a clear understanding of scientific journals, geography and foreign language sources.
Professor Perl discussed the pattern amongst the rabbinic elite in late nineteen century Lithuania who quoted from the writings of, among others, Moses Mendelssohn and Azariah de Rossi, authors whose works frequently banned for alleged heretical undercurrents. A highlight of the lecture was when Professor Perl cited nearly a dozen examples from the writings of Netziv, specifically in his commentary on the Sifrei, showing an unapologetic usage of a wide range of external sources. Though first published in 1959, over sixty years following the Netziv's death, this commentary on the Sifrei was one of his earliest written, prior to his taking the position of rosh yeshiva at the yeshiva in Volozhin, a position that he held for nearly four decades until its closure in 1892; the Netziv died the following year. Ari Gold, YC '06, took Prof. Perl for his Modern Jewish History survey course, and commented that "Professor Perl's clear and concise methodology of teaching - familiar to his growing following of students - made his lecture interesting and relevant to all those in the audience. I felt like I was back again sitting in our Modern Jewish History class," said Gold.
On the final Sunday of the Seforim Sale, Dr. Marc B. Shapiro, a noted author and prominent professor of Jewish History at the University of Scranton, delivered a Torah u-Madda Lecture, "Maimonides and Superstition," on February 27, 2005, the final Sunday of the SOY Seforim Sale. His talk focused on perspectives on superstition within the halakhic and philosophic writings of Maimonides. Following his talk, Dr. Shapiro was available to sign copies of his two recent books at the SOY Seforim Sale.
A number of months ago, as part of Yeshiva's Hanukkah festivities, Dr. Louis H. Feldman, the Abraham Wouk Family Professor of Classics and Literature at Yeshiva University, in his renowned 'Annual Yahrzeit Shiur for the Greeks,' delivered a talk entitled "Why were the Maccabees opposed to the Greek Religion and Culture?" to a packed audience of nearly one hundred students and faculty members in the Lipshutz - Gurwirth Study Hall and Synagogue in Rubin Residence Hall. In this lecture, cosponsored by SOY and the Torah u-Madda Lecture Series, Dr. Feldman described various aspects of Jewish and Greek culture relevant to Hanukkah and other seasonal holidays. Dr. Feldman, now celebrating his fiftieth year on faculty at Yeshiva College, has been delivering the 'Annual Yahrzeit Shiur for the Greeks' sporadically over the past number of decades in honor of Hanukkah, always at the request of his students. David Erlichman, YC '06, who took Dr. Feldman for Masterpieces of World Literature, said "I was intrigued and inspired by the lecture that Dr. Feldman delivered in his 'Annual Yahrzeit Shiur for the Greeks.' It was remarkable to hear a first-rate talmid hakham and world-renowned scholar offer a unique perspective about the story of Hanukkah. I look forward to attending next year's Yahrzeit Shiur for the Greeks."
More recently, the Yeshiva College English Department, in conjunction with the Torah u-Madda Lecture Series, presented a club hour lecture with Dr. Ira Nadel, Professor of English at the University of British Columbia and UBC Distinguished University Scholar, on "Contemporary Themes in Jewish Literature." This informal discussion, attended by a dozen students and a few faculty members, took place in 'the pit' on the first floor of the Gottesman Library, on February 17, 2005, and focused on trends within contemporary literature. Dr. Nadel contrasted assimilatory attitudes within American and Canadian authors and showed specific recent examples how numerous traditional Jewish themes are coming back into contemporary literature.
Lectures organized by the Torah u-Madda Lecture Series, a division of the Max Stern Division of Communal Services of RIETS, are supported by the Joseph J. & Bertha K. Green Memorial Fund. For further information, please contact lectures@yu.edu.