Rabbi Elisha Friedman of the Young Israel of Forest Hills recently completed 200 recordings about the Soloveitchik family – “the best-known rabbinical family in contemporary times.”
Over 160 of the podcasts are about Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik’s book, Chiddushei Rabbeinu Chaim HaLevi Al HaRambam (Our Rabbi Chaim HaLevi’s Novellae on Maimonides). The book contains Rabbi Chaim’s insights into the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah. “It’s a work of unbelievable creativity and brilliance,” said Rabbi Friedman.
Rabbi Friedman’s podcasts are organized by topics: prayer, financial laws, agriculture, witnesses, Shabbat, the Beit HaMikdash, etc. The average length of the podcasts is 40 to 50 minutes.
Rav Chaim Soloveitchik, who died in 1918, is the grandfather of Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, “The Rav,” who was the Rosh HaYeshivah of Yeshiva University from 1941 to 1993. Rav Chaim’s son, Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik, first printed Rabbi Chaim’s book posthumously in 1936.
Rav Chaim Soloveitchik was the founder of the Brisker Derech, also known as Lomdus, a conceptual approach to Talmudic study. Rav Chaim was known for reconciling contradictions in Maimonides’ writings. The text was written in a very terse style. The main idea of the Brisker method, said Rabbi Friedman, is “to understand the basis, the reasoning, of the Halachah.”
Rabbi Friedman explains each of the 154 pieces in Rav Chaim Soloveitchik’s book “and then I go through some of the discussion about it. Then I did ten pieces explaining some of his ideas in more detail.”
Rav Chaim’s “piece on prayer is very famous. He analyzes different components of what it means to have proper kavanah, the intention of prayer,” said Rabbi Friedman.
Rav Chaim also discusses abortion in his book. “In general, he is a very right-wing person. He’s a very, very friendly, loving, unbelievably loving, tolerating type of outgoing person. He was a real extrovert, like a real outgoing person,” said Rabbi Friedman.
One podcast by Rabbi Friedman is about “the extreme kindness” of Rav Chaim Soloveitchik. “Not everyone can be as big a genius and as learned as him, but we can all be more kind and giving the way he was.”
Thirty-six podcasts are about Rav Chaim Soloveitchik’s two sons “who are also great scholars”: Rav Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik (the Brisker Rav) and Rav Moshe Soloveitchik.
One son of Rav Chaim (Rav Yitzchak Zev) “went in the same right-wing direction, and the other one (Rav Moshe) went in more of a left-wing direction.” Rav Moshe was the father of Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik.
Rav Chaim was anti-Zionist, anti-secular studies, and anti-secularism, said Rabbi Friedman, while his grandson, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik “was a very great Torah scholar,” said Rabbi Friedman, who was Pro-Zionism and very secularly educated.
The podcasts “show how the methodology developed from the grandfather to the two sons, and then the grandson. I wanted to show how they each have a different method.”
Rabbi Friedman has a Master’s Degree in Jewish Thought from Yeshiva University. His thesis was on secular Jewish philosophers like Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig.
“They each take secular ideas of love and “adapt it to their Jewish-like philosophies.” “It basically shows what it means to love G-d on a philosophical set.” “It’s not really people I look to for religious guidance,” said Rabbi Friedman.
Rabbi Friedman’s “personal interests are very much the Soloveitchik family’s Litvak-style of Talmudic study and the Musar.” “Those are the things that personally influenced me.”
“When I am studying Gemara, when I am studying a philosophy book, I very much want to understand what’s beneath the surface.” “That’s what the Brisker method offered me.”
“At the end of the day, the idea of Lomdus is not to focus on the technical details of the Gemara but to try to understand the broader picture. And that’s basically the same process as philosophy – to not get lost in the details of life and ideas but to really see the broader picture and be able to understand, beyond the surface.”
Rabbi Friedman will teach a class “on the relationship between Lomdus and philosophy” at Yeshiva University this fall.
Rabbi Friedman hopes to finish his PhD in Jewish Thought by June 2024. Rabbi Friedman’s thesis is “an analysis of what it means to love G-d. The Torah has a commandment to love G-d, but it’s obviously what that means philosophically.”
Rabbi Friedman has been with the Young Israel of Forest Hills since July 2022. Rabbi Friedman likes how the synagogue “is a broad spectrum, so it’s not like everyone is the same. It’s not just cookie cutters of each other.”
“The people are knowledgeable. The people are sophisticated.” “I feel like people are pulling me a lot and getting me more inspired.”
Rebbetzin Yamit Friedman teaches 7th grade Social Studies at the Bais Yaakov Academy of Queens in Kew Gardens. “We’ve all made friends. Everyone has really settled in nicely,” said Rabbi Friedman.
Rabbi Friedman doesn’t know of any other learning of Lomdus in English “that is fully available online.”
Rabbi Friedman hopes that his podcasts about this book will “show the depth of the Torah, the creativity, and the brilliance there is in the Torah.” “The harder we study, the more we can get out of it. I always find it a very inspiring book.”
Rabbi Friedman started this project when the COVID pandemic began. Rabbi Friedman’s previous shul, Kesher Israel Congregation, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was closed at the time.
Rabbi Friedman’s podcasts are available on Apple, Spotify, Google, and “in a lot of places.” The title is “Chiddushei HaRambam, Rav Chaim Soloveitchik.”
By David Schneier
