There is a fascinating biography that was linked to a blog which I frequent. It is about an individual who has made a huge impact on American Jewry. My interest in this individual goes back many years as does my interest in the movement he helped mold and which continues to have impact to this very day, albeit it has seen some troubles as of late.
What makes it fascinating is the contrast between what his ideals and goals for the movement were and what they are now as they continue to evolve. I have decided to post the first portion of his biography here. (The entire bio is way too long and beyond the scope of this post.) I have changed the name of the individual, the name of the institution he headed and a few key words that would give his identity away. Other than that, the bio is intact.
I wonder how many people would recognize this individual, the institution he headed, or the movement he represented. I am curious to see if anyone can guess. I only ask that those of you who have seen the website this is taken from to not give it away. My question is, what say ye about this individual, based on this bio? Is someone with these credentials someone we can respect and admire? Is he not the classic adherent of Torah uMada? In any case, here is the bio:
The seeds for the leader that Simcha Chadash (not his real name) came to be and for the values that guided his life both personally and professionally were sown in the home of his parents and in the upbringing they gave to him, the fourth of their five children. After having immigrated to America from a small Lithuanian city, Rabbi and Mrs. Chadash settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where their son Simcha was born, after which they all moved to the Brownsville section of New York City. Young Simcha learned much and quickly from his father who was an Orthodox rabbi.
At the age of sixteen Simcha already had an extensive knowledge of the Torah and had already mastered several tractates of the Babylonian Talmud. This love for learning continued throughout his life. In fact, when anyone visited his home before or after his retirement from the Yeshiva in 1972, they would usually find him engaged in his studies. Indeed, it was well known among his colleagues that his typical day began at 5:00 a.m. when he would rise early to devote serious time to the study of the Jewish texts. This commitment to daily study served as a source of comfort to him when he later assumed the mantle of leadership of the Yeshiva. Faced with the usual challenges of administration, he wrote to a friend: "I don't know how I would be able to carry on at all, if I did not find comfort in the great Jewish classics ..." On another occasion he observed: "I can't remember a time, ..., when anything meant more [to me] than the study of the law."
In addition to his studies with his father, Simcha attended public high school after which he enrolled, simultaneously, at the Yeshiva and the City College of New York. He excelled in his Yeshiva studies earning a heter hora'a in 1919, from one of the leading Talmudists of his day. He was the first Yeshiva student to have graduated with that advanced rabbinic degree, permitting him to render legal decisions in matters of Jewish law. After graduating from City College in 1915, he began his doctoral studies which culminated in a Ph.D degree from Columbia University in 1918.
