Emes Ve-Emunah: An Offer to Rebut...

Sunday, October 06, 2013

An Offer to Rebut...

Earlier today I had an e-mail conversation with Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter. He apprised me of my inaccuracies in describing his editorial and he disputes my assessment of his view of Rav Soloveitchik. A comment in the last post referenced an article by Rabbi Frankfurter that seemed full of praise for Rav Soloveitchik. But in last week's Ami editorial which was the subject of the last post - there seemed to be a change of heart. So in the interest of Emes, I offered Rabbi Frankfurter a rebuttal post of any length which I will publish unedited. I await his response.

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.