Emes Ve-Emunah: Gone Jeeping!

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Gone Jeeping!

Taking the day off to go up North with my family. This is our annual family Chol HaMoed Sukkos trip. Which usually does not take up the entire day. But this trip will. So I will not be writing a new post today.

Except for this one. J

I have never gone Jeeping before. Don’t even know what it is – exactly. I guess it’s some kind of off road sightseeing tour.

Anyway my granddaughter, the talented and beautiful Yael Avigail arranged it. She assures us that it will be loads of fun. We’ll see.

In the meantime please be kind to each other.

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.