Hakirah: The Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought

Religion & Spirituality

Zelcer, Heshey

Buchman, Asher Benzion

Zucke, Saul

Slifkin, Nathan

Bobker, Joe

Fried, Aharon Hersh

Levmore, Rachel

Wolowelsky, Joel B.

Shapiro, Yitzchok

Reichman, Edward

Judaism

Hakirah

<p>In "Rav Soloveitchik’s New World View," the author reviews Western philosophy, explaining that it fails to answer philosophical questions raised by modern mathematics. In a reading of The Halakhic Mind, he then demonstrates that, from his youth, the Rav felt that the key to dealing with man's encounter with the infinite lies in the dalet ammot shel halakhah. In "Historical Revisionism by the Families of Rav Kook’s Disciples" the author describes how some children of Rav Kook's students sought to distance their fathers from their teacher to ensure that their fathers' works would be accepted in Haredi circles and their reputations would remain intact. In "Rav Hildesheimer’s Response to Ultra-Orthodoxy" the author analyzes an historical document to contrast two responses to the then-budding Reform movement: that of a group which came to be called the Haredi camp, with the more moderate response of Rav Hildesheimer. In the chapter from the book on the Hazon Ish, "The Gaon of Vilna, the Hatam Sofer, and the Hazon Ish: Minhag and the Crisis of Modernity," the author argues that the Hazon Ish, considered by many to be the father of the modern Haredi movement, was not acting in response to modernity, but was motivated by a desire to find each law's intent and to follow the letter of the law. In the timely article in the Minhag section entitled "Our Salty Tears: The History and Significance of an Interpretation of Dipping in Salt Water at the Seder," the author bears out the Hazon Ish's skepticism of minhagim, showing how hallowing practices of the past sometimes distorts the reasoning behind a custom. Our Jewish History section includes the essay "Adversity and Authorship as Revealed in the Introductions of Early Hebrew Books," which recounts how, in fact, adversity was often the catalyst for the genesis of these works. In "A Tour of the Osler Library of the History of Medicine through Jewish Eyes," we get a glimpse of great Jewish doctors who, throughout history, dedicated themselves to curing the ills of all mankind. In "Teaching Musar at the FBI," a rabbi involved in kiruv explains how, at the request of the FBI, he helped those employed in the difficult job of law enforcement by giving them spiritual tools. In the other article, "Why is there no kosher meat or poultry that is certified humane?" the issue of our obligation of ve-halakhta bi-derakhav is raised. This mitzvah, which obligates us to perform acts of hesed, is also the subject of a detailed Hebrew article on the mitzvah of bikkur holim. In the Jewish Law section, "Parve Cloned Beef Burgers: Health and Halakhic Considerations" applies ancient halakhic principles to the technology of the future, while a letter to S. Y. Agnon from a rabbi, describing the rabbi's attitude towards the idea of human possession by a reincarnated soul, shows how some ancient beliefs resist the advances of science. In our Talmud Torah section, "In Search of Nimrod: Nimrod and Esau as Parallel Figures" merges modern methodology with traditional Biblical sources in an attempt to understand Hazal's attitude toward Esau. "Reinterpretation and Resistance to the Mitzvah of Tefillah" argues that the mitzvah that the Rav so often expounded upon, and that he said "was redeemed" by Rambam, was not considered of Biblical origin even by great Rishonim who followed Rambam. In "Apprehending the Divine through the Religious Act: Rabbi Yaakov Anatoli’s Introduction to Malmad Ha-Talmidim," we see how an almost forgotten medieval scholar from Provence toiled to define a religious philosophy.</p>

Goldman, David P.

Brown, Benjamin

Friedman, Cary A.

Student, Gil

Heller, Marvin J.

Henkin, Eitam

Dysert, Anna

Zelcer, Malky

<p>Ḥakirah is honored to present lectures given approximately 70 years ago by Ha-Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt”l on the opening verses of the Torah. In the five lectures presented here as the first of three installments, the Rav’s focus is on the question raised by the Amora Rav Yitzḥak as to why the Torah dwells on the story of creation and what philosophical truths we are to learn from it. Further delving into the Rav’s philosophical works is a review essay on Nietzsche, Soloveitchik and Contemporary Jewish Philosophy. The reviewer argues that “R. Soloveitchik took secular philosophy as a foil rather than as a foun-dation for his own hashkafa, which was deeply rooted in Jewish sources.”While the Rav’s work was often dedicated to harmonizing Torah hashkafa and halakha, in our Jewish Thought section we deal with two other twentieth-century Jewish thinkers who emphasized one above the other and who consequently are considered on the fringes of Orthodoxy. In an “Introduction to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Philosophy” we see that for Heschel the values and philosophy of Judaism overshadowed the importance of halakha. On the other hand, in “Sanctifying Our Choices: The Solution to the Paradox of Orthodoxy,” an essay on the thought of Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz, we see that his thinking was the reverse, that all emphasis should be placed on halakha.The thought of another famous thinker who dealt with the challenges of modernity is explored in “Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on Jews in a Non-Jewish World,” which features the first English language translation of a book review by Rav Hirsch where he expounds about the appreciation Jews can get about Judaism itself from reading works that deal with Christian life. And in “The Life and Work of Dr. Menachem Mendel Yehudah Leib Sergei: A Torah U-Madda Titan in the Early Twentieth Century” we are introduced to and inspired by a unique but overlooked Jewish physician “who combines Torah, fear of G-d, and wisdom in an extraordinary way.”Several articles deal with censorship. In our Forum section, two scholars debate whether ArtScroll censored Rashi to disguise a non-traditional opinion of his, and present differing views on Rashi’s inter-pretation of the term tikun soferim. In “The Brothers Tugendhold &amp; Jewish Censorship in the Nineteenth Century: Addition and Subtrac-tion in the Warsaw 1853 Ḥumash,” the author examines the motives and guidelines behind Jewish self-censorship a century ago. In “The Ban on R. Yeḥiel Michal Pines in Jerusalem and his relationship with his brother-in-law, Rabbi David Friedman of Karlin,” we read of another type of “censorship” targeting what the Zealots of Jerusalem considered the intrusion of foreign influences into the Holy City of Jerusalem. In our Minhag section in an article entitled “Is it Permissible to turn one’s back to the Hekhal or Kotel During Qabbalat Shabbat?” the author objects to what he considers an errant new custom.A Hebrew article on Halakha looks at the RCA’s prenuptial agreement, calling for its wider acceptance, while an English-language article “A Prenuptial Agreement by and for the Ḥaredi Community” presents a new such agreement that has haskamot from the Ḥaredi world.Apropos of the season of Teshuva, a comprehensive article on “Rehashing The Free Will Question” examines all the explanations that have been put forth over the generations to deal with this challenging issue. In our Torah and Medicine Section “Epigenetics Revolution: The Power to Self-regulate and Control Human Behavior” issues of halakha and hashkafa are addressed, as the authors use the latest advances in science to propose “that there might be a molecular/cellular understanding, based on epigenetics, of how a lifestyle devoted to doing mitzvot can enhance this capacity to control behavior.”</p>

Hakirah: The Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought: (Volume 27)

Bedzow, Ira

Shapiro, Marc B.

Triebitz, Meir

Herczeg, Yisrael Isser Zvi

Loike, John D.

Tendler, Moshe D.

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