YUTORAH: R' Dr. Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff -- Recent Shiurim

The Growth of Mir Yeshiva and its Increasing Influence on the Torah World. Mir Flees Poland and Then Returns. Impact of WW I. Mussar Movement. American Jews Support Mir Yeshiva. German Orthodoxy. Brisk. Some of the Great Graduates of Mir Yeshiva. - Nov 11, 2024 - The three periods in the development of Mir Yeshiva (MY): 1815 to WW I, WW I to 1921, and 1921 onward. Reform Judaism's impact on MY was that teaching must no longer be desultory. R' Eliezer Yehuda Finkel transforms MY. MY forced to move away from the war to Ukraine. MY can't function under Communism therefore it returned to Poland. Why Communism and religion cannot coexist. R' Avraham Tzvi Kamai had bekiyut and general knowledge vs. R' Eliezer Yehuda Finkel who had great chidushim. Pulmus HaMussar book. Three reasons for opposition to Mussar Movement pre WW I. Three reasons for a significant drop in opposition post WW I. R' Yerucham Levovitz, as Mashgiach, "put Mir on the map". R' Chanoch Fishman. US Jewry post-WW I played a vital role supporting both MY in particular and the Jews of E. Europe in general. JDC-The Joint. The 1924 visit of three rabbis to US. Why students from Germany studied in MY post WW I. Synthesis of R' Hirsch and the Torah of E. Europe. Effect of German students and US students studying in MY. The bekiyut drive. R' Yechezkel Levenstein. Bidirectional impact of Brisk and MY on each other. Brisker Rav. Some of the great graduates of MY. Alexander's store in NYC.

Responsa - November 10 - Nov 10, 2024 -

Final Comments on Volozhin Yeshiva. The Quiet Beginning of Mir Yeshiva in 1815. The Primitive Nature of the City of Mir. The Early Years of Mir Yeshiva. It's Founder and Ensuing Roshei Yeshiva. - Nov 4, 2024 - Is Chatan Torah superior to Chatan בראשית? List of students in Volozhin. R' Yitzchak Nissenbaum's memoir. Volozhin student who shaved with a razor blade. Brief description of the primitive city of Mir and its history. R' Shmuel Kalman Mirsky. R' Belkin. Mir begins quietly in 1815. Founder: R' Shmuel Tiktinsky, businessman and Talmudic scholar. Students at first supported but not efficiently. Regular daily shiurim. Son, Avrohom, took over 1823. Chaim Leib Tiktinsky took over. He had great teaching ability. Machloket in Mir and resolution that there should be a City Rav and a separate Rosh Yeshiva. Mir Yeshiva (MY) was a family institution as was RIETS at its 1915 beginning. Itinerant fundraisers. Students now paid based on ability not the size of their hometown donations to MY. R' Eliyahu Baruch Kamai became Rosh Yeshiva. R' Eliezer Yehuda Finkel married R' Kamai's daughter (1903). He became Rosh Yeshiva. R' Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg. Formation of Joint Distribution Committee in US after WW I. Opposition to Mussar Movement shifted to more acceptance because of the horrors of WW I and evils of Communism. R' Finkel moved up to Palestine and restarted MY there. R' Yechezkel Levenstein.

Overview of Talmud Bavli Sources on Conversion. R' Menashe Klein: Conversions in the USSR in the 1980s (Mishneh Halachot 13:164-5). Converting a Minor. - Nov 3, 2024 - The Chassidic descendant of the Noda Biyhudah. The N.B.'s teshuvah against Chassidim. Mussar movement and the Rav. Mishneh Halachot 13:164 and 165. An overview and analysis of the very small number of sources in Talmud Bavli dealing with conversion. Conversion (C) for ulterior motives. C for psychological reasons. C in time of Kings David and Solomon. Rambam Issurei Bi'ah 13:15. C out of fear or economic benefits. Waiting to see future behavior of convert. Inform convert about Jewish suffering, a variety of mitzvot, and also the increased economic costs of being Jewish. The convert who intends to live like Moshe Dayan. Are converts a benefit or a problem? Converting minors is linked to issue of whether C is a benefit or a cost. Person in adulthood discovers he was converted as a child. Where convert is to live is important such as in N.Y., small-town America, or Israel. In the 1980s, that life in Israel was superior to in USSR was an issue with respect to the validity of Cs. R' Menashe's advice to someone working with Jews in Russia: Don't get involve with Cs. What if only the father was Jewish? Why Israeli citizenship was granted if only one grandparent was Jewish.

The Movement of the Litvish Torah World from Europe to America. The Improvement in Torah Education After the Civil War in the US. R' Shlomo Polachek—The Meitscheter Illui. Others Who Came to America After R' Polachek. - Oct 28, 2024 - Netanel Hershkovitz. Living outside Israel. Writing history accurately vs. storytelling: R' J.J. Schacter, R' Shimon Schwab, My Uncle the Netziv, ArtScroll, & the Chumash where faults are in fact described. History prepares us for life. The improvement in teaching children Torah in America from the dismal level of the 1870s, to Eitz Chaim in 1886. R' Moshe Matlin's son & his friends. R' Revel & the beginning of what became YU. Need for a superior Rosh Yeshivah. R' Shlomo Polachek—Meitscheter Illui (MI) by Dovi Safier. The MI is accepted to Volozhin age 12. How he so impressed R' Chaim Brisker. MI's Bar Mitzvah in Volozhin. R' Meltzer. MI moves to Lida. MI is supportive of Mizrahi. His relationship to his teacher R' Aaron Rabinowitz, son-in-law of R' Reines. Tachkemoni schools in Poland. MI to Bialystok. R' Revel brings MI to RIETS. How MI was so adored by all, especially his students. His goals that he did not accomplish. His knowledge of the world. Baseball. His untimely death. R' Shimon Shkop. R' Moshe Soloveichik & family, R' Shlomo Heiman, R' Kotler, R' Ruderman, 1/2 of Mir Yeshiva all move to the US. MI's children. Description of actual & potential successors to Dr. Belkin.

The Yeshiva in Volozhin (As Opposed to Volozhin Yeshiva): It's Reopening in 1899. Description of How it Functioned and of the Individuals Who Taught and Studied There. Their Accomplishments After Leaving the Yeshiva. - Oct 7, 2024 - Baruch ha-Levi Epstein: Author of Torah Temimah and Mekor Barukh. How he related to his aunt. The sometimes eccentric nature of geniuses. Aryeh Deri. Memoir of Dr. Hirsch Leib Gordon. His life. R' Shimon Shkop in America and in YU. His relationship with Dr. Belkin. His return to Grodno. The Cantonist mailman at Volozhin Yeshiva (VY). Zionism in reopened VY. R' Refael Shapiro: Description of him as Rosh Yeshiva at VY and how his dedication to Torah learning and deportment inspired people. R' Lessin, R' Volk, and Ne'ilah on Yom Kippur. Daniel Persky and his famous relatives. Hadoar and the Rav. Description of learning in reopened VY. Pinchos Churgin's role at YU's Teachers' Institute. Contest for presidency of YU. Churgin starts Bar Ilan University. Refurbishing of VY building in recent years. Eating only over-baked, burnt matzah. Short chazarat hashatz at Minchah. The book My Uncle the Netziv. Possible reasons it was banned. The Rav and the Chazon Ish together in Vilna. Comments on marriage, in the past as opposed to the present.

History of Eastern European Yeshivot - September 30 - Sep 30, 2024 - R' Froman. Torah & secular education: Not under one roof. Revel: COD. Cincinnati Torah dedication responsum of Netziv. Synthesis vs. harmonious coexistence. Colleges in Brooklyn. Book by Yosef Mendelevitch. Deaths of both Netziv & R' Chaim Berlin in Warsaw. Their matzeivot. Halakhic wills. Get mi'ahavah. Sefer Volozhin, English & Hebrew editions. Pg. 476: Rayna Batya Miriam Berlin, mother of Meir Bar-Ilan (Berlin): Story of her life by her son. As the Rebbetzin of Volozhin Yeshiva (VY) she made sure proper food, medical care, and other needs were provided to the students. R' Yitzchak Blazer. Bavli Yoma 29a: It's more difficult to learn what you forgot. Similarly, rebuilding what is lost is more difficult than creating anew. Similar situations: YaChaL post-WW2. R' Revel would not stop YU growth in spite of Depression. 1899: VY reopened. Existence of other successful yeshivot kept students elsewhere. Secular education & Russian secret police not relevant now. Telz view of Slobodka. Description of VY Rosh Yeshiva, R' Refael Shapiro. His son R' Yaakov Shapiro takes over. VY in Israel. Hakirah Journal articles: Hearing aids on Shabbat. Same-sex-attraction. Lakewood protest against IDF.

R' Menashe Klein: Teach Torah Only in Hebrew (Mishneh Halachot 13:161). Alternate Opinion: Using Other Languages is Very Important. R' Bronspigel. Chabad. Zionism and Hebrew. Conversions. Converting a Minor. An Evaluation of R' Shlomo Carlebach. - Sep 29, 2024 - R' Israel Rivkin. Why the Rav used the word "bitterly" about pressure on him to Americanize. Mishneh Halachot 13:161. The missing Chatam Sofer source on translating Shas into German. Hamburg temple. Remaining an American Rebbi and not behaving like an Israeli Rebbi. The Rav wrote his public talks in Hebrew but then read them to the audience in Yiddish. Illegible handwriting in manuscripts. Different Hebrew pronunciations. R' Menashe Klein: Teach Torah only in Hebrew. Hebrew kept us while in exile. American requirement to only use English is a similar phenomenon. We resisted the Tsar. ורוממתנו מכל הלשונות comes first and then comes mitzvot. R' Rakeffet's parents and grandparents. Yosef Mendelevitch's arrival. R' Abba Bronspigel's shadchan. R' Menashe attacks attending college. R' Rakeffet: Don't ban Chabad in YU. R' Menashe: Only Hebrew, does not mean I advocate Zionism. The mehadrin tank base. Few responsa on conversions until modern times. Converting in Israel has a superior aspect to it compared to in galut. Some of the issues of converting a minor plus the Rav's policy. זרע בית ישראל. An evaluation of R' Shlomo Carlebach. "In One Era, Out the Other" by Michael Kaufman.

Volozhin Yeshiva: The Role of Secular Education in Causing the Closing of the Yeshiva. R' Chaim Berlin's Letter. The Attitude Toward Secular Education in Volozhin. Rav Soloveitchik's Admiration of YU, It's Teachers, and It's Students. - Sep 23, 2024 - R' Chaim Brisker meets Rambam. R' Shach meets R' Amital. What R' Aharon Lichtenstein learned from Harvard. Comments on the journal Ḥakirah, on those who make it happen. Ḥakirah Fall 2023, p. 98: R' Chaim Berlin's letter states Netziv closed Volozhin to prevent introduction of secular studies. 3 reasons Volozhin closed: Secular studies, R' Chaim vs. R' Chaim dispute, internal violence there seen by the Secret Police as breading revolutionaries. Netziv opposed Austritt. Do not divide the community, educate instead. Netziv saw secular studies were coming. R' Manny Holzer, Irwin Shapiro & the Rav's tapes. The Rav, Vol. 2, p.225: The Rav's support of YU: YU had within it both Torah & secular studies. Congregation Morya: Pressure on the Rav to Americanize. Need to combine fear of God + universal concepts. R' Hirsch. Prof. Mittwoch in slippers. Mishneh Berura on the subway. Characteristics of German Orthodoxy: Frum, lack of Torah knowledge, external deportment, & an aura of dignity. R' Yosef Weiss: If you go to college, study seriously. The Rav felt shiurim at RIETS were on the level of Volozhin and his students were on the highest level both in the world of Torah & of secular studies.

Volozhin Yeshiva: What Led to the Closing of the Yeshiva on February 2, 1892. The Attitude Toward Secular Education in Volozhin Compared to YU. How the Opening of the Russian Secret Police Archive Changed What We Thought. - Sep 16, 2024 - R' Avraham David Cohen. Ben Gurion sent soldiers on deadly mission into Syria: The consequences. Comparison of importance of the two compositions: Ohr Somayach and Meshech Chochma. R' Revel saved R' Joseph Breuer. Sheldon Sokol saved YU. OU hashgachah of YU cafeteria. Why haskalah was less harmful in E. Europe. Attitude of maskilim to Volozhin. Lenin and antisemitism. Vilna Rabbinic Seminary. Finding a shul in Minsk. R' Irwin (Roy) Albert and the Rav. Stealing the four minim. R' Chaim Berlin vs. R' Chaim Soloveitchik. Rejected suggestions for scheduling secular studies in Volozhin. Secular studies in YU: Their scheduling and the interaction with the NY State government. Russian army seals the doors and bans Rabbis Chaim Soloveitchik and Berlin from the Yeshiva for 3 years. Students given 3 days to leave. Why R' Chaim was successful in Brisk. The Rav's hesped for R' Velvel Soloveitchik. R' Rakeffet accused of being a Reform rabbi. Lines left out of Bialik's poem. Millions of pages in the Russian archives opened to delegation from Yad Vashem in Sep. 1989. R' Joseph Breuer: He was saved by R' Revel and did teach for a short period of time at Torah Vodaath.