10:00 AM
Gil Student
From a summary of a 1955 speech of R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik to RIETS Rabbinic Alumni:
The Rav described the new intellectual stature of the young American Jewish layman and their search for depth. Only the rabbi who is a lamdan can satisfy this. Only such a rabbi can sufficiently portray the depth of Jewish learning for an intellectually thirsty community. We must not underestimate our audience. We must teach them substance; not "about" Torah, but Torah itself. Is we teach Chumash and rashi, it must challenge the students with deep insights behind the words. And must undertake to find a common language with such laymen, so as to properly communicate the depth of Torah...
The Rav called upon the Rabbinic Alumni as well as the Rabbinical Council to develop a deeper religious literature. He felt that in this way we will earn the respect of the American Jewish religious intelligentsia which continues to grow steadily. There are academics, intellectual Jews, in every Jewish family, and if we gain their respect we will have the respect of at least another ten people. If we lose their respect, we lose the others. There is no land anywhere that respects intellectual greatness as does America. Jews in America have unlimited admiration for intellectual attainment. It should be a project of Yeshiva to establish a research center for Jewish thought. Let the American Jewish intelligentsia know that we have a high intellectual stature, and they will respect us because of it.
