9:37 AM
Gil Student
Elijah Schochet and Solomon Spiro, Saul Lieberman: The Man and his Work:
Lieberman was greatly displeased by a senior sermon delivered on December 11, 1954, parshat Vayishlah, in the Seminary synagogue by one of his students, Baruch Levine, in which Levine criticized the Patriarch Jacob for his deviousness. Lieberman was particularly distressed when Levine, dealing with the etymology of "Yaakov," described Jacob as "the crooked one." Lieberman responded by spending the entire ensuing Talmud class publicly rebuking Levine for his critique of the Patriarch, implying that, like the ancient Greek hero who burned down the palace of Apollo to gain fame, Levine may have been motivated by vainglory in denigrating the sacred. (p. 163)
Lieberman stated that a rabbi must not "debunk" the heroes of our people. After all, would an American politician vilify Abraham Lincoln? (p. 217)
Some five years later, Lieberman visited Brandeis University for the opening of the Philip W. Lown Institute of Advanced Jewish Studies. Levine, by then a doctoral student at Brandeis, also attended the opening events. When Lieberman saw Levine, he casually inquired, "What about Yaakov avinu [our father Jacob]?" Levine replied, with a slight change in one word in a pasage in Isaiah (40:4) so that it read, "V'haya Yaakov l'meshor" ("Jacob shall be straight," namely, that which was crooked shall become straight). Levine intended a second meaning, namely, that his own understanding of Jacob had been straightened out, due to Lieberman's explanation--whereupon Lieberman responded, enjoying the pun and appreciating the change in attitude, "Very good Levine." (p. 164)
