The Kosher Bookworm: Why a teacher is reviewing a book by a writer named Student

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By Alan Jay Gerber

Issue of August 7, 2009 / 17 Av 5769

Our review this week is of a book by an author named Gil Student. As unlikely a name as this may be, the material contained in his work is even more intriguing.

“Posts Along The Way, Volume One: Shul” is, according to Rabbi Gil Student, an adaptation of Torah teachings from his popular blog, Hirhurim, which expresses opinions on Jewish law and practice and welcomes studied and informed replies. The book contains a vast array of discussions and questions concerning nearly every conceivable major contemporary issue dealing with the shul.

Unlike many others, the Hirhurim blog reflects a responsible take on its subject matter. Absent is the rancor and slander that daily inhabit other blogs claiming to represent traditional Judaism.

Within the book’s 261 pages are to be found topics normally found in halachic or rabbinic journals. It is divided into four main sections. The first, Praying and Prayers, consists of twenty-one entries that include extensive discussions on Jewish prayer such as Jewish liturgical practice, prayer texts and variant practices, the use of Hebrew, Carlebach minyanim, the appropriate timing for prayer, proper times for the attendance of children at services, meditations as additions to the main service and, that all time favorite, talking during davening.

Another section deals with issues of rabbis and cantors, including can a ba’al Teshuvah (returnee to observance), a convert or a woman become a rabbi? The give and take is quite open, with each side given its due. Some of the conclusions will surprise you; other may anger you.

The largest section is titled Women’s Roles; not surprisingly, this is the “hottest” item in a book of hot button issues.

The centerpiece of the section deals with women’s prayer groups; the positions of a number of great rabbinic luminaries are given their due, among them Rav Joseph Soloveitchik zt”l, Rav Eliezer Berkovitz zt”l, Rav Hershel Schachter, Rav J. David Bleich and Rav Yehuda Henkin. Each set of opinions, taken together, represent a balanced point of view on this most emotional of issues.

Other issues related to women include a discussion about calling women to the Torah. At appropriate moments Rabbi Student adeptly files his own take which serves to remind the reader that this is a book of the author’s creation.

Student’s opinions are sure to set you thinking about issues you might not have previously considered important to you. Others cited for their p’sak serve to frame the discussion with Da’as Torah that informs Rabbi Student’s opinions throughout.

The last section, titled Shuls, deals with the sensitive issue of the mechitzah. The pros and cons presented, and Rabbi Student’s take, serve to conclude the discussion.

One fascinating section deals with the history of the style of congregational singing found in Young Israel shuls. The author delineates a series of short takes on what went into the adoption by the Young Israel movement, 100-years ago, the style of prayer that avoids phrase repetition and responsive readings, and adopt a rather “untraditional” musical mode, one not found in the shtibelech of the past.

Not noted by the author in his critique is the fact that the musical nusach that is the signature of the Young Israel movement did indeed have its origin in the shteibel, specifically the Shinover Shteibel on the Lower East Side.

Taken together with the outlawing of the commercial aspects found in many other Orthodox shuls today, it is no wonder that the Young Israel movement, together with the OU’s NCSY, has survived for close to a century as the prime youth movement in Orthodoxy in the United States today.

At one time in the near past this would have not been thought possible. This volume consists of 223 detailed and very informed scholarly footnotes to help the reader in his or her further studies; a source index of three pages and a subject index of sixteen pages.

Rabbi Student grew up in Teaneck, N.J. He attended the Solomon Schechter of Bergen County elementary school, Frisch High School, and Yeshiva University. He learned in Rav Mayer Twersky’s shiur for five years, the last in the yeshiva’s Kollel. Beginning as an actuary he later moved into finance in the bond industry. In 2002, Rabbi Student published his first work, “Can the Rebbe be Moshiach?” that brought forth detailed proofs from the Talmud, Midrash and Rambam that the late Lubavitcher Rebbe zt”l could not be the long awaited messiah.

In 2004 Student started a publishing house called Yashar Books, publishing works of contemporary Orthodox Jewish scholarship. His publishing experience led him recently to assume the position of managing editor of the Orthodox Union’s newly established OU Press. More on that iy”H in future editions of The Kosher Bookworm.

Student’s blog has proven for all to see the value of the Internet and blogs in the dissemination of Torah studies. He has proved that responsible journalism can be accomplished without the use of sensationalism and yellow journalism. Rabbi Gil Student is to be commended for this, his first volume of his blog’s work.

THE KOSHER BOOKSHELF

I would like to bring to your attention, briefly, several books and one recording, recently received, which may be subjects for future review.

Journalist and author Yaakov Astor has recently finished the second volume in his “The Hidden Hand” series, (Judaica Press,2009} dealing with the history of the Holocaust from a theological point of view. The author’s style is easy to read and understand. Each chapter is fully footnoted; a glossary and bibliography is at the end of the book.

Another book is “A Tale of Two Worlds: the biographies of Rabbi Dovid and Basya Bender” (Artscroll, 2009) by Devorah Gliksman. This 656 page volume will make for especial reading for those on the South Shore who revere the legacy of the Bender family and their role in Jewish education that lives to this day at Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway.

Lastly, a unique two CD set titled “Tefila L’Dovid” features a weekday morning service with Hallel by one of the greatest cantors in Jewish history, Chazzan Dovid Kusevitsky, z”l. Recorded live in 1973 in Tel Aviv, it is newly released by Cantor Robert Vegh and distributed by Aderet.