Page 44 - Demo

I wanted to start from the very beginning, in terms of your upbringing in Chicago. One thing I only learned recently, that might be particularly interesting to our readers, is that your father received semicha from Rav Kook, here in Yerushalayim. Could you tell me about that, and about those people who had an impact on you while growing up in Chicago.Yes, my father received semicha from Rav Kook and I have a copy of it! Our relationship with Rav Kook goes back to Volozhin. My grandfather, Chaim Tzvi HaLevi Rubenshtein, was a colleague of his in Volozhin. When Rav Kook came to Eretz Yisrael, my grandfather also came to Eretz Yisrael, and he came to Yafo, where Rav Kook was the rabbi. My grandfather was the roshyeshiva of the yeshiva %u2018Sha%u2019arei Torah%u2019 in Yafo. The building is a landmark, you can still see it today. Then my grandfather came to Yerushalayim, and Rav Kook came to Yerushalayim as well. Later, my grandfather was sent to America to raise money, the usual advice on how to survive, and in 1911 he came to Chicago. The people in Chicago insisted that he stay %u2013 they said, %u201cYou have to stay, we don%u2019t have a rabbi.%u201d And that%u2019s how we came to Chicago. That%u2019s from my grandfather%u2019s side, on my mother%u2019s side. My father was a student of Rav Shimon Shkop, in the Grodno Yeshiva. My father had an outstanding memory %u2013 he knew everything by heart. In fact, later Rav Kook would say that my father was his bookcase.In 1923, the Alter from Slabodka moved part of the Slabodka Yeshiva to Eretz Yisrael, first to Yerushalayim, and later to Chevron, where it became the Chevron Yeshiva, and today it is the Chevron Yeshiva in Yerushalayim. My father had brothers already in Eretz Yisrael. One was in the Chevron Yeshiva. He also had an older brother who was a socialist, an original kibbutznik, who helped pave the streets of Tel Aviv by hand. So, my father came, and in 1925, Rav Kook founded the yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, which at its origin was only for geniuses, for outstanding students. My father was there from 1925 to 1929. He was very good A distinguished scholar, lecturer, and author of many popular works of Jewish history, Rabbi Berel Wein helped shape the Orthodox Jewish community of America as we know it today. After an illustrious career in the American rabbinate, Rabbi Wein moved to Israel in 1997 and has since served as the Rav of Bet Knesset Hanasi in Rechavia, Jerusalem. In this interview, Rabbi Aron White engages Rabbi Wein in a thought-provoking discussion on the current state of Israel and America, and the future of the Jewish people.An Interviewwith Rabbi Berel WeinFrom to Chicago Yerushalayim 44 |