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

R’ Menashe Klein in Mishneh Halachot 9:406–409: Various Issues in Providing Initial Guidance to a Baal Teshuvah. What May or Should Be Done to Dissuade a Sibling from Marrying a Gentile. What Was Permitted to Be Done for Soviet Jewry. - Dec 1, 2024 - Charedim in IDF. R' Nahum Rabinovitch & the problem student. Dr. Yaakov Tendler, R' Mordechai Tendler, & R' Moshe. Mishneh Halachot (MH) 9:406: Baal Teshuvah (BT) wants to return to college. R' Elazar Spira of Munkatch: German Jews successfully attending university is no proof for us. Hostility to Agudah. Machon Meir's view is don't run away from your life. Torah observance in Israeli universities is much better now. R' Menashe is against return to college. MH 9:407: Initial guidance for a BT. Noda Biyhudah on תשובת המשקל. Suffering pain as repentance for previous forbidden enjoyments is not effective today. Torah learning is. Sighet Rebbe advises BT in Vienna to grow a beard. BT refuses. Guidance to BT depends on his background. Yiddishkeit requires looking in both directions. MH 9:408: Everything at once for BT or slowly? YU vs. Touro. Shabbat is hard for BT. MH on how BT should daven. Rami Levi's daughter. Provide a family to the BT. Be gracious. MH 9:409: How far should brother go to prevent sibling marrying a gentile? Maplewood: Kohen to marry a convert. What is permitted to save someone's spiritual life? What was permitted to be done for Soviet Jews under Aryeh Kroll.

The Move of Mir Yeshiva to Kobe, Japan and Then to Shanghai. Why and How the Japanese Treated Mir Yeshiva More or Less Nicely. Why Memoir Literature Did Not Exist before the 1800s. - Nov 25, 2024 - Rules on the Charedi Army base. How & why Japanese were friendly to Mir Yeshiva (MY). Jacob Schiff & the Japanese loan. How homes in Moscow were heated. How money was raised in the US to pay for transportation of MY from Vilna to Vladivostok. Irving Bunim's Shabbat taxi ride. Jewish community in Kobe before MY. Method of transfer of money from NY to USSR government. Matzah & wine sent to Kobe. Additional reasons the Japanese admired the MY community. Move to Shanghai. R' Meir Ashkenazi in Shanghai. Yosef Tungenhaft. R' Shneur Kotler's fiancée in Shanghai. The Shanghai synagogue. Why R' Finkel did not join Agudah & similarly R' Yaakov-Moshe Lessin & R' Dovid Lifshitz. Pearl Harbor. Publishing Torah books in Shanghai. Forced movement of the Jews in Shanghai into a slum-ghetto. Bodies of Chinese lying on the street. Theological lesson from both the 1924 visit of the 3 rabbis to the US & the dead bodies in Shanghai. WW II ends. R' Finkel in Palestine. R' Avraham Kalmanowitz in NY saved MY. Henry Morgenthau. Miracle after miracle. Explanation of the role of memoir literature & why it did not exist pre-1800s. Yeshivot Lita by Immanuel Etkes & Shlomo Tikochinski. Jay Shapiro. Silver Era.

R’ Menashe Klein in Mishneh Halachot. Bat Nidah. When Should We Not Mekarev Someone? Limited Resources Should Not Be Totally Taken Away from Frum from Birth Jews for Kiruv Purposes. Attending University. Becoming Frum but Only after Pesach. - Nov 24, 2024 - Charedim in Army. Understanding Bat Nidah. R' Moshe Feinstein. Mikvah shows family dedication. Chazon Ish: Daughters of 2 mothers who didn’t cover hair. Implication of kallah's personality. When & where you live is relevant. Mishneh Halachot 13:168: Disclosing a פגם. Emotional end of Teshuvah. M.H. 9:405: When should we NOT mekarev someone? Hillel vs. Shamai. Maharsha. Hillel is correct. R' Yitzchak Elchanan giving Semichah to rabbis moving to US. Fifth section of Shulchan Aruch. Shabbat is much more than 1 day of freedom from cellphones. R' Menashe: Use common sense & intuition with קירוב. Crucial to let them start learning. Torah study is so unique to Judaism. R' Y.Y. Weinberg positive view on gentiles attending Torah lectures. R' Menashe: Pushing someone away resulted in Jesus & Amalek. BMT student who lit fire on Shabbat. Example of Chabad Shaluach not interested in frum Jews. R' Menashe: Don't help Ba'alei Teshuvah at expense of Jews devoted from birth to Torah. Outreach in Maplewood. M.H. 9:406: Ba'al Teshuvah wants to spend 2 more years in university. R' Menashe: No vs. R' Kotler: Yes. Couple will become frum but after Pesach. Couple will become frum but after Yamim Noraim.

Mir Yeshiva Post WW I With Some Emphasis on the Effects of the Composition of the Student Body and Then The First Stages of Its Escape From Europe Focusing on the Personalities and Institutions Who Played Crucial Roles - Nov 18, 2024 - Was a Russian woman olah Jewish? President Trump & alcohol. Esther Farbstein's book. Telz Yeshiva girl's school. Women survivors. Mir, post WWI. The effects of German students coming to Mir. R' Eliezer Yehuda Finkel's appreciation of Brisk & support of R' Velvel. Russian olim visit Machane Yehuda. Note taking of American students in Mir. American students & European students interact. Elul in Mir. R' Rakeffet visits Israeli yeshivot. The Rav & yarchei kallah. R' Yeruchom Levovitz. Mussar. R' Zelig Epstein. 1924 visit of 3 rabbis to the US. In 1920s R' Finkel and R' Kalmanowitz visit US for fundraising. Ezras Torah & Mir. Joint Distribution Committee. R' Chaim Ozer & Va'ad Hayeshivot. R' Eliezer Silver sends Dr. Samuel Schmidt to Vilna to R' Chaim Ozer. His report is impetus for Va'ad Hatzalah which saves Mir. Last Simchat Torah in Mir. Move to Vilna. Shuls & Torah education in USSR. R' Eliezer Portnoy gets visas & decides Shanghai, not Israel, is feasible. The two Dutch students. Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara & his German assistant. Curaçao. Zorach Warhaftig pressures R' Finkle. R' Moshe Hillel Hirsch, R' Shraga Kallus, R' Harry Maryles, all on Charedim and IDF. Vatican & grape juice.

R' Menashe Klein in Mishneh Halachot 13:166-8: Divulging a Pegam פגם of Someone Where There is no Halakhic Violation That Will Result from the Existence of the Pegam and Marriage is Involved - Nov 17, 2024 - R' Essas. Mishneh Halachot 13:166: Take intermarried & assimilated Jews out of USSR first. They were vulnerable. 13:167: Preferred destination is Israel. A proper environment is crucial. The kippah. Charedi world feels they need a ghetto. Short overview of Russian Jews in Israel. Mikvaot in US pre-1945. R' Chaim Noble. There are almost no apikorsim today. We don't need an army?!!! General view of a couple marrying each other where there is a פגם. Yevamot 45a on problem of marrying a kosher child whose father was a gentile. Rebbe's daughter marries a Litvak's son. R' Lau's role model for his marriage. A kosher woman whom a kohen should nevertheless not marry. Person should not divulge his status unless a halakhic violation will result. The shul in Maplewood. Kidushin 69a: Ten יוחסין went up from Bavel. Ezra worked out their statuses in Bavel. Rabbis & "rabbis" in the US during R' Jacob Joseph's period of history. Trial quasi-marriages. Kidushin 76b: In Lishkat haGazit the status of Kohanim & Levi'im was determined & then no further checking was done. Shmaya & Avtalyon. The division of Mo'atzah haDatit that determines status of Russian olim. Person does not divulge his own פגם.

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.

R' Menashe Klein: Conversions in the USSR in the 1980s (Mishneh Halachot 13:164-5). Converting a Minor. Mother is Gentile, Father Jewish. 13:166: Should a Learned, Capable Teacher Leave the Soviet Union? Essas Family - Nov 10, 2024 - Bnei Noach have chelek be-Olam ha-Ba ke-Yisrael. Converting children al da'at bet din for day school attendance where mother not Jewish. R' Moshe: With good teachers, convert. Is Israel a better or worse environment for this than the US? Mishneh Halachot 13:164: Timna married Esau because of her rejection by Avraham & Amalek was born vs. Moshe accepting Erev Rav. R' Menashe Klein: Don't convert gentiles. 13:165: What if father is Jewish, mother not? Ben Gurion hated the period of exile but we survived great difficulties in galut. Student in Machon Gold with Jewish mother & Italian father nevertheless wanted conversion because of Rashi. R' Menashe: Gentile girl named Gitel: Evaluate her case. Ezra 10:3: Gentile mothers & their children sent away, but Ruth was not. Using slavery to remove mamzerut status shows zera Yisrael is very important & thus a mamzer is not sent away. R' Menashe: Convert in gentile mother cases if there is sincerity. 13:166: A Jew in Russia is a learned teacher, should he leave USSR? Story of Elya Essas, a learned teacher. R' Menashe: Leave USSR (pikuach nefesh) preferably to Israel. Description of Russian Jewish society in Israel now. Eat matzah & then maror.

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.