I read two very different books over Rosh Hashana, and since they each have a Yom Kippur component, I don’t think it’s too late to share.
The first I came across quite serendipitously. I had just finished an errand for school and was looking for somewhere to get a sandwich before heading home. On the way, I passed a second-hand seforim store. Outside there were bins of seforim – all for a dollar! I couldn’t pass that up, and in less than 30 seconds came across A Machzor Companion by Rabbi Moshe Eismann. Years ago I read a wonderful book by Rabbi Eismann, a commentary on the story of the Meraglim (see here), so I was more than excited to find this book – a real siyata dishmaya moment!
The book is an interesting combination of a close reading of the Machzor text, and religious philosophy. In each chapter, he chooses a few words or a phrase, and unpacks the ideas behind them. While Rabbi Eismann’s breadth of Torah knowledge is impressive, it is his philosophical approach that I find quite unique for this genre. Sometimes I found his writing a little less focused, overall the ideas were powerful, and deepened my understanding of the tefilot, especially the insertions in the shmoneh esrai (which you should go back and read if you buy the book, even though they are in the Rosh Hashana section).
The second book I came across at the neighborhood seforim store while doing back-to-school shopping for my kids. Another amazing find – for only $12.99! It was an early translation of Rav Shagar’s work, The Human and the Infinite: Discourses on the Meaning of Penitence. Rav Shagar, certainly in these essays, has a very conceptual bent, and is far less textually grounded than Rabbi Eismann. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that he uses Chassidic texts as reference points along the way to developing a Rosh Hashana or Teshuva-themed idea.
I should note that Rav Shagar was an incredibly important person on my Torah journey, from the moment I encountered his writings over 15 years ago. The reason why is made explicit by him on the back cover of this book. He says, “My intention has always been to move beyond the intellectual grasp of the material I teach. My aim is to enable my students to feel the life-changing power that lies in the Torah. My efforts are aimed at finding the proper ‘language’ that will allow the translation of the words of our Sages and the Rishonim into an idiom that can be understood in our postmodern world… This must be accomplished without damaging the classic understanding of limud Torah as the covenant between the student and G-d.” That about says it all.
While not every essay made an impact, a few are just beautiful. He has a very unique and powerful reading of the story of Rebbe Eliezer ben Durdaya (the Maharal has an entire volume explaining this story, and it’s worth reading them in contrast), as well as many nuggets of deep insight about religious practice in our age. The themes of responsibility and authenticity are present throughout, and on Rosh Hashana, this made for a powerful guiding light.
I will say that I’ve always found translations of Rav Shagar’s work stilted and hard to read, less powerful and smooth than their original Hebrew (even when he wasn’t the one writing the texts, and when they were transcribed from lectures). His best works, I think, are his shiurim on Rebbe Nachman, and some of the essays from the collection, Shivrei Luchot (I couldn’t find links to these online). Still, this is a short book worth reading and owning.
Just Because I Liked It:
- I stopped listening to Revisionist History a few years ago (it got super boring), Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast, but found him again recently. I enjoyed the first episode of this season (12), about the bribery scandal at major US universities, which I’d read about at the time. I then looked at season 12, which is all about Hitler (well, basically). I’m going to keep listening!
- Is it a silver lining when Jews turn to Judaism because of anti-semitism? Seems complicated, if true historically as it is now. The NYT recently covered this phenomenon here.