Many years ago, a shaliach I worked with told me about a sefer he was learning, leading up to Rosh Hashana. He showed me the cover, and spoke about how much he loved it. So, of course, when I happened to be travelling to Israel the next week, I picked up a copy. I read almost the entirety of Rimzei Elul, by Rabbi Eyal Vered, on the flight home. Rabbi Vered is the kind of person whose personality you feel through the Torah he shares. It is insightful, deep, personal and original. In the years since, I’ve learned his books on the Sfas Emes (there’s one on the parsha, and one on the chagim), which reflect his interpretations of the Gerer Rebbe’s Torah.
Last year, I picked up Avodat HaNefesh, his sefer about living a contemporary life in light of the Torah of Chassidus. It had all the same qualities as his previous sefrim, and I enjoyed it enormously. The book is divided into three parts – our relationship with Hashem, ourselves, and our fellow human beings. Each part has many sub-chapters, each on a different theme. One of the unique aspects of his approach, other than doing an outstanding job of making Chassidus relevant, is that most chapters are followed by a story or insight from Rabbi Vered’s own life. It’s a kind of “thinking out loud” that helps us, as the learners, see what it means to live a deeply religious life. The stories are not grandiose, and will not appear in his “Artscroll biography,” but they are revealing and meaningful.
Rabbi Vered is a wonderful example of the Torah of Eretz Yisrael. On the one hand, it is a mix of Rav Kook, Chassidus, and modern Israeli life. On the other, it is daring in a way that North American Torah tends not to be, in the sense that his writing is personal and real, not theoretical and pilpulistic. He’s not trying to solve a textual or technical problem, but a life problem of how Torah applies to modern life.
If anyone knows Rabbi Vered and can put us in touch, I’d be exceptionally grateful.
Just Because I Liked It:
- Every morning I get ‘A Minute From Rav Meilech,’ Rav Elimech Biderman, a scion of the Lelover Chassidus. I’ll admit that I don’t listen to each one, but whenever I do, I leave happier. His energy is infectious, and his ideas are always real and relevant.
- Hillel Rapp’s articles are always thought provoking, and this one on teaching the Palestinian narrative post October 7 is no exception.