The Pillar of Volozhin

Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin and the World of Nineteenth Century Lithuanian Torah Scholarship

Gil Perl S author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Academic Studies Press

Published:30th Mar '12

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Pillar of Volozhin cover

The work of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, the Neziv, ranks amongst the most often read rabbinic literature of the nineteenth century. His breadth of learning, unabashed creativity, and penchant for walking against the stream of the rabbinic commentarial establishment has made his commentaries a favorite amongst rabbinic scholars and scholars of rabbinics alike. Yet, to date, there has been no comprehensive and systematic attempt to place his intellectual oeuvre into its historical context - until now.

In the Pillar of Volozhin, Gil Perl traces the influences which helped mould and shape the Neziv’s thinking while also opening new doors into the world of early nineteenth century Lithuanian Torah scholarship, an area heretofore almost completely untouched by academic research.

Perl’s work reflects an intimate knowledge of the broad range of books printed in the nineteenth century by the Lithuanian circle of rabbinic scholars, and shows how those works reflect new interests and emphases in traditional Torah study. Through careful precise nuanced textual analysis, coupled with familiarity with the broad canvas of early modern rabbinic creativity and Lithuanian Haskalah, Perl elucidates, in particular, the originality and significance of nineteenth century Lithuanian midrash commentary and provides very important correctives to the work of scholars who have previously written on this subject. It is a major contribution to the field. -- Jacob J. Schacter, University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought
“No serious biography of Netziv exists; but Gil S. Perl’s The Pillar of Volozhin, a revision of the author’s Harvard doctoral dissertation, not only sheds light on the rabbi’s intellectual development but also identifies a key historical watershed for the Litvish intellectual elite.…Much of the contemporary yeshiva leadership believes it is following Jewish tradition by focusing narrowly on talmudic learning to the exclusion of other fields of knowledge and diverse points of view. In this perceptive book, Gil Perl reveals just how recently this assumption emerged." -- Lawrence Grossman, director of publications at the American Jewish Committee * Jewish Ideas Daily *

ISBN: 9781936235704

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

325 pages