{"id":42543,"date":"2012-03-27T19:04:38","date_gmt":"2012-03-28T03:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=42543"},"modified":"2012-03-27T19:21:46","modified_gmt":"2012-03-28T03:21:46","slug":"was-isadore-twersky-a-rationalist-or-a-mystic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=42543","title":{"rendered":"Was Isadore Twersky A Rationalist Or A Mystic?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marc B. Shapiro was Harvard professor Isadore Twersky<\/a>‘s last major student. <\/p>\n

In his fifth lecture on R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinksi<\/a> for Torah in Motion<\/a>, history professor Marc B. Shapiro<\/a> says: If you went to Rabbi Isadore Twersky’s shul on Shabbos when he was wearing his long kaputta (black coat), you would see a Hasidic rebbe. On the other hand, if you were with him during the week like I was, you would see a rationalist. A Brisker. Which was he? His whole life was lived as a rationalist, as a Maimonidean. On his death bed, he said that if he had to do it over again, he’d be a rosh yeshiva. <\/p>\n

“I met with him almost every day for five years and the Isadore Twersky I knew was very much a rationalist. How this works with being a Hasidic rebbe on Shabbos? I don’t know.”<\/p>\n

“Professor Twersky could’ve been a leader of Orthodoxy in America. People confused him with Abraham Twersky. They didn’t know who he was. He was content to stay in his area (medieval Jewry). He could’ve been a scholar in residence at shuls. He could’ve written article like Rav [Aharon] Lichtenstein<\/a>, putting forth his vision of Torah and modernity.”<\/p>\n

“I didn’t go to Isadore Twersky’s shul except on rare occasions. I found it very hard to talk to him about Maimonidean stuff and then see him on Shabbos in a different mode. I didn’t know what to call him on Shabbos. During the week, I called him Professor Twersky.”<\/p>\n

“Twersky got annoyed with me. He said I had a chip on my shoulder about the Hasidim. He said it bothered him that I was such a mitnaged. He thought I was prejudiced on behalf of the Vilna Gaon and against the Hasidim.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marc B. Shapiro was Harvard professor Isadore Twersky‘s last major student. In his fifth lecture on R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinksi for Torah in Motion, history professor Marc B. Shapiro says: If you went to Rabbi Isadore Twersky’s shul on Shabbos … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marc-b-shapiro"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t