Tuesday, August 21, 2012
The Jewish Observer on the JTS on R. Yisrael Salanter
Here's a bit of vintage Jewish Observer, displaying indignation that the JTS might feel that it has an interest in R. Yisrael Salanter, and his portrayal on a radio show. Touches on an important legend about R. Yisrael Salanter, much treated in the literature. May 1978. Some Spinoza thrown in at the end for good measure.
Are the JO's online, or is this your scan?
ReplyDeleteNot online.
ReplyDeleteInteresting!!!
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ReplyDelete"Study it and discover models to emulate; peruse it and find yet other figures .... to avoid" all it takes is a perusal in order to find the boogeymen while finding models to emulate takes serious study, or are they just trying to make fancy literature?
ReplyDeleteSo the JO starts out with an introduction that tells you that you shouldn't look at history alone; you must do it with the guidance of a "sage".
ReplyDeleteBased on this they make Rabbi Dov Katz into a sage and his series, Tenuas Hamussar into a sympathetic, and of course accurate, source. They then attack JTS's portrayal of the events by assuming that theirs was written by a script writer while Dov Katz's was "documented".
Maybe it's best that The Jewish Observer folded for lack of readership.
Tenuas HaMussar is significant because it documents the movement. We all know that it's oral history, for the most part (much like most writings about Chassidim in the 1800s). In 1978, what other Jewish history writings were available to the editors of the JO? This was pre-Artscroll and Leonard Oschry's translation (The Mussar Movement Vol 1 & 2) only came out in 1977. At least the reference to Or Yisrael are footnoted in that.
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