Rabbi Howard Morrison

Yesterday, the eighteenth of Nissan, marked the twenty-ninth Yahrzeit of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. Known as the Rav, he was the most outstanding figure of American Modern Orthodoxy in the twentieth century. He established Yeshiva University in New York and the Maimonides Day School in Brookline, MA, my hometown. As a child, I attended Maimonides from Kindergarten through grade twelve from 1965-1978. Believe it or not, I still remember as a five year old, my father sitting with me outside the school campus telling me that I would be going to school there. Over the years, the Rav would often visit the school. The students learned from a young age to stand up out of respect whenever he walked in our presence. On Saturday nights after Shabbat, the Rav would deliver a community lecture in Yiddish to which my father would sometimes take me. While my dad had a love for Yiddish, I had no clue what was going on. Nevertheless, now in my sixties, I cherish the memory of going on those occasions with my father.

Rabbi Soloveitchik innovated the concept known as Torah U'Madah, Torah and Science. He believed that a pious Jew should be educated equally between religious and general studies. In my high school years, I would often have ten different forty-five minute classes a day. I would go from Talmud to English, to Chumash to math, to Tefila to American history, to Navi to French, to Jewish history to chemistry, etc. In addition, the classes were all co-ed, including Talmud and other religious classes, which was unique at that time in Orthodox religious education. Many institutions back then to this very day would teach Talmud to the boys and different subject material to the girls. 

When I was almost Bar Mitzvah age, my parents faced a dilemma. On which hand should I place Tefillin? I wrote left-handed but did everything else right-handed. My folks wanted the definitive answer. Instead of calling our local shul rabbi, they contacted the Rav directly. He educated my parents teaching them that in Judaism the writing hand is considered the dominant hand, based on the juxtaposition of the verbs, "You shall bind them" and "You shall write them" in the first paragraph of the Shma. Thus, the hand your write with is the hand you bind with, meaning that as a lefty, I bind the Tefillin with my left hand and place them on my right hand. 

In my own personal Judaism and rabbinate, I am proud to say that I have had my own selection of rabbinic heroes who have spanned the denominations over the course of my life. Growing up in his hometown, the Rav was the first of my rabbinic role models. Yhi Zichro Baruch - May his memory be for a blessing.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Howard Morrison