Title: Perfection: The Torah Ideal
Author: Rav Dov Katz
Publisher: Brenn Books
Anyone with any familiarity with the world of mussar will be familiar with R. Dov Katz (1901-1979). He is the author of the magisterial five-volume work Tenu’at HaMussar, which chronicles the mussar movement’s history and ideology, beginning with its founder, R. Yisrael Salanter, and his teacher R. Zundel of Salant.
In the introduction to the first volume, R. Katz discusses the Torah ideal, arguing that the Torah’s laws are intended to craft the perfect man and are not to be regarded as ends unto themselves. This idea can be traced back to Chazal’s statement, with respect to certain mitzvot, that the Torah was given only to refine people. It was given a new iteration in the Middle Ages by, among others, Maimonides in his Guide for the Perplexed and, with different intellectual orientations, by numerous ethical works of the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern periods (e.g., Orchot Tzaddikim and Reishit Chochmah).
R. Katz laments the decline in recent generations of writers who focus on Judaism’s ethical dimensions, which concomitantly led to an abundance of those who devoted attention solely to the theoretical and legalistic aspects of Talmudic studies. He demonstrates – quite persuasively it seems – that Tanach and rabbinic literature take a decisive stance in favor of the view that the halachic system is intended to foster the “perfection of human character.”
Some of R. Katz’s words of rebuke should strike a chord with many readers. For example:
The entire Torah was held to be comprised of a specific number of commonly known mitzvot and prohibitions. Individuals who observed various laws and customs with meticulous care and stringency could still remain hard-hearted in their dealings with their fellow men and tainted in their character… No protests are raised against falsifying weights and measures, lying, cheating, deceit and forgery prevalent in business…the withholding of wages and exploitation that fill every corner of the land. No one decries the hatred towards man, the widespread corruption of virtuous conduct, the stupidity and ignorance… These matters, it seems, are not the function of Orthodoxy; they do not enter into the purview of Judaism” (pp. 54, 58).
Naturally, it was to rectify this corruption of Judaism that R. Salanter devoted his efforts, and R. Katz develops his argument as a prelude to his masterful recounting of the history and teachings of the mussar movement.
This book, beautifully edited by Elliot Resnick (based on a 1975 English translation of R. Katz’s essay by R. Leonard Oschry), is essential reading for anyone interested in what the book title refers to as “the Torah ideal.” Resnick obtained the cooperation of R. Katz’s family in the publication of this book, and R. Katz’s son, R. Yehoshua Katz, Ashkenazic Rav of Ma’aleh Adumim, has written a very useful biographical essay about his father’s life and works.
R. Katz was a man of many accomplishments, some of which (for example, his active involvement in promoting halacha in the state of Israel as a rabbinical judge and writer) may be unknown to most readers. R. Katz was a prolific author, and a list of his works can be found in this volume (pp. 114-115). Several prominent roshei yeshiva and scholars have already given advance praise to this book. I can only echo what those greater than I have said and heartily encourage readers to purchase a copy of this book. There is much Torah wisdom in it, and it will hopefully serve as a useful corrective to many misconceptions about Torah Judaism that are unfortunately all too prevalent.