Title: Abraham’s Journey: Reflections on the Life of the Founding Patriarch
Author: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Edited by David Shatz, Joel B. Wolowelsky and Reuven Ziegler
Publisher: Ktav
Title: Moses: Enjoy of God, Envoy of His People
Author: Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein
Publisher: Ktav
Title: Moses’ Women: Yocheved, Miriam, Pharoh’s Daughter, Zipporah and
the Kushite Woman
Authors: Shere Aranoff Tuchman and
Sandra E. Rapaport
Publisher: Ktav
Title: Masters of the Word: Traditional Jewish Bible Commentary from the First Through Thirteenth Centuries (2 Volumes)
Author: Rabbi Yonatan Kolatch
Publisher: Ktav
Ktav has recently brought out a series of books on Chumash that enrich our understanding and appreciation of the Book of Books.
First and foremost is Abraham’s Journey, the ninth in the MeOtsar Horav series of the unpublished works of the Rav, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Torah master of the preceding generation.
This book brings to press the Rav’s legendary Saturday night shiurim that became a mainstay of that Torah community’s weekly experience.
Through careful exegesis of verses, illuminating analyses of character and insightful readings of classical commentators, the Rav brings out the eternal and the contemporary messages of the Abraham story. He draws upon midrashic and other traditional sources in constructing his vivid portraits of Abraham and other biblical figures.
Moses: Envoy of God, Envoy of His People brings to life another biblical figure. It follows the path of Moses’ development as a leader from the moment he appears on the scene as a young lad in Egypt until his departing farewell.
Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein, grandson of the Rav and a talmid chacham in his own right, offers literary analysis of the text that delves into the inner world of Moshe Rabbeinu and his interaction with the people he led.
These creative insights were originally presented in the weekly classes that the author gave at Yeshivat Har Etzion, where he teaches. Once again, an appreciative readership can access the Torah originally presented to smaller audiences.
Complementing the portrait of Moses is the chronicle of the women who reared him, bore his children, advised him and intervened to save him time and again.
The authors draw on the biblical stories and commentaries to create such a narrative. Chazal tell us that it was through the merit of the righteous women that we were redeemed from Egypt. We should be grateful for the rich presentation of the stories of the women of the Exodus.
As important as it is to appreciate the new Torah voices of our times, we must not lose sight of the traditional masters who has inspired us over the generations.
Rabbi Kolatch does just that in his impressive Masters of the Word. He analyzes the unique method and style of each commentator from Chazal through Ibn Ezra against the backdrop of his time and place. He devotes one of the weekly parshiyot to the exclusive commentator of an individual scholar, thus familiarizing the reader with a significant and meaningful selection of the commentator’s work.
