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In New Initiative, OU Press to Publish Haggadah, Siddur, and Other Volumes with Teachings of the Rav

May 01, 2008

IN NEW INITIATIVE, OU PRESS TO PUBLISH HAGGADAH, SIDDUR, AND OTHER VOLUMES WITH TEACHINGS AND COMMENTARIES OF
THE RAV, RABBI JOSEPH SOLOVEITCHIK Z’L

A major new Orthodox Union initiative, OU Press, will make the teachings and commentaries of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik z”l, the Rav, available in beautifully bound and printed editions of Judaism’s classic books. The general editor of the series is Rabbi Menachem Genack, a talmid (student and disciple) of the Rav at Yeshiva University. Rabbi Genack, CEO of the OU Kashrut Division, is co-editor with Rabbi Hershel Schachter of YU of Mesorah, a journal based on the teachings of Rabbi Soloveitchik, and Shiurei HaRav, volumes based on the Rav’s lectures at YU as interpreted through the notes taken by his students.

Already, two volumes of the prayer book series have been published, the Rosh Hashanah Machzor and the Yom Kippur Machzor. This fall, in plenty of time for next year’s Passover, the Haggadah will come off the presses. Additional volumes will include a Chumash (the Five Books of Moses), Birchat ha-Mazon (blessings after meals), Kinot for Tisha B’Av, the Siddur, and Megillat Esther for Purim.

“These volumes are a continuation of the Orthodox Union’s mission to make the Rav’s teachings available to the general public,” declared Rabbi Genack. “To that effort, we have, throughout the years, published many of the Rav’s Torah insights in both Shiurei HaRav and in the Mesorah Torah journals. With this series, the Rav’s teachings will be available on a daily basis, including Shabbat and Yom Tov, through the Siddur, and on special occasions such as the Passover seder, Purim, and Tisha B’Av, through the appropriate volumes.”

OU President Stephen J. Savitsky hailed the new publications as “yet another step in the OU’s objective ‘to bring all Jews closer to their heritage’ by making the profound thinking of Rabbi Soloveitchik available in a beautiful format for use in the synagogue and the home. These volumes are not only prayer books, but books worthy of a lifetime of study. The commentaries touch the heart, the soul and the mind. They provide a worthy addition to the OU’s programs of Jewish education found on ou.org and on OU Radio.”

Rabbi Genack noted that OU Press volumes may be produced “in conjunction with other publishing houses.”