From Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
Executive Vice President

The 100th Anniversary of the Passing of the Sfas Emes

The fifth of Shevat was the 100th yahrzeit of Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter, known throughout the Jewish world as the Sfas Emes, after his various works by that name. To honor his memory, it is necessary to realize that this Chassidic rebbe, who lived in an obscure Polish town in the latter decades of the nineteenth century and in the very beginning of the twentieth century, is studied today by Jews of every stripe and color. His thought is extremely penetrating, and surprisingly relevant to the issues which trouble those of us who live in an entirely different age and social environment.

Born in 1855, the Sfas Emes was the son of Rav Avrohom Mordechai, and grandson of the famous Chidushei HaRim. The Sfas Emes’s father passed away when he was a very young boy and he was raised by his distinguished grandfather.

The Chidushei HaRim was the founder of the famous dynasty of Gur. Gerer chassidim tell that on the 23rd of Adar 1866, when the Chidushei HaRim was deathly ill and becoming progressively weaker, they noticed that him motioning to them to bring water to wash his hands and face, as he did when preparing for a mitzvah. After washing, the Rebbe’s lips began to move and he said two words, “Laibele, kaddish.” These were his last words. The Chassidim understood that this was not merely a request of a grandfather to a grandson to recite kaddish for him, but was an indication that the young “Laibele” should be his successor as the leader of the Gerer Court.

Chassidim also relate that the Sfas Emes, throughout his life, felt himself to be an orphan. They tell various anecdotes about when, much later in life, he would meet young boys who were orphans themselves and reciting kaddish, he would call them to him and say, “I know what it means to be an orphan. Let’s you and I form a bond.” He did this with children as young as five or six.

The Sfas Emes’ sons, grandsons and now great grandson have continued the inspirational history of the Gerer dynasty.

His heritage for those of us who are not Gerer chassidim is contained in his works, which he called Sfas Emes, which can mean the lips of truth, language of truth, or even the brink of truth. His commentaries on the Chumash are records of his various talks every Shabbat for many, many years. These talks almost invariably begin with a quotation from the Midrash, which is then used in a very ingenious and innovative fashion as a key to both understanding the biblical text and also gaining insight into spiritual matters. His insights are often brilliant and startling, and indeed his works have become the subject of study of groups in the National Religious Zionist camp, in “Lithuanian” yeshivot, and in the shtiblech of other chassidim. It is said that Rav Kook, whose early rabbinic career overlapped with the last years of the Sfas Emes, had a copy of this work on his desk every erev Shabbat. Recently, translations into English of the Sfas Emes’ teachings have been made even by scholars completely outside the Orthodox camp (e.g., The Language of Truth: the Torah Commentary of Sfat Emet. Excerpted and translated by Arthur Green.)

The Rebbe also wrote several volumes of commentary on the Talmud. Interestingly, these volumes do not adopt a chassidic approach, but instead are based on a keen and logical textual analysis of the subject matter. Serious Talmud scholars regularly consult his works, particularly because he comments on those tractates which are not among the standard tractates of study. It is curious but instructive that whereas in his chassidic work on Chumash he quotes his saintly grandfather on almost every page, he mentions his grandfather in his Talmudic works less than a handful of times. He thus presented a model of a person who was steeped in Chassidut, and had original contributions to make there, but who was able to keep his Talmudic discourse open to an entirely different methodology. This methodology was certainly different from that of his grandfather, the Chidushei HaRim, who was a master of old style pilpul. The Sfas Emes rejects pilpul and instead adopts an orientation consistent with “omek hap’shat.”

Whereas in his lifetime the Sfas Emes was almost unheard of outside the circle of his chassidim, his name has now become “a household word” throughout the Jewish world. We close with a tribute to his memory and with the prayer that Zechuto Yagen Alenu, Amen.

Look for a new series of online shiurim by Rabbi Weinreb, starting February 24, 2005 on the topic of prayer and the Siddur.

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