OU Press, the publishing division of the Orthodox Union, in conjunction with Yeshiva University Press, announces the re-publication of two landmark books by renowned historian Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet, Bernard Revel: Builder of American Orthodoxy; and The Silver Era: Rabbi Eliezer Silver and His Generation.
Out of print but in demand for many years, these classic biographies tell the stories of two of the most important leaders of American Orthodox Judaism in the twentieth century. Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel, the founder of Yeshiva University and its first president, and Rabbi Eliezer Silver, the president and moving force behind Agudath HaRabanim and Vaad Hatzalah, stand as representatives of different communities within Orthodoxy, but they transcended partisan labels. They were each recognized as leaders beyond their own communities because of their passionate dedication to the Jewish people as a whole. Through the lives of Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel and Rabbi Eliezer Silver, Rabbi Rakeffet brings to life the fascinating history of Orthodox Judaism in America, in all its diversity.
In these books, Rabbi Rakeffet’s thorough historical research and his engaging style combine to provide his readers with an appreciation for the life and times of these two visionary leaders. Each book also contains a new preface by Rabbi Rakeffet. In addition, Bernard Revel: Builder of American Orthodoxy also contains a new introduction by Mordecai D. Katz, Chairman of the Bernard Revel Graduate School Board of Overseers.
In honor of the publication of Bernard Revel: Builder of American Orthodoxy, Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies and the Center for the Jewish Future will be hosting a book launch and lecture featuring Rabbi Rakeffet on Sunday, May 4, 2014 in the David H. Zysman Hall Lamport Auditorium, 2540 Amsterdam Avenue at 9:30 AM.
Rabbi Rakeffet, professor of rabbinic literature at Yeshiva University’s Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Institute in Jerusalem, is a noted scholar, author and teacher who has taught thousands of students over the course of his career of more than half a century. In addition to Bernard Revel: Builder of American Orthodoxy, and The Silver Era: Rabbi Eliezer Silver and His Generation, Rabbi Rakeffet is also the author of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (2 volumes), and numerous articles, essays and other books.
Other recent biographical works from OU Press include Rabbi Rakeffet’s own scholarly memoir, From Washington Avenue to Washington Street; and Out of the Depths: The Story of a Child of Buchenwald Who Returned Home at Last, the gripping autobiography of Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, the former Chief Rabbi of Israel.