I find it interesting that many, but not names are anglicized. Thus Rabbi Shlomo Yzchaki, but Rabbi Isaac Alfasi and Rabbi Slolomon Luria. And why on earth Rabbi Isaac Elchonon? Did they want to distance themselves from YU that much?
Fascinating book...!
I had a copy of Rabbi Elias's Master's thesis sent to my place...unfortunately, 3/4 of the type is so faded the thing's impossible to read. *mutter*
R. Elias is an old-time Hirschian and maintains that R. Hirsch was writing as a horaas shaah, which is what this excerpt says. He discusses the whole issue form this perspective in a long footnote to a new translation of the Nineteen Letters, put out by Feldheim .
http://www.hakirah.org/Vol%207%2...207%
20Pelta.pdf
Avakesh:
In my article there, I did not say Rabbi Elias maintains that R' Hirsch felt his system was meant as a horaas shaah. Indeed, Rabbi Elias himself dismisses that possibility.
isnt that the standard r elchonan wasserman pic?
I don't think it is.
One of my rebbeim in elementary school had a whole set of Agush-published gedolim pictures (posters and cards) on the wall. I remember the earliest was R' Hirsch, and the caption said "forerunner of Agudath Israel." Even at that young age, I could tell that something smelled fishy, considered how he died about forty years before the Agudah was founded. Needless to say, no one (else) who couldn't be tied to the Agudah was included.
For R. Elias on R. Hirsch with rebuttal see http://www.stevens.edu/golem/lle...r%
20JAction.pdf
In 1885-86, toward the end of his life, R. Hirsch founded the "Freie Vereinigung für die Interessen des Orthodoxen Judentums" (Free Union for the Interests of Orthodox Judaism), which has been described as an alliance of traditionalist Jewish communities throughout Europe. It has been said that after his death, this organization was used as a model for the formation of the Agudath Israel movement, which I think is a fair statement. Whether R. Hirsch himself would have been an Agudanik is, of course, a moot question. It all comes down to who is interpreting his thought; as the historian Mordechai Breuer observed, there is a "to everyone his own Hirsch" phenomenon.
>there is a "to everyone his own Hirsch" phenomenon.
That would be an interesting post. A list of every historical person who has undergone at one point or another a "to everyone their own ____" phenomenon.
I would kick it off with the following:
Rambam
Ramchal
Gra
I apologize for not being clear. R. Elias in his later work does dismiss the possibiity that Hirschian thought was a horaas shaah and I did not mean to imply that this is Boruch Pelta's position. I only included a link for it as a reference. However, effectively, in my opinion, R. Elias limits and reinterprets the Hirschian legacy in such a way so as to bring it into agreement with the more "traditional" views.
There are probably as many ways to interpret the thought of R. Elias as there are of R. Hirsch himself.
Avakesh:
Then we are in complete agreement. I appreciate your reference to my article.
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