Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, head of the Yeshivat Har Etzion, has been awarded the Israel Prize in Torah literature for 2014, to be presented on Independence Day. The award committee commented that "his multifaceted work is characterized by its depth, scope, well-developed logic, sharp intellect, sensitivity and imagination. Lichtenstein's work encompasses the entire realm of Torah study: Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, Halachah, Midrash, halachic literature, and the rulings of the early and later halachic authorities. His work reflects an exceptional combination of knowledge of all aspects of the Torah and a depth of theoretical Talmudic thinking, incorporating original and creative thought while adapting to Israeli public life and dealing with the challenges of time and space." The prize was duly reported in the Israel and American Jewish press but relatively little attention was given to why this Talmudic scholar, who usually shuns the public spotlight, deserved the prestigious award. Lichtenstein was born in France in 1933, and after World War II immigrated to the United States with his family and studied with mostly European-trained rabbis. He eventually graduated from Yeshiva University and studied with the universally acknowledged intellectual leader of modern Orthodoxy, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, who subsequently became his father-in-law. After receiving his ordination, he attained a doctorate in English literature from Harvard University and, at the invitation of Rabbi Yehuda Amital, founder of Yeshivat Har Etzion, joined him as co-dean and made aliyah with his family in 1971. The focus of Lichtenstein's scholarship has been thousands of oral lectures in Talmud, and these lectures have been transcribed by his devoted students, making up the major corpus of his work. To date, eight volumes of his lectures have been published on popular and less popular Talmudic tractates, which nicely illustrates his comprehensive and deep knowledge of all of Talmudic literature. In addition, a collection of his Torah articles written over a period of 40 years has recently been published in a volume called "Minchat Aviv." ("Aviv" is a an acronym for Aharon son of Yechiel and Bluma.) Lichtenstein is a devotee of the analytical school of Talmudic study, or as known in the yeshiva world, the Brisker method. This method attempts to discern the basic principles that are at the root of Talmudic debate through the use of precise language and intellectual rigor, and according to Lichtenstein is the method of study that is most worthy to represent the revelation of Torah and God's eternal wisdom. This approach is the dominant method used in the classic yeshivas both in Israel and the U.S., but Lichtenstein has added his own personal stamp to the methodology. His scholarship is distinguished by a careful systemization of the principles that arise from this analytical approach and an application of the methodology to all fields of Talmudic inquiry. In addition, he has expanded the scope of rabbinic texts that are approached in this manner and adapted the traditional yeshiva discourse to Modern Hebrew and English. But perhaps most importantly, Lichtenstein is most responsible for bringing this methodology to the national-religious world. The yeshiva he led for more than 40 years is the center of traditional analytical learning in the national-religious world, and most of the current generation of Talmudic scholars in this world are his students. He accomplished this not only through his personal example of tremendous discipline and self-sacrifice for the study of Torah but as is a master pedagogue. His classes are renowned for their organization and depth. Each class cuts a clear pathway through the material and invariably ends with a concise summary of the important points raised. Unique among contemporary yeshiva heads, for more than 30 years he gave a class in Talmudic methodology to beginning students where he patiently explained how one should approach a Talmudic text. But beyond his mastery of the traditional corpus of rabbinic learning, he brought another dimension to the national-religious world. As Rabbi Haim Sabato writes, "We heard that he [Lichtenstein] was unique in his personality and thought. He studied in university and was open to secular literature. Rabbi Lichtenstein was for us from another world." He was (and perhaps still is) from another world because no other yeshiva head in Israel (and perhaps also in the U.S.) could have expressed the following sentiments: "General culture can be a genuinely ennobling and enriching force.
For what is it that such culture offers us? In relation to art -- profound expressions of the creative spirit, an awareness of structure and its interaction with substance and, consequently, the ability to organize and present ideas; in relation to life -- the ability to understand, appreciate and confront our personal, communal and cosmic context, sensitivity to the human condition and some assistance in coping with it; in relation to both -- a literary consciousness which enables us to transcend our own milieu and place it in a broader perspective. Above all, culture instills in us a sense of the moral, psychological and metaphysical complexity of human life." Notwithstanding that for many years he was a lone voice in the national-religious world, he has with varying degrees of success attempted to instill this message of the importance of general culture and the complexity of human existence to his many students. In addition to his Talmudic scholarship, over the course of more than 40 years he has written essays on the pressing issues facing the religious personality living in a secular world and the greater Jewish community. These essays have been collected in the two-volume "Leaves of Faith" and the one-volume "Varieties of Jewish Experience." In these essays, he deals with such issues as the relationship of ethics to Halachah; the relationship of general culture to Torah; tolerance and pluralism in Judaism; egalitarianism and feminism from a Jewish perspective; business ethics and philanthropy; sexuality and marriage from a Torah perspective; and the ideology of the hesder yeshivas, which combine yeshiva study and army service. In addition to an obvious mastery of the sources, both Jewish and secular, relevant to the topic at hand, what distinguishes these essays is their ability to grasp the complexity of the issue and present both sides of an argument. This skill is sorely missing in the highly politicized and polarized modern Israel society. This skill was ingrained into Lichtenstein by the Brisker method, which highly values the ability to conceptualize and rigorously analyze two sides of an issue, and recognizes that two disparate values can coexist simultaneously. Perhaps the most pressing current issue is Lichtenstein's passionate defense of the hesder yeshivas. (Interestingly, the thrust of the article written in the 1970s was to defend hesder from a Torah-only theology; the current challenge is more from a full-army experience.) "Hesder at its finest seeks to attract and develop men who are profoundly motivated by the desire to become serious Torah scholars and concurrently feel morally and religiously bound to help defend their people and their country; who given the historical exigencies of their time and place, regard this dual commitment as both a privilege and a duty; who in comparison with their non-hesder confreres love not Torah less but Israel more." Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has eloquently written, "That is how I have sought God, not through philosophical proofs, scientific demonstrations, or theological arguments; not through miracles or mysteries or inner voices or sudden epiphanies; not by blind faith or existential leap; certainly not by an abandonment of reasons and an embrace of the irrational. These things have brought many people to God. But they have also brought many people to worship things that are not God, like power or ideology, or race. Instead I have sought God in people-people who in themselves seemed to point to something or someone beyond themselves." For thousands of Lichtenstein's students over the course of more than 50 years of teaching Talmud and role-modeling piety and devotion, he has been that person who points to something "beyond themselves." The recent awarding of the Israel Prize to Lichtenstein is an apt opportunity for the general public to be exposed to his scholarship and theology. Professor Alan Jotkowitz is director of the Jakobovits Center for Jewish Medical Ethics at Ben-Gurion University, associate director for curriculum and academic affairs at the Medical School for International Health, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and a senior physician at Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba.