NYC Gazette

On November 6, 2024, a lecture titled “Tanakh Study and its Discontents in Ashkenazic Tradition” was co-hosted by the Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought and the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Yeshiva College Honors Program. The speaker, Dr. Eric Lawee, Professor of Bible at Bar-Ilan University, addressed over thirty participants, including faculty and students from various disciplines.

Dr. Lawee's lecture delved into the historical ambivalence toward Tanakh study within Ashkenazic communities over time. He began by discussing the rabbinic legacy inherited by Ashkenazic scholars before moving to the medieval period. Key figures such as Rashi, Rabbeinu Tam, Rabbi Yehuda ben HaRosh, Profiat Duran, and Abarbanel were explored in terms of their views on Tanakh study. Unlike the Sephardic tradition where Tanakh held more prominence in education, Talmud remained central in Ashkenazi circles.

In examining the early modern era, Dr. Lawee noted the impact of the printing press which facilitated greater access to Tanakh texts. This era saw figures like Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe (author of Levush) and Rabbi Judah Loew (Maharal) expanding supercommentaries on Rashi’s commentary on Tanakh.

The talk concluded with an exploration of modern times where Dr. Lawee highlighted how the Jewish Enlightenment revived interest in Bible study through figures like Moses Mendelssohn. He also mentioned Nechama Leibowitz as a significant Torah scholar of the twentieth century and referenced David Ben-Gurion’s critique of Judaism being solely based on biblical text as “Lutheran bibliolatry.”

The event wrapped up with an engaging Q&A session where attendees discussed Tanakh's role in shaping Jewish culture and identity today and its place within contemporary Jewish educational curricula. This lecture supported the Straus Center’s mission to educate Yeshiva University students as leaders versed in both Torah and Western thought.