Highlighting: “Chabad and Yeshiva University,” by Rabbi Chaim Dalfin. 2024. $40.
Rabbi Chaim Dalfin has authored 101 books to date. As a skillful researcher, interviewer, historian and historiographer, he has presented his Lubavitch community to the world from multiple vantage points including a book on the rulings of Chabad on “Practical Halacha,” a six-volume series on life issues addressed by the Rebbe in “The Rebbe’s Advice,” and 15 biographies of Chabad Chasidim over the past 125 years including two volumes on “Who’s Who in Chabad Women.” He also authored a 53-chapter study of “Tanya on Mental Health” and many, many more.
In addition to the exploration of the multifaceted world of Lubavitch, Dalfin has taken upon himself the daunting task of comparing and contrasting other streams and practices of Judaism with Chabad. Always exemplifying a comprehending and open mind and sympathetic ear, Dalfin has created for his readers unique opportunities to gain insight into communities and belief systems very different from their own and come out with more knowledgeable and tolerant attitudes. Among these works are explorations of Chabad and Sephardim; Chabad and Aguda; Breslov and Chabad; Chabad and Ponovitz; Chabad and Belz; Bobov, Ger and Vishnitz, Chabad; Young Israel and Modern Orthodoxy, Chabad on college campuses, and many more.
In 2016, Dalfin published “The Rav and the Rebbe,” an exploration of the thoughts and connections between these two Torah giants of the 20th century, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveichik and Rav Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Most recently, Dalfin expanded upon this work in his 2024 volume entitled “Chabad and Yeshiva University.” In this updated volume, Dalfin adds to his previous work with the input and editing of Teaneck resident Dr. Eli Rachlin, including insights from newly discovered letters and more recent interviews.
The collaboration of Rachlin, a practicing pediatric dentist in Montvale, New Jersey for the past 17 years, and Dalfin, a born and bred Lubavicher residing in Boro Park, is itself a commentary on the thrust of the work which is that the world of Yeshiva University has become more open to the approach of Chabad to learning and outlook in recent years. Rachlin, whose leanings are to centrist Orthodoxy, discovered Dalfin through reading “Conversations With the Rebbe,” which is a book of interviews that Dalfin conducted with notable personalities including Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, Nathan Lewin, Esq., Malcolm Hoenlein, Yitzhak Shamir and others. Dalfin’s interchange with them in such an incredibly respectful manner impressed Rachlin greatly and so after viewing some of Dalfin’s YouTube videos, Rachlin reached out to him. Their collaboration on the book is itself testimony that the worlds of Chabad and Yeshiva University are not that far apart in terms of philosophy and mission.
The book was accorded a highly valued compliment by the author of the most authoritative and scholarly work on Rav Yosef Ber Soloveichik during this century. Rabbi Dr. Aaron Rakeffet Rothkoff, professor of rabbinic literature, Yeshiva University in Israel commented, “I have read the manuscript of your new book ‘Chabad and Yeshiva University.’ You have truly gone into great details about these two giants of our generation. The interviews and documents you have published greatly add to our understanding of their relationship. On a practical level, I would like to see cooperation between Chabad and Yeshiva University. These two great institutions could strengthen the vibrancy of Torah in the contemporary world to even greater heights. I must also compliment your editor, Dr. Eli Rachlin, for enhancing your manuscript.”
At the core of the relationship between the Rav and the Rebbe is the classic story, told and retold many times in varying versions each time, about the visit over 200 years ago of the Baal HaTanya to the Vilna Gaon’s home to try to convince the Gaon that Chassidus was not heresy. In its original version, upon seeing who his “uninvited guests” were, the Gaon quickly shut the door, unwilling to even let them enter. However, as recorded many times over, at a farbrengen in Boston in 1968, the Rav related that when the Vilna Gaon peeked through the crack of the door, he saw the Baal HaTanya’s illuminated face and was thus afraid to open the door fully.
According to the Rav’s interpretation of the incident, the Gaon thought that if he were to open the door, he would be so swept away that he would join up with the Baal HaTanya and change his own entrenched opposition to Chassidus! To intensify this story, the Rav added that as a result of this vision, with the help of his mother, the Gaon escaped his house and ran away to the nearby town of Kaiden, where he remained for several months. Incredulously, during that same speech in 1968 which the Rav had introduced by saying, “I am a Misnaged from the Misnagdic house of Volozhin,” he also referred to himself as a “clandestine Chabadnik.” On the same occasion the Rav admitted that when he looked into the faces of the Lubavitcher chasidim of his town Chaslavich, he sensed that they were “elsewhere,” absorbed by holiness and spirituality. This left an indelible impression on the future leader of world Jewry.
“Chabad and Yeshiva University” holds great appeal for the Teaneck and Bergen County communities who identify as Modern Orthodox. Topics included are the secret sessions of Tanya that took place in the 1950s in the YU dorm before Tanya became a sanctioned study. The hiring of a contemporary Chasidic rabbi to serve at YU as mashpia ruchani. The comments of female Lubavitch students at Stern College, where they appreciated the credence and encouragement given to Torah study for women on the highest level. The Shabbatonim specifically organized for YU students at 770 in recent years. The proliferation of the marking of the 19th of Kislev and other significant dates on the Chabad calendar in non-Lubavitch communities, including in Israel and our very own Bergen County. Many of the revered Torah personalities cited in the volume are from our own Torah institutions and their comments lend validity to the study.
In a concluding comment Dalfin shared, “The Yeshiva University world, Modern Orthodoxy, is confident enough in its own path for many of its adherents to appreciate the beauty of Chabad that the Rav saw, and to find meaning in much that Chabad teaches. Similarly, Chabad reciprocates, and follows the Rebbe’s teaching of respect for all and understanding that there is more to Judaism than only Chabad…. The spirit of mutual respect and cooperation is perhaps the most important legacy of the Rav and the Rebbe.”
Copies of “Chabad and Yeshiva University” are available at Maayan Bookstore on West Englewood Avenue. They can also be purchased through Dalfin’s website at www.rabbidalfin.com
The community is invited to join Rabbi Dalfin and Dr. Rachlin on Feb. 2, at their book launch at the Yeshiva University Seforim Sale at 2 p.m. and at the Young Israel of Teaneck at 8 p.m..
