Rabbi Michael Taubes believes that when one’s rabbinic mentor and posek reaches the age of 80, it is a milestone deserving of celebration. Rabbi Taubes, the rav of Congregation Zichron Mordechai in Teaneck and a rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University and MTA, has known Rav Hershel Schachter for more than 40 years, starting when he was an undergraduate at YU and continuing with study in Rav Schachter’s kollel.
Rabbi Taubes still consults Rav Schachter for halachic questions. And he’s aware that many other prominent rabbanim consider Rav Schachter to be a major influence on their religious life, as one of the leading halachic authorities of our generation.
To honor that remarkable legacy, and offer a fitting tribute to his rebbe on his 80th birthday last summer, Rabbi Taubes, with the encouragement of others, decided to organize the publication of a sefer with contributions from many prominent rabbinic colleagues. The resulting work, entitled “Ateres Zvi,” contains divrei Torah on each of the 54 parshiyot of the Torah, as well as an introduction by Rabbi Taubes, a write-up of a drasha given by Rav Joseph B. Soleveitchik, and six essays by Rav Schachter himself.
The sefer, which is primarily in Hebrew— except for an essay in Yiddish based on The Rav’s drasha—and is 600 pages long, was published in Israel by Hadaf Typesetting and is now available in the U.S.
Rabbi Taubes pointed out that the sefer project actually started before the COVID lockdown but got put on hold because of the pandemic and various other reasons. He picked it up again in the summer of 2021 and reported that it took “about a year” to collect and review all the essays and have them published in honor of Rav Schachter’s birthday.
Rabbi Taubes expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Joszef family of Woodmere, who graciously underwrote all the costs of publishing the sefer. He was similarly grateful to the dozens of distinguished contributors to the volume.
The writers who contributed to the sefer were delighted to have been part of the project. “There is no more precious commodity to our rebbe than words of Torah,” said Rabbi Menachem Penner, dean of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, referring to Rav Schachter. “It is a zechus to present this gift in his honor.”
“Rav Schachter is a walking sefer Torah—both in terms of his wisdom and scholarship as well as his ability to provide meaning and guidance in the lives of all those he teaches,” said Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University. “There is no better way to celebrate his Torah and character than by sharing more Torah that uplifts, directs and sanctifies our lives.”
“Rav Schachter’s life has been devoted to the study and the teaching of Torah, and what more appropriate way to celebrate his birthday than to put together a sefer that shares Torah in his honor from those who have learned from him,” said Rabbi Daniel Feldman, a rosh yeshiva at the RIETS and executive editor of the RIETS initiative of YU Press. “Rabbi Taubes did a wonderful job in editing and producing this sefer, and I’m so grateful to have been allowed to participate.”
By Harry Glazer
