Drawn from a collection of scholarly thoughts penned more than 85 years ago, a recently published Torah commentary sheds light on the insights of a Russian-born Chasidic rabbi who earned a reputation as an erudite teacher, editor and expert on Jewish law.
Focusing primarily on the Book of Psalms, Taharas Nissan represents the bulk of material found among some 900 half-sheet pages of Rabbi Nissan Telushkin’s class notes. Born in 1881 to a Chabad-Lubavitch family in Bobruisk, Belarus, Telushkin, who passed away in 1970, was known for his optimism and belief in Jewish unity; for close to 15 years, he championed that outlook as the anonymous editor of Mesilah, a scholarly journal that attracted the contributions of rabbinic luminaries such as Rabbis Moshe Feinstein, Meir Bar-Ilan and Joseph Ber Soloveichik, and the Nobel laureate Shai Agnon.
He also served as the rabbi of the Nusach Ari Synagogue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. Having immigrated to the United States in 1924, he faced the difficult challenge of strengthening Jewish involvement and people’s connection to Jewish tradition in a society that largely considered such teachings to be irrelevant. In 1946, he published his acclaimed Taharas Mayim, a landmark treatment of the laws concerning Jewish ritual baths, in order to strengthen the observance of a practice central to Jewish family life.
In his Psalms commentary, most of which was composed in the early 1920s in Pochavitz, Russia, Telushkin’s writing covers such topics as Jewish law, ethics and etiquette, exile and redemption, and Jewish education. Employing a unique style, he explains difficult verses in simple language, intertwining a life lesson in the explanation.
On the verse in Psalms 41:6, “My foes say that evil [awaits] me: ‘When will he die, and his name perish?’ ” Telushkin focuses on the importance of compassion: “Those that love others and care about others never give up,” he writes. “If one is sick, they will find any way to save that person. However, those that hate, seek and await the death of others, when they see difficulty in life, they give up.”
“He made Judaism relevant for the laymen in that time when Jewish learning was disconnected to the relevance of daily life,” said Rabbi Gronam Lezbenik, a neighbor who lived not far from Telushkin beginning in the early 1940s. “He took the Psalms and made it relevant to the individual’s daily life. [Today’s] world is the same, and the people are the same and everything is being relived. Rabbi Telushkin’s commentary tells us how the Psalms are relevant in our life.”
In a career spanning decades and three continents, Telushkin – who in his notebooks and diaries, meticulously recorded lists of those he married and counseled towards divorce, his thoughts on Torah passages, and his recollections of talks delivered by the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory – blended Chasidic teachings with a profound understanding of ancient texts.
His yearning to similarly unite all segments of traditional Judaism drew opposition in some circles. In one editorial for Mesilah, he announced his goal of spreading Torah-true Judaism with a positive attitude and love for all Jews, as well as an editorial policy – followed by Lubavitch leaders for generations – against associating with any political group. In the following issue, Telushkin published a sharp attack against that policy penned by Bar-Ilan, the leader of the Mizrahi Party in the U.S., opening the door to more debate in the hope of promoting understanding and tolerance.
For his part, Telushkin never led a counterattack to Bar-Ilan’s letter, indicative of a willingness to accept disagreement that earned him the admiration of other rabbinic authorities. At various points in his life, he held leading positions on the Rabbinical Board of Orthodox Rabbis of New York – which he directed for close to a decade – and with the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, where he served as honorary chairman. He also was a member of the rabbinic council of the Mizrahi movement.
With an excitement in his eyes and surrounded by volumes of holy books in his Brooklyn home, Lezbenik extolled Telushkin’s scholarship.
“There is such depth,” said the nonagenarian. “While the teachings offer life lessons to the lay, the seasoned scholar will have great appreciation for the depth of the text.”
A Request Fulfilled
Lezbenik, a Jewish studies teacher in the late 1960’s who today serves as the rabbi of the Shomrei Daas synagogue in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, had a cooperative relationship with Telushkin shortly before he passed away. When the Rebbe urged Lezbenik to publish a Talmudic commentary published by one of the students of the medieval scholar Nachmanides, he conferred with his neighbor about the text and its footnotes.
On the eve of Passover in 1969, Telushkin told Lezbenik about his private notebooks. Lezbenik saw in the exchange – the pair’s last face-to-face meeting – Telushkin’s request to prepare the notes for publication, and resolved to complete the project in the future.
In the following months, Lezbenik taught and spent his free time on the Talmudic commentary.
“Rabbi Telushkin was so active and full of life, no one would have thought it was the last year of his life,” he recalled. “I am sure that if we did not have that conversation, these writings would have never been published.”
After Telushkin’s passing, Lezbenik requested the notebooks from the rabbi’s family. He finished preparing the manuscript in 1981 and received an approbation from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein to publish it. A lack of funds, however, prevented the release of the book until almost three decades later, when one of Lezbenik’s congregants offered to underwrite the expenses.
“If I would have not conferred with [Telushkin] about my work,” said Lezbenik, “if he would have not mentioned to me about his writing such a short time before his passing, if I would have not said over his teaching in the synagogue, [I] would not be speaking [about this] today.”
Added Lezbenik: “I have seen G‑d’s hand throughout.”
Published by Mosad Adar G’byr, Taharas Nissan can be purchased here.
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