OU Press: Year in Review

The Return to Zion: Addresses on Religious Zionism and American Orthodoxy—The Karasick Family Edition
By Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Translated by Shaul Seidler-Feller; edited by Joel B. Wolowelsky and Simon Posner

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik was the Torah giant of the last century long affiliated with Religious Zionism. His addresses at major Religious Zionist conferences were the high point of these gatherings. The Rav mesmerized his audience with his perceptive observations on the state of American and Israeli Jewry, as well as the nature of Religious Zionism. This book contains ten of those discourses, translated from Yiddish and delivered by the Rav between 1939 and 1958—against the backdrop of the Holocaust and the newly emerging State of Israel. These addresses from one of the most tumultuous periods in Jewish history powerfully depict the unending drama of Jewish destiny.

Perpetuating the Masorah: Halakhic, Ethical, and Experiential Dimensions—Essays in Memory of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
By Rabbi Yitzhak (Isadore) Twersky, The Talner Rebbe, z”l
Edited by Carmi Horowitz and Dovid Shapiro

Rabbi Dr. Yitzhak (Isadore) Twersky was a uniquely multifaceted Torah scholar and devoted son-in-law and disciple of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Perpetuating the Masorah is a collection of essays on aggadic, halachic, ethical and spiritual themes dedicated in memory of Rabbi Twersky’s father-in-law. Some of the issues addressed in this volume include: the teaching of Torah and its goals; becoming a Torah scholar; the prerogatives of Torah scholars and their responsibilities and obligations; the qualities of teachers and students of Torah; and the uniqueness of Jewish tradition. This volume adds one more dimension to the legacy of this great teacher who so harmoniously integrated intellectual sophistication with religious sensitivity and experiential intensity.

The Rav on Tefillah: An Anthology of Teachings by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on Jewish Prayer—The Levovitz Edition
Edited and annotated by Rabbi Dr. Jay Goldmintz

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s teachings, particularly in the area of Jewish prayer, have had a profound impact on the Jewish community. In The Rav on Tefillah, veteran educator Rabbi Dr. Jay Goldmintz, a pioneer in the teaching of Jewish prayer, has collated teachings of the Rav according to the sequence of the siddur, but without the space constraints of a siddur commentary. In his overview, Rabbi Goldmintz presents the central themes to which the Rav returns throughout his teachings in his approach to tefillah. This work will help readers understand both the particulars of prayer and its overall structure to achieve the goal of prayer—worship of the heart.

Masters of the Word: Traditional Jewish Bible Commentary from the Twelfth through Fourteenth Centuries (Volume III)
By Rabbi Yonatan Kolatch

Not just another “parashah book,” Masters of the Word is an in-depth exploration of the rich world of traditional Jewish Bible commentary. This pioneering work addresses such questions as: How did the era and its spirit affect the commentator, and how did he influence his times? What were his goals? What kinds of textual problems did he deal with? These issues and many more are addressed clearly and comprehensively. This volume discusses five central commentators: Rambam, Radak, Ramban, Rabbeinu Bachya and Ralbag. Masters of the Word is for anyone interested in Biblical commentary or the history of Jewish ideas or is looking for an unconventional but highly informative book with which to study the parashah.

Torah United: Teachings on the Weekly Parashah from Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, and the Chassidic Masters—The Wintman Family Edition
By Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider

This remarkable two-volume work provides new insights on the weekly parashah from different vantage points. For each parashah, Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider has crafted three separate essays, each based on the thought of one of the following: Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and the Chassidic masters. Each essay contains Rabbi Goldscheider’s in-depth analysis and perceptive discussion of the distinctive approaches of Rav Kook, Rav Soloveitchik and the Chassidic masters, providing the reader with a rare experience of Torah study. Rabbi Goldscheider’s underlying philosophical approach is that this synthesis of thought is the proper and correct way to study. These volumes unite the Torah by weaving together three diverse strands of thought into a beautiful tapestry.