In a year that has seen the loss of far too many gedolei Yisrael, we were again stunned last week with the passing of Rav Dovid Soloveitchik, zt”l.
Rav Dovid was the last surviving son of the Brisker Rav, Rav Yitzchak Ze’ev Halevi Soloveitchik zt”l, who was also known as Reb Velvel. Rav Dovid represented that longstanding Brisker tradition of intellectual rigor and lomdus.
I remember my first meeting with Rav Dovid in 1968. I was in Israel for a few weeks in the summer and went to Rav Dovid’s house to speak “in learning” with him. He was so welcoming and generous with his time, especially considering that I was not a talmid and only 20 years old at the time. As I was leaving his apartment, I was called to the apartment of his upstairs neighbor for a minyan. As it turns out, his neighbor was none other than Rav Dovid Cohen, known better as HaRav HaNazir. A close talmid of Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook and editor of Rav Kook’s sefarim, he was also the father of Rav She’ar
Photo Credit: Archive photo
The development of two mRNA Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna â both of which have received FDA emergency-use authorization â is a most generous gift from Hashem. Despite the many unanswered questions, these vaccines (and potentially others) have the potential to save millions of lives worldwide.
But only if we take them. It is therefore critical that we know the opinion of halachic experts on these vaccines. Their opinion, the opinion of
gedolim representing all sectors of Orthodoxy, is based on two large prospective, double-blind trials â conducted separately and independently â that conclusively demonstrated that the new vaccines are both very safe and highly efficacious.
As the pandemic set in, many peoples’ lives came to a screeching halt. Not mine.
I work as the graphic and web designer at Amudim, an organization that deals with crises in the Jewish community. Amudim has been around since 2014, and we specialize in emergency cases.
Every week, I put together our weekly newsletter, filling out a chart with how many new cases were opened that week. It always gives me goosebumps seeing how many brave souls were finally able to open up and share their stories with a case manager. As a survivor myself, I know well the feeling that the abuse must be kept a secret, and the relief of finally opening up.