Sure. I think, I think that a
Parnassus is very important. You need enough for your family
to to support them. A lot of the time that I devoted
in the last little bit of time of reading was was was in
between patients. Sometimes it was, you know, if
you have an idea, I think that the way that, that I like to
present the learning for myself, it's very project based.
Like if I have an idea or something that I wanted to learn
or a subject that I wanted to learn, it was something that was
practical that I was able to accomplish.
So that, that's how I, I think I was able to, to devote the time
and to finish the project. Shalm Alaikum and welcome to
Start Tink. Start Tink is a podcast for the
challenges and opportunities of being a mentor in the workforce.
This week we are joined by Reuven Mole.
Reuven is a dentist by profession but also a author who
has published many books, including a couple about Mcglos
Ross. So I thought it would be a great
opportunity to speak to him to learn about Shabbos together,
about Mcgloss Ross and also Ruin's journey.
So Ruin, welcome to Shark Tank and thank you for joining us.
Thank you, Ako. For for having me great.
Thank you. So let's go back to the
beginning. Tell us a little bit about where
you're from, where you grew up, and what I would like for you as
a kid. Sure, sure, sure.
So I grew up in Manhattan Beach, which is in Brooklyn.
It's all the way at the end of Brooklyn.
So very, very modern orthodox community growing up is very
small intimate community. So we knew pretty much everybody
that went to Manhattan Beach Jewish Center.
We had a small teen minion. So we knew everybody, all the
all the teenagers over there. That's where I learned to, you
know, how to lane and had a Dovan And it was it was a very
nice upbringing, you know, being being brought up over there.
My parents, I've thank God, my my father, Rabbi Oscar Mole, He
was a professor of philosophy. So we and my mother, Shelley,
and she was she was an elementary school teacher.
Thank God. We're so close and I'm so
growing up, we always talked about education, talked about
philosophy, talked about Torah. So the house was definitely a
serious place, but great, great the place to grow up And, and,
but at the same time, we, we, we definitely talked about a lot
of, a lot of different subjects. I have an older sister, Rachel,
that's four or five years older than me.
So you know, that's, that's, that's the household that I grew
up in. My father is a Holocaust
survivor. So, so he came here when he's
11. So those stories were always
told to us growing up the show. I was also something that
unconsciously was always in the back of my mind.
And also in the Manhattan Beach, there were a lot of older, older
men, women that were Holocaust survivors also in Manhattan be
through centers. We got got to know them.
So growing up the show, I was always something in the back of
my mind in the households, always Torah and academia was
always something that was discussed in the house.
Yeah. Amazed I could jump in with a
question here. What was it like growing up as
the son of a philosophy professor?
Was, you know, going back with your young child, was he trying
to train you in a philosophical way of thinking that was down at
your level? Or did he understand that
philosophy is anything more advanced for older people and
you could give you a more quote UN quote normal education as a
as a younger kid? So I always heard, I always
heard different names. Growing up, my father taught all
types of philosophy, you know, from from and also religion.
I mean, you also has Smith last you know, Torah and the merge We
Torah Mada was always was always there.
We discussed a lot of different philosophers on the books a lot,
a lot of different books in the house.
But no, I mean, growing up, I definitely heard the names.
I mean, I didn't start reading, reading these philosophy,
philosophy books. I definitely not read all of
them, but I've read some philosophy in relation to a
Rabbi Solavecic and Rabbi Berkovitz, which we'll get to
later. But no, I guess on my level on
Shabbos, we always used to discuss the parsha and always
related to different philosophy and philosophers as well is
always on my, on the, you know, on the age level that I, that I
was at, yeah. But it was always, always there,
talking about philosophy and religion.
And did he also hold a rabbinic post in addition to
professorship or he was just has Mika and right?
So no, he did not. He was a professor of philosophy
in the City University and then he did not hold a rabbinic
position. He went on after he went to
turbidas when he came here as a child after the after the war,
and then he went on from there after Turbidas.
He studied in a fuser Turbidas and then with the Bubba Verbi.
And then he received Samika from from Durkin from I am Berlin.
Well, that's very interesting. I guess though, you know, you
mentioned sort of philosophy and then connection to the Bubble
Rebbe and also to our Das different backgrounds.
It doesn't you like also took with you to be able to sort of
be exposed and to meld different Torah positions and how did that
sort of express itself? I try to.
I mean, later on when I went to
Yeshiva University and while you and, and later on, even in my
studies when I really got serious in the last 10 years
compiling these books that we'll talk about, you can't really
read, read Rabbi Solovechek and Rabbi Berkovitz without, you
know, going a page without them quoting a philosopher.
And so it's that it definitely helped.
I can't say I'm an expert, but it definitely helped to to
ground it. You know, when they talk about
Martin Buber, they talk about Descartes or they talk about
different philosophers. 1 needs to know who they're, who
they're, you know, referring to referencing.
I mean, today it's always easy to, you know, to at least
reference it. You could Google it today and
you can look it up, which is great.
But I did have a little bit of background growing up that that
definitely helped me in that. Yeah.
OK, so let's talk a little bit about the bridge years between
your childhood and your adulthood, your time in Yeshiva
and University Tulsa for what those what those, what those
years were like for you. Where do you go?
I went. To Yeshiva Manhattan Beach for
elementary school. My parents were one one of the
founding family families of that the yeshiva.
We had very, very few in the beginning, a few students
compared to other yeshivas in the area, but it was a, it was a
good school and good teachers. And Manhattan Beach is situated
right next to Brighton Beach. So at that time, it was in the
80s and a lot of Russian immigrants were moving into the
area. So Manhattan Beach, usually
Manhattan Beach were one of the few schools that accepted these
students. So they were my friends in, in
the classroom. So actually when I was in 7th or
8th grade, I wrote an essay for the 200th anniversary of the
Constitution and it won an award.
So I went to meet the president of Ronald Reagan in the, in the
White House. The the essay was about how my
Russian friends were not able to experience or celebrate their
holidays in in Russia and they told me about it and that that
left left an influence on me so that that was my experience in
issue of Manhattan Beach. Good teachers, intimate setting.
How old? Are you when you're intend to
meet the President? I.
Was in 7th grade, so I was 12. Yeah, I remember the rabbi of
the rabbi, Rabbi Singer, who was the rabbi of the Man Beach
Tourist Center. I think that he said like the
only bar mitzvah boy that has met the the president of the
United States something. But yeah, yeah, it was it was AI
went with my father and we went to Washington.
We met the President Reagan and it was nice, but the but but the
idea is that not many schools, you know, had this influx of
peers of Russians that came in. So I think that definitely, you
know, I still I still remember that I'm from there.
I went to Yeshiva Flatbush. I owe I owe whatever fluency I
have in Hebrew and you've reached to my years in Yeshiva
Flatbush and my I guess my ideology might see, you might,
might see units might see, you know, being tsuni came from from
those years as well. Everything about the school was
really a teaching about Israel and and about the I know effects
of math. I know it's already a young
Rushalayan over there. So like one of the things I
remember. People who are watching on
YouTube will see my white shirt I'm.
Also have white so and I'm here in Teaneck, NJ at this point.
So I want to like I remember that the you know, talking about
the young Rushalayan and Yamat smut, but they were always had
assemblies on this night specifically, I remember Yamat
smut. They followed Rob Goren, Rav
Goran suck. I still have the the the sitter
that, you know, to say hollow with the broth at night time,
because there was Rav Hadrad Melek and and they felt that
more people would be there at night.
They, you know, they had all assembly and they said hollow at
night with the brotha. It's just I remember, you know,
I remember that they still do that.
So that's something that that that stands out for me from the
years. And you should have you should
have Flatbush many good friends, very big, much more, you know,
big, bigger setting then I went to.
You should have a hotel. That's where I met your amazing
father-in-law, Symbi symbolist and under Robina.
I was in 1990, two 1993 old city.
Now now it's Niti Varia, but back then it was Yeshivaraku
hotel where Yeshivaaku hotel is. And from there I went to why you
I I like variety. So I was in three different
shiram. I was in the actually I was in
the, I was in the pre Med track, which is the pre dentistry
track. So I took a lot of all the
medical medical medicine classes that I needed to get into dental
school. I already, you know, at that
time knew I was going to dental school.
But at the same time, because I was in the yeshiva program from,
you know, in the morning 3:00, we had Gemara.
So I was in three different shiram.
I like variety. So the first year I was in Rabbi
Willig, the senior Rabbi Willick, and then then I was in
Rev Goldfield for the second year and I was in Bronch Biegel
the the third year from then I was in Smeka.
My last year of Why You, even though I knew I wasn't going to
finish at Why you because I was already enrolled in going to
dental school. But later on I did.
I did. I did finish it with Rosamundo
Khania Goldberg. So I finished the Smeka with
with them. I did it because I knew I wanted
to to do something, so I continued on with them.
So all all of those places definitely had an influence
being the upbringing and the different, different issue with
that I went to. So you didn't mention that by
the time you got to university, you basically had your sights
set clearly on the world of dentistry.
So tell us a little more about how that came to be.
Why was that something was so clear to you that it was You're
where you're headed. Yeah.
I. For some reason I always knew,
even even even in high school, I knew I was going to be, I was
going to try to be a dentist. My orthodontist, I think
influenced me. I think just seeing the balance
many. People don't have such great.
I mean, I had a great relation with my orthodontist, Dr. Edel.
He was a former guest on the show.
He was amazing. Yeah, I don't know.
So I think talking to him and just seeing the lifestyle of the
work life balance that that a dentist could have.
Yeah. And being in a health related
field, I was thinking of architecture and dentistry
definitely has some aspect of architecture if you're doing
cosmetic cases. And so I think that it's
definitely fit my lifestyle. I like dealing with people.
And so when people have come into the office, I like talking
to them and getting to know them.
So there's a balance between also health related.
But that's the same time there is a you, you, you gain, you
build trust and you build a relationship with the patients.
So yeah, I always, I always knew that for some reason that I
wanted to be a dentist. And sort of the hopes and
expectations that you had for dentistry being a field that
will give you a sense of work life balance.
To what extent was that true? Is saying it's true only if you
have a certain level of self-discipline, or if it's
more, If it's if it's a lot easier?
I definitely think that the discipline you need for, for
every aspect of your life, but I definitely think that for me,
it's been a blessing. I think that I've been able to
accomplish some, some success within my dental office.
And I have my own dental office now 21 years in Manhattan.
It's a, it's a, it's a thriving office in the city.
And, and, and at the same time, for the last, I would say 10
years, I've devoted, at the same time I've devoted to, to my
Torah subjects and my, and my studies.
Obviously I was learning before that, but for the last 10 years,
I would say I've devoted a lot more time to other aspects of
writing at the beginning years of my practice.
Obviously, I haven't mentioned before, but I'm married.
I have three children. So at this point, I have a
daughter, Dalia and a son, Nate. Both of them make Nate aliata to
Israel. They're living in Israel.
And I have another son, Sammy, and he's next year, he's
finishing high school now and he's going to be going to study
in yeshiva next year in Israel and God willing, also stay.
So all three children will be in Israel.
So all those years, the beginning of my practice, you
know, you don't have as much time, you put in as much time as
you can and into your studies and learning.
But as time has gone on and they become more independent, I've
I've had more time to, to devote to other, you know, other
subjects as well besides dentistry.
So, you know, someone who's listening to this would, you
know, be very tempted to immediately sign up for such a
track, which can sort of almost guarantee a built in mechanism
that will really be conducive to learning and working.
And we've actually discussed on the podcast a few times before a
past guest, Mark Lesnick, wanted to follow a similar path based
on similar logic. And you went to Ron Luchenstein.
And Ron Luchenstein actually chuckled at him, which he didn't
really do often in many situations.
But he said no, no, Like if you're not going to actually
connect to the work and enjoy the work, then it's not correct
to just jump into a profession only because of that sort of
being able to be successful and also learning aspect.
So what are some of the questions that you would
recommend a a prospective dentist ask themselves to make
sure that really is the right fit?
Because you know, even if they have time to learn, if they're
miserable during the work hours, if it's not my theme for them,
it's not going to be successful. Only percent, I think I think
one has to know what they're getting into before they you
need to choose a profession. I think they should definitely
apprentice, go into dental offices beforehand, see if they
actually like the field itself before they become before a
dentist. They have to know that they like
working with their hands and, and that they could work in
somebody's mouth. That's, that's something they
need to know. But also there's it's, it's,
it's a hard, it's hard job. You're it's laborious.
At the same time, you're, you're looking in somebody's mouth for,
you know, could be 8 hours a day and doing different feelings.
And it's, it's not for everybody, but at the same time,
it's very rewarding. You know, you're helping a lot
of people. Obviously, if they're in pain,
then you get them out of pain. And also, and also aesthetically
or cosmetically, some people don't feel good about the way
that they are their teeth look. So if you're, if you're helping
them, you know, with their, with their smile, which is a very
important then, but the life balance also, besides the
dentistry, because that's their profession that they're going
into. They have to know how many hours
they have to, they want to put into their, into their
profession. So if you become an ER doctor,
then you have to know, you know, the amount of time that you're
going to be devoted to that and, and whether, and whether how
many hours you want to devote to, to Torah, how many hours you
want to devote to your family. And there's a balance and
everybody has to decide on their own what but what the right
amount is for them. So I think that for me, this has
been the right choice. As time has gone on, I've had
more time to devote towards other aspects besides dentistry.
So the last 10 years I've devoted much more to writing and
which we'll. Yeah, so we'll get there in just
a moment. I guess I think maybe this might
be the last question about your dentistry.
But you know, when we talk about work life balance, so one of the
topics which maybe isn't discussed enough, right?
But people are talking now about AI and automation and all the
different changes in the workforce.
But I want to specifically ask you, because even if someone
could tomorrow find me an AI tool that will allow me
personally to work the same, get the same income and work half
the time and have another half, you know, half the time to
learn. There's still a big elephant in
the room that's not always discussed without T, which is
the fact that, you know, if I had that extra time, I might
just want more money. A meaning there.
There's a part of this conversation which needs to say,
yes, I'm working, yes, I, I'm gaining X&X is going to be
enough because you're, you know, Cap, I'm sure if you would have
spent more hours and working in less hours doing your writing,
you could have probably made more.
So part of this touch button for you and anyone who's you, not,
you know, who's spending on time and other things is to say, I'm
not going to hustle the hardest. I'm not going to make as much
money as humanly possible. I'm going to decide that I have
enough for me and cause Brock was giving me enough.
So can you maybe talk about that?
Is that something that you ever sort of struggle with?
Maybe you should padding your savings a little more.
Sure. I think I think that a Parnassus
is very important. You need enough for your family
to to support them. A lot of the time that I devoted
in the last little bit of time a reading was was was in between
patients. Sometimes it was, you know, if
you have an idea, I think that the way that, that I like to
present the learning for myself, it's very project based.
Like if I have an idea or something that I wanted to learn
or a subject that I wanted to learn, it was something that was
practical that I was able to accomplish.
So that that's how I, I think I was able to to devote the time
and to finish the project. So if I had something in mind
that I wanted to accomplish, you have to make it a priority.
So yes, if you're if you're seeing patients for 7 to 8
hours, that should be your priority.
Your professions should definitely be be a priority.
That's your parnassum, That's what you devote your your life
to. But at the same time, there's a
balance. Yes, if you if you put in the 8
hours for the, you know, a day to, let's say to dentistry and
you have, it's not going to be the same amount of time.
You're not going to put in eight hours to to your other goals.
But even if you do a little bit a day, if you do 1/2 an hour an
hour a day, I'm not saying take away from from that 8 hours and
necessarily limit your parnasa because of it.
But there's you can always find time if you're, if you're
devoted and you want to finish a certain project.
That's that's how I I see it. And some days are better than
others that you're able to accomplish more and some days
less, depends on the mood, depends on where you are.
But I think that the way I saw it was OK.
I saw I saw something that I wanted to accomplish.
OK, so if I I read a little bit about it today, 20 minutes,
thirty minutes OK the next day I do a little bit more and sooner
or later you really you finish it.
That's amazing to see the accomplishment when you're done.
But the in the middle of it, yeah, you don't see the progress
as much because it's a little, little, little, but you get
there. So your.
Projects, and I love the way you frame that your products are are
specifically writing projects. So we can go back and tell us a
little bit more about the origins of your writing, yours a
little bit going back to your presidential recognition for
your writing skills. Tell us a little bit about
writing in general to writing specifically, because that's a
unique type of project, more than just, you know, learning
must have to make ACMI. It's it's a different, it's a
different zone, right? So different, it's a different
way of it's not Dafiomi, it's not learning, you know, Dafa
day, learning a subject and then and then learning another
subject and, and then sometimes they merge.
But the subjects that that over the last 10 years, I've really
have delved into certain writers, Rabbi Salavechik and
and Rabbi Berkovitz. So I would say that that I was,
I became connected to them and these writers more.
I've I've heard of Rabbi Salavechik growing up a lot, not
as much Rabbi Berkovitz growing up as much within all the
settings that I that I have been, but I definitely heard of
him, but just not as much as Rabbi Salavechik as I again, my
father was a philosophy professor.
So I heard of Rabbi Berkovitz in the house, but until later on, I
didn't really come to to appreciate him as much for the
roof. I mean, everywhere, you know,
you're in the New York metropolitan area.
All, most of the rabbi's had some stuff from Rabbi
Salavechik, my rabbi, Rabbi Singer in Manhattan Beach.
His he was the son-in-law of Rabbi Higham Heller.
So his, his father-in-law, Rabbi Heller was the roofs Rabbi
Solid, a chick with a rough teacher.
So he always discussed the roof, you know, and, and all the rebam
that I had in Yu. Most of them, they all, they
have samita from, from the what from, from from the Rav.
I have a close cousin, Doctor Wellowelski, Joel Wellowelski.
He always discussed Rabbi Salavechik and he's one of the
main editors of Mozart Rav books that came out.
So Rabbi Salavechik was definitely a name that I've
always heard of and and Rabbi Berkovitz later I became more
impressed and appreciated and more So what happened about 10,
10 years ago was I started reading Faith after the
Holocaust, which is a book, one of the famous books by Rabbi
Rabbi Berkovitz. And just just to talk just a
second about both of them, they really had parallel lives in a
way. They both were born in within a
few years of each other. Rabbi Berkovitz was born in 19 O
8 and Rabbi Salvatrik was born in 19 O3 both.
They both went to went to University of Berlin and have
and have pH DS from the University of Berlin around the
same time in the 1920s. Rabbi Berkovitz was a communal
rabbi in in in Berlin right before the war and he left right
after Kristallnacht. And then later, even later on,
he came to Boston and lived in the same town as the Rav in
1950s. And then he became the head of
the philosophy department in the Hebrew Theological College in
Chicago. And then in 1976, he made the
Rabbi Berkovitz made aliyah. So he lived the remaining of his
life from 1976 until 1992, he passed away.
And in that span he span, he wrote 19 books and many, many
journal articles. And one of those books was Faith
after the Holocaust and the rough passed away in 1993.
So they, they really, they, they, they, when you look at
correspondence, there's not really so much correspondence
between them because they, they do differ a little bit hush
graphically within the, within the yeshiva world, within the
modern Orthodox world. Rabbi Berkovitz might have been
a little bit more pushing the envelope a little bit, but
within the same framework, they're within the same world.
They both wrote articles for tradition RCA Journal.
So, so about 10-15 years ago, I started reading Faith after the
Holocaust and it was just a, you know, I loved it.
It talked about about the show and it talked about Divine
Contraction Simpson and it talked about the Odyssey and and
Aloha. And from there I just started
reading all of his books. I got received all of his books
and I started making stickies in the books and I'm putting
stickies in the books and which excerpts I loved.
And then I started thinking about this and I started
thinking there are not enough people who really who know about
him, about Rabbi Berkovitz. So I tried to think about ways
to make him more accessible to different people.
And I came up with an idea of making a commentary to the
Haggadah based off his books. So I took excerpts from a lot of
the books. Two or three of them are in
Hebrew, so I didn't use those or for the excerpts, but I took
excerpts and I attached them as commentary to the Haggadah.
I didn't write. I didn't write a super
commentary of why I why I put that specific excerpt to the
text of the Haggadah. But then when people read it,
there's basically an anthology of Rabbi Berkovitz's works.
So when I say writing, I didn't necessarily write, but I spent a
lot of time devoting and reading and attaching what I thought
would be good commentaries to certain words to express what
Rabbi Berkowitz would if he had a certain word or a certain
theme. I couldn't.
I connected it after the Haggadah.
I felt that there were more excerpts that could be shared.
So after that, that hug the Haggada is called faith and
freedom. So you could see it.
This is the I got a faith and freedom.
After that, I thought there were more excerpts, so I made one on
McGill add Ester. So that's what's called faith
fulfilled. And then one more after that for
Riley Berkowitz. I did faith and fortitude for
for McGill add roots. Oh, that was the course of the
last. I think the first one came out
in 2019 and then the last one came out the two years ago and I
became very close with our by Berkovitz's children.
That was one of the the outcomes of that.
So that's amazing. One is Rabbi Dov Berkovitz, who
lives in in Israel and he had a, he's a son, Rabbi Broom
Berkovitz, who was a professor in technion in Faifa, and
another son who who lives in Boston.
So it took a lot of time and devotion to come up with the
with what was the best commentary I felt to attach it
to the text. So either the Haggadah McGill
add Esther or McGill add roots. Yeah, I think that's, and then I
and then, and then after I finished with these three books
with Rabbi Berkovitz, these were published with by Urim by
Akhtaba Urim. Then after I finished the, the
books were Berkovitz, I was approached to because of the
same style of, of writing, of compiling and editing the Rove.
When the Mozart Rav series came out, they didn't they didn't
have they didn't have a commentary on the book of roots.
And since I I just formulated and edited one with our by
Berkovitz on the book of roots. I was familiar with the book of
roots. Then I was approached to to do a
commentary for Mcgillat roots with the commentary of of the
Rove. And so then I went back and I
started reading all the books. So that was when you say
project, it's a big project because it means remembering
putting stickies. There are only two or three
references maybe in all the Rob's writings in English where
he quotes McGill at roots at all.
So it means building a commentary based off themes and
words. And so it's a, it's a lot of
works while I was working in as a dentist at the same time, I
was reading the rough material and learning the rough even
again, even though I know about the rough and I learnt about the
rough. And maybe I, you know, when NYU
we had to read Hellotic Man a little bit or The Lonely Man of
Faith, Adam 1, Adam 2. But it really wasn't the same as
devoting it to know that you have to teach it or to make a
commentary from the book of Ruth.
So last year this book came out. This is the book of Ruth based
on the commentary of Rabbi Salavejek.
And then one more book is coming out the hopefully by the end of
the year. I did a commentary on the book
of to Helen. So while I was while I was
writing or commenting during the commentary on the book of Ruth,
I was so amazed by how often the rough quoted to hill him and
they don't have a book yet out with the with the roughs
commentary and to hill him. So that's a little different
than the rest of the other four that I have, because the other
four really, I think took a little bit more thinking,
ingenuity. And, and some people may even
say that some of the, some of the excerpts may be a little far
fetched or they don't attach as as much because again, it's my
thinking of which excerpts should attach to which words and
to make a commentary. But with the book of to Hillem,
it's completely wherever the Ruff quoted to Hillem from, from
his writings. I, I, I put it in order by Parek
and and Pasuk and I made it in appendix at the end because I
only picked 1, one excerpt for each pusuk that there is.
It is definitely not every pusuk in the into Helen, but some had
six or seven that I found. And so we only picked the one.
I only picked the one, but there are seven others.
So if you do want to look up the seven others, I made an appendix
in the in the back of the book so you can look up which, which
book it comes from. So over the last couple years,
the five books, you know what you know, so I feel it's a
blessing that, you know, that that I had some contribution in,
in bringing Rabbi Berkovitz's writings more to the masses and
that my name is somehow associated with these Gadolin.
Yeah, it's I, I feel, you know, blessed, you know, in, in that
so. I guess one thing that I was
thinking about as you were describing this journey in this
process is, you know, was it at all scary for you that you might
miss something mean these both of these rabbis have written so
much, such a vast array. And so you know, your job.
And so obviously you seem to have devoted a lot of time to
reading as much as you could and to understanding and, and
building those connections, which I'm sure takes a lot more
work than it might seem at first glance.
But you know, like, were you confident that you'd really
covered all the material and we're really holding all of it,
or you just do the best you can? Or did you consult with other
experts who who might verify or add and and and and and put you
in the right direction? Right.
So with the Rabbi Berkovitz writings, I think we used the
word confident. I think, I think I was pretty
confident that I didn't, I didn't make a claim that I was
using all of the excerpts because I was just was just
again, this is this is, this is a commentary that I'm building.
So there's so much more writing that I did not use to build the
commentary. And one can the, the, the, the
point, the point of them, I think, is so that somebody who
reads the Haggadah and is not as familiar with Arbeit, Berkowitz
would then go out and buy his books and, and read the read the
full book. Because, you know, maybe with
faith after the Holocaust, you know, there are about 100
excerpts maybe in each book. So there's so much more.
It wasn't a claim to use all of it.
It was a claim to, I think to which I think I'm confident in,
in that the goal was to build a commentary so that people would
be able to read it and get to know Rabbi Berkovitz, get to
know his vast philosophy and what he stood for throughout.
Because you know, you go from one subject to the next in the
in the writing 1 you could can read about in Kiddish in the
beginning of the Haggadah. There, there, there are 6 or 7
excerpts and you can learn about what Rabbi Berkovitz says about
what Kadosh means and then you can read about the Shatianu,
what he says about time. So it's varied subjects.
So I think that goal, I think hopefully was met with Rabbi
Solovitchik. I think that definitely more
people looked over it. There are a lot more hands that
got involved when it was the OU Press and, and, and who
published these books and and scholars that that have reviewed
it. So, and there was editing
involved with, with with that. But again, there's such a vast
au revoir that that they wrote that I took a very small amount
to to make the commentary. It was enough to make the
commentary. And so that somebody would be
able to appreciate and know the book of the book of Ruth a
little bit more based off the Roughs philosophy.
I do want to learn some Ruth, some you got Ruth or Ruth.
If you want to talk about it together with you in a moment,
it's one more question that I'd love to ask.
And a brief 1. I think you mentioned that some
Roslovic had took of it. He quoted his writings, you
know, upwards of five times off top of your head.
You remember what's the most took him are I'm just
fascinated. Sure.
Sure, sure. So mima makim karatifa Hashem,
you know mates are karate, right?
So those out of the depths, that's something that the rub
talked about a lot. 1 of the ones I remember he talked about
called Adam Kosev was actually one that he amazing that he that
you only believe in God. So those were two that stand out
right now. So, yeah, so let's go back to
Rust now. She was coming up.
Maybe before we jump into it, for our listeners, who, you
know, is a little bit rusty in her mind, a quick reminder of
some of the basics of the story. And then maybe you could share
some ideas that are relevant to this topic of working in
business and Torah and life and kedusha are based on the
research and the learning that you've been doing.
So the book of Root is devoted to Root who is from the nation
of Moav. She was widowed along with her
sister-in-law and her mother-in-law Naomi.
Naomi was married to Ellie Mella and Ellie Mella died and then
and then their two sons died. So Naomi was left with her two
daughter in laws. Naomi decided to stay with Naomi
and the other, the other sister-in-law decided to return
to her nation and that's where the the famous statement comes
that she converts me, the Lokaya Fellowkai, I'm going to devote
myself, your God is my God, my nation, your nation is my
nation. So she devotes herself and stays
with with Naomi and they go back to Beit Lehem.
In Beit Lehem, Ruth is supported by Boaz, is a family member,
happens to be a family member and actually is the goal of the
Redeemer for her. And then later on Boaz, Boaz
really treats her really well and generously and eventually
redeems the family line and Ruth at the end that the last couple
of sentences, it talks about the genealogy that Ruth and Boaz
have a child named Ovad and then eventually the grandparents of
King gave it. So that's in short, that's the
you know that that's the story. I can highlight one plus that I
think would highlight or broadcast that and how I bring a
commentary of payers from both Rabbi Berkovitz and from from
and from Rabbi Soloveitchik. So the one pusick that that I
have is put parekh a bet pasak Ted Zion the gam shol tasholu la
minhat's fatim bazaftam de lecta the lotiga Aruba.
In English it means but you must also pull some stalks out of the
heaps and leave them for her to glean.
So this is talking about already when, when Root is in the field
of Boaz and Boaz is telling his workers to go out of your way
and to do something extra. Because we know the mitzvah of
lecat is whatever's left, the poor or the impoverished are
allowed to take from the from the field.
But here what I saw was there was an extra, was an extra
determination of Boaz to tell his workers not just what was
left, but you need to go out and specifically take, take more and
leave it and leave it for her. So what I did was and I, I found
excerpts from both Rabbi in the first book from Rabbi Berkovitz,
I saw this as more of liefni misurata din than just din,
which means that din is the law, which means that it would have
been enough if she just went out and found what what was there.
But he actually went back to the workers and told them to do
more. So I found I found a source from
a book, Crisis and Faith from Rabbi Berkovitz, that basically
it starts off by saying once again, there was no written code
to consult. So this is the story from the
Gemara from Baba Mitziya 83 a where there's a story where
Rabbi Berkovitz is talking about examples of Lithni misurata.
At the end, the way that I see it, that he says they're really
there's halacha, but there's also above halacha.
So the example that he brings is a case of Rabba Barakhana who
had hired some workers to carry some barrels of wine and somehow
the workers broke the barrels and the wine was lost.
Whereupon ABBA took away their clothes as a guarantee for in
lieu of damages to which he brought and he was entitled,
they brought the case for education before Rav, right.
So you have Rava Barasana who hired workers and the workers
dropped these barrels and he took away, he took their pay, he
took away their clothes. So now the case is brought
before Rav who ruled that the clothes had to be returned to
the workers. Now this is the this is the
interesting question. And Raba says Raba Rakhana who
took it away, says, is this the law?
And the answer was yes. And then the Pasak was given.
That's what Rav says. Yes, it's the law.
But we know it's not really the law, but it's listening if sure
at that time. So the clothes were returned and
then the workers, however, were not satisfied.
And they say we have worked all day and we are hungry, they
said, claiming that they wanted their wages back.
So Rav ruled, go and pay them their wages.
And once again Rava asked, is this the law?
And the answer was given yes. And A and A and a pusak is
given. So then Rabbi Berkovitz goes on
and explains this, that legalistically speaking, Rob of
course was right. Such was not the law.
But the case before Rob presented one of those
characteristically problems. There was a law of damages, but
there was also the obligation to care for the disadvantage.
Once again, the decision decision was made on the basis
of a rabbi's appreciation of the more comprehensive concern for
the Torah. Roth's decision was not in
accordance with the specific law of damages, but with the total
purpose of the law of the Torah. It was halacha.
So I thought that this was a apropos commentary to show in
this day and age and in the in the gamras time, an example what
Boaz did. So again, I didn't, I didn't do
a super commentary. I didn't explain what Mike why
my commentary was there and this this could be this is my super
commentary. I saw it that Boaz was doing
something above what he had to. But really that if you look at
it, that's really the halacha. The halacha is to do what you
feel is right to do what's just. And that's what Rabbi Berkovitz
says that he's explaining that Rob is seeing the same thing.
You need to give back away the wages.
You need to give back the close because the law is the
obligation is to care for the disadvantage and that's and
that's lift name Nishirat that didn't when I was going through
to do the commentary for Rabbi Rabbi Salavechik on the same
Plasuk. I found a commentary from
halachic man which I used as the commentary on the same on the
same plasuk. I have a deeper I'm a still
Vazaftam Delectabelo Tagara. I'll leave them so that she'll
be able to take and I'm the quote starts halachic man takes
up his stand in the midst of the concrete world, his feet planted
firmly on the ground of reality, and he looks about and sees,
listens and hears and publicly protests against the oppression
of the helpless, the defrauding of the poor and the plight of
the orphan. I love this phrase also like
that the that the halachic man in the same way that Rabbi
Berkovitz answers that that he ends that that quote as it was
it was halacha. They both say this is halacha to
do not just the minimum, but you need to go out of your way and
the feet planted firmly. I think that that's a it's a
beautiful phrase that you need your your feet planted in this
world. It's you can't be oblivious to
what's to what's going on. And then later on in the in the
quote in the excerpt, he says neither a ritual decisions nor
political leadership constitute the main, main task of Allahic
man. Far from it.
The actualization of the ideals of justice and righteousness is
the pillar of fire which Allahic man follows when he is a rabbi
and teacher and Israel serves his community more through the
implementation of principles of righteousness.
Man fulfills the task of creation, opposed him, imposed
upon him the perfection of the world under the dominion of
Aloha and the renewal of the face of creation.
What the rather saying is that when we help the impoverished
than the poor, we're actually perfecting the world.
There are a lot of places where both Rabbi Berkovitz and the Rav
talk about Tikkun olam latakiano lamba mop, which I die, that
we're Co creators with God. But it's it's interesting to
that this is that this is one of the places that we have to go
out of our way to to help to help the impoverished.
So I think that was also, you know, I think an apropos
commentary to explain Boas and going out of his way and
helping. It's not just just just doing
the the norm. You have to have justice.
You have to have compassion and a moral vision of what the the
Torah, what the Torah calls for. One example that I think that
from from my own dealings in the office that I remember one time
I was hiring a an assistant a few years ago and I went through
the hiring process and I interviewed him maybe on a
Wednesday or Thursday and I was ready to hire her.
And I was speaking to my father right before before Shabbos.
And I told him, I think I found, I found somebody to hire and I'm
going to call her on on Monday after after the weekend.
And he said which she was right. Why, why wait?
Call, call her 10 today. You know, she, she's going to be
so happy going into the weekends that she's going to feel great,
you know, that she's going to have a job.
And I, I remember that and I, I didn't.
And I still remember her voice saying amazing, great and almost
like same words like I'm going, you know, I'm going into the
weekend knowing so go a little bit more than then.
Yeah, So would have been fine, I think, calling after the
weekend, but you're doing something a little bit beyond.
So I think both Rabbi Berkovitz and and Rabbi Soloveitchik,
these commentaries bring to life the the the task or what Boaz
was doing in the field or what he was trying to show that you
need to do a little bit more. You can't just leave it that she
could just take from the field. But you have to go have that
extra kindness and compassion and have what we call mission.
Right, that's a really great lesson and I think it's very
important that we as much as halacha is so central and the
laws and regulations, but also to have the bigger picture that
there is more to it than just keeping alcohol, though that is
not at all to be to be denigrated in any way, shape or
form. But there is a somewhat you
know, there's a bigger picture to see and to values that have
to be Dr. driven with Nalah and beyond Alaka.
It's a great message and certainly I think touches all of
us were in the working world on a very daily basis.
It's a very great, great choice and thank you for teaching us
these ideas. So let's just go to a quick
rapid fire. 3 short questions, three hopefully short answers.
We're in the summer. We have nice long Shabbos
afternoons. What do you like to do at that
time? I like to read always a little,
A little sleep is good, but I like to read right now.
I picked up some books from from Elie Wiesel.
He has a book reading it again, but a book on sages, Sages and
dreamers on all the Tanayan. But like little you know, I
wouldn't say it's light reading, but at the same time, if you
look up the history of the Tanium and you know who they're,
you know, you know, sometimes who they are.
It helps sometimes with a sig of knowing their philosophies Right
now. Let that's the latest book that
I'm reading is an Elie Wiesel book, but definitely still a
rereading Rabbi Berkovitz and and Rabbi Solovechik.
OK Lieutenstein. I've been reading some of his
material as well. So yeah.
Great. And what's your favorite
commentary on Parshata Shiva? The.
Torah Tamina, I think I love the concordance.
He also has a made his super commentary as well.
But amazing how he was able to find all the sources.
The one there's one one of my favorites is on the word Shadai
where where Hashem comes to Avraham.
It's he goes through the whole the whole idea of of shot.
What the name of Shadai is is in the is Simpson the God who said
enough and talking about before we talked about us finishing
creation. He he has this whole explanation
that God left some room for us on purpose so that we can finish
God's creation. Otherwise what can we create We
have that we have to be to make clip in this world we have to
have kedushim. So I think the Torah to me most
is. Also a favorite of the pod
because he was himself a mentor in the workforce and we've
talked about him in the podcast in the past.
So finally for our last question, if you're forced to
leave your dental profession, find some new profession in
addition to your writing, but a different job may say your
dreams are doing as a kid, what would that be?
Think, I think it would be teaching.
I think that I would want to want to teach the combination of
Torah with Jewish philosophy. I think students, whether in
high school or the year in Israel, should know these names
to know more of the writings of Rabbi Berkovitz, should know
really the writings of Rabbi Rabbi Salavejic.
I don't know how many students in Yu today have picked up his
writings. The rough.
I mean, there's no center NYU for, you know, it's called the
Rabbi solid a chick center. So I think I think that going
through the works and explaining them that would be I think
either even part time explaining, I think in
combination with a with a parsha bringing up bringing up
different rabbis and what they have to say and commentary and
explain it to them. I think, I think and also and
also the hit the history of it, of the history of, of where
where certain rabbis lived, why they were crucial.
I think that's something that's something missing.
And if you know today, if you ask certain, you know, they ask
a lot of students like where the where the Mahabir lived in the
Ravi Yosef Kara lived and in relation to Rashi or they don't
know the difference of, you know, 500 years.
So I think that that's that's something that to teach an
introduction or something like that that that talks about the
rabbi's talks about. I think that that's what I would
like to do. What that happened, I don't
know, but I think I think that's I like projects and goals.
So maybe it will happen all. Right Ruby Mol, this has been a
great conversation. Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it. Thank you all.
Right. Hug some F.