Rabbi Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg Eulogizes Rabbi Shlomo Goren
Rabbi Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg Eulogizes Rabbi Shlomo Goren
Marc B. Shapiro
The recent passing of R. Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg was a great loss. It was not just a loss for one segment of the Torah world, as R. Zalman Nehemiah was unusual in that he was part of both the haredi world and the religious Zionist world. He was respected in both of these camps and spent his life teaching Torah among haredim and religious Zionists. One of the places he taught at was Yeshivat Ha-Idra, which was established by R. Shlomo Goren (and which closed not long after R. Goren’s death). I was fortunate to discover a eulogy that R. Zalman Nehemiah delivered for R. Goren.[1] From the eulogy you can see that R. Zalman Nehemiah broke with basically the entire haredi world which had written R. Goren off, and wanted nothing to do with him, either in life or after his death. Significantly, R. Zalman Nehemiah also contributed to the memorial volume published for R. Goren.
You can see the original handwritten eulogy in one document here, and my transcription of the eulogy in one document here.
There are a couple of noteworthy points in the eulogy which I would like to call attention to. R. Zalman Nehemiah mentions that R. Goren would complete seven pages of Talmud a day, and in this way would finish the Talmud in a year. In his autobiography, R. Goren mentions that it was R. Moshe Mordechai Epstein, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Chevron Yeshiva, who recommended to the young Shlomo Gorontchik that he learn seven blatt a day. R. Epstein said that this was what he himself did, and he recommended that R. Goren do this in the morning, while in the afternoon he study the Talmud in depth. This was not long after R. Goren entered the yeshiva, when he was not yet twelve years old.[2] Incredibly, he began learning seven blatt a day, and he tells us that during the winter he finished Yevamot twelve times. He also tells us that as he got older he would do 24 blatt a day with Rashi and Tosafot.[3]
The other point worthy of note is that R. Zalman Nehemiah mentions that there was a rumor that R. Goren was going to be engaged with the granddaughter of R. Isser Zalman Meltzer, and when this turned out to be incorrect R. Isser Zalman was very upset and was comforted by R. Aryeh Levin. In his autobiography, R. Goren discusses this matter but without mentioning any names.[4]
בעת ההיא, החלו גם רבנים ושדכנים שונים לנסות ולשדך לי אישה. אחת ההצעות הגיעה מאחד מגדולי ישראל, מן הגאונים, שהיה מעוניין מאוד לשדך לי את בתו
R. Goren mentions that since his father was a Gur Hasid he had to get the approval of the Rebbe, who for one reason or another was not enthusiastic about the match, meaning that there could be no shiddukh. R. Goren mentions that the woman who was suggested for him ended up marrying a great rabbi, but the marriage ended in divorce.[5]
The woman proposed for R. Goren was none other than R. Aharon Kotler’s daughter, who went on to marry R. Dov Schwartzman. It makes sense that R. Kotler would be interested in R. Goren, as he would have heard from his father-in-law, R. Isser Zalman Meltzer, about the great illui, R. Shlomo Gorontchik. There even exists a letter in which R. Kotler asks his father-in-law about R. Goren in terms of a possible shiddukh. Here is a selection from the letter which first appeared here.
Incidentally, here is a picture of R. Goren and R. Kotler from 1954 at the Agudah Kenessiah Gedolah in Jerusalem. It first appeared here. The man on the right is R. Shabbetai Yogel, who was on the Moetzet Gedolei ha-Torah.
Also noteworthy is that on one occasion R. Kotler accepted an invitation from R. Goren to speak to a group of Israeli soldiers.[6]
As long as we are talking about R. Goren, here are some unknown pictures of him and R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik.
In this picture the man to the left is Rabbi Israel Miller. I don’t know who is standing behind the Rav.
In this picture Rabbi Zevulun Charlop is standing on the left, and on the right are Rabbis Israel Miller and Samuel Belkin.
Here is a picture of R. Goren giving his shiur at YU. Maybe some readers were in attendance.
These pictures are found in the Israel State Archives here, and it is indicated in the file that credit should be given to Yeshiva University. No date is given for R. Goren’s visit, but in the Israel State Archives it indicates that the visit took place when R. Goren was Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. While he was elected to this position in 1968, he only started serving in 1971. At the end of 1972 he was elected Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel. From this we would conclude that the visit took place in either 1971 or 1972. We can further pinpoint the date of the visit as the file in the Israel State Archives includes the envelope in which the pictures were sent to R. Goren, and it is postmarked May 24, 1972. We thus see that the visit was in the spring of 1972. I then did a Google search, and lo and behold, I found an article on R. Goren’s visit in the May 19, 1972 issue of the Indiana Jewish Post and Opinion.
With this information I went to the online archives of the YU Commentator, and in the May 17, 1972 issue (p. 8), I found a report of R. Goren’s visit. We see from it that R. Goren spoke at YU on May 3, 1972.
*************
[1] The original letter published here is found in the Israel State Archives. Recently, the website for the Israel State Archives was updated, and I can no longer find the file that contains R. Goldberg’s letter, which is why I have not provided a link.
[2] It is commonly said that R. Goren entered the Chevron Yeshiva when he was twelve years old. However, R. Goren stated that he was born at the end of 1917 and he entered the yeshiva in the fall of 1929. See Be-Oz ve-Ta’atzumot, ed. Avi Rat (Tel Aviv, 2013), pp. 21, 61. Some sources, including the English Wikipedia, state that he was born on Feb. 3, 1917. Israel government sources and the Hebrew Wikipedia state that he was born on Feb. 3, 1918. I have no idea where the date of Feb. 3 comes from, as R. Goren himself said he was born at the end of 1917.
[3] Be-Oz ve-Ta’atzumot, pp. 62-63.
[4] Be-Oz ve-Ta’atzumot, p. 97.
[5] Be-Oz ve-Ta’atzumot, pp. 97-98.
[6] See R. Zalman ha-Levi Ury, Kedushat Avraham, vol. 2, p. 199.
33 thoughts on “Rabbi Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg Eulogizes Rabbi Shlomo Goren”
Great post Marc! The hesped is a tremendous find.
The links for some reason are not working, but it will be fixed soon.
In the meantime, here is the typed version of the hesped
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tPQ3KtsKCKNoMUEBaNhprK7fSjkMtSnJ/view
and here is the hesped in one file
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GiJdcRe9NJ3dFxL9ybnNqxQE1jsA5D9U/view
My father recalls R’ Goren speaking to Rav Soloveitchik’s when he was in it, around 1960. (He of course was Chuef Chaplain back then.)
BH
Very very interesting. Thank you very much!
Since we mention Rav Goren, Be’Hashgocho Perotis I saw this today, and thought to share (though it is slightly off topic).
https://twitter.com/Jewish_Bookery/status/1311422094278787073
Slightly?
You may be correct in your assumption that the shidduch referred to in Be-Oz ve-Ta’atzumot was RAK’s daughter, but from the context there, I would guess that he’s referring to RZPF’s daughter Esther, who married (and was divorced from) Rav Shmuel Rozovsky.
What a fantastic find. Marc does it again!
Thank you very much – a great article !
Rabbi N.Z.Goldberg, z”l, helped substantially in the resistance against very unfair attack of ChBaD on the Prague Jewish Community and on Chief Rabbi personally in early 2000. His support was of great
help to the Prague Rabbinate to save the character of Jewish community build by Mahara”l of Prague in 15 – 16 centuries.
איני קובע מסמרות, אבל יתכן שבחלק האחרון של הספדו, בדבריו על מנשה, רצה הרב גולדברג יותר מלרמוז שמורשתו יש בה דברים שאינם כשורה ולכן כדאי שתלמידיו יקחו לעצמם את התמדתו בתורה שזה ישאר קיים אף בשעה שיתרת פעולותיו ישכחו.
The an behind the Rav in the the pictueecwirh R. Miller is Eliezer Schaffer who was at that time if i remember correctly a shaliach from the sochnut and responsible for the mizrachi youth organization Mizrahi Hatzair.
Correct.
He joined the Lechi in 1946.
https://lehi.org.il/?p=8316
There is a wikipedia under אליעזר שפר
I am curious if the advice Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein gave was individualized. It is possible it was just a version of what he writes לבוש מרדכי הקדמות בבא קמא הקדמת המחבר
ובדוק כי טוב מאד העצה היעוצה, כי תיכף כאשר יוכל ללמוד גמרא ותוס’ בעצמו יקבע לו שני לימודים, אחד גמרא עם תוס’ בעיון, וחצי היום ילמוד גמרא בלי תוס’, אך לחזור להיות בקי היטב, ושעה אחת ביום יקבע ללמוד קצות עם חבר כגילו שיש לו שכל ישר, ובזה בעזרת השם יצליח הרבה.
There are discrepancies in the details, but the message remains the same.
I was a student at the time at YU and the word was out that the Rav zatzal was very upset with Rav Goren zl over several issues including the Shalit and Langer cases. The Rav constantly was speaking of R.Chaim Brisker’s fierce independence from political pressure when formulating Halachik decisions or even approaches without taking outside, i.e. non halachik ideals into consideration.
I was at a lecture in Boston given by the Rav in which he was asked about the Langer case and R Goren’s position. He said “If the facts are as given by R. Goren, it is a yeshiva Katanish question that Ms. Langer’s first marriage was not valid so that the Langer children were not mamzerim”
According to Yaacov Sasson:
https://seforimblog.com/2021/02/rav-gorelick-the-rav-and-revision-by-omission/
“The Rav addressed the Langer case in his well-known speech in 1975 on the topic of the Rabbi Rackman’s aguna plan.[24]
However, if you think that the solution lies in the reformist philosophy, or in an extraneous interpretation of the Halacha, you are badly mistaken. It is self-evident; many problems are unsolvable, you can’t help it. For instance, the problem of these two mamzerim in Eretz Yisrael – you can’t help it. All we have is the institution of mamzer. No one can abandon it – neither the Rav HaRoshi, nor the Rosh HaGola. It cannot be abandoned. It is a pasuk in Chumash: “לא יבא ממזר בקהל ה‘”. It is very tragic; the midrash already spoke about it, “והנה דמעת העשוקים“, but it’s a reality, it’s a religious reality. If we say to our opponents or to the dissident Jews, “That is our stand” – they will dislike us, they will say that we are inflexible, we are ruthless, we are cruel, but they will respect us. But however, if you try to cooperate with them or even if certain halachic schemes are introduced from within, I don’t know, you would not command love, you would not get their love, and you will certainly lose their respect. That is exactly what happened in Eretz Yisrael! What can we do? This is Toras Moshe and this is surrender. This is קבלת עול מלכות שמים. We surrender.[25]
The Rav is clearly referring to the Langer case, and he considered Rav Goren’s heter to be illegitimate. He refers to the Langers as two mamzerim, and he uses the Langer case as an example of something “unsolvable” and that “you can’t help it.” He seems to be using Rav Goren’s heter as an example of “an extraneous interpretation of the Halacha.” And according to the Rav, the more appropriate response would have been to surrender to halacha; that the attempted heter was a futile attempt to coax love out of dissident Jews. I have not seen this speech of the Rav mentioned in the context of the Langer case and I thought it appropriate to mention here.”
There is nothing wrong in showing both sides of the argument
BH
One can make one more note.
Reb Aharon also notes another suggested proposal (see the letter for the name). Reb Aharon turned it down, because Torah was more important then Yichus, so instead he wanted Shlomo Gorenchik,
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Rav Goren was a talmid of RIZM, at Yeshiva Etz Chaim who wrote him an “enthusiastic” (wiki quote) haskama for Shaarei Taharah in 1939. RAK was still in Kletzk, as were his son (who somehow ended up in Yerushalayim, learning by his grandfather; the fact that the circumstances are kept confidential leads me to believe assistance by Aliyah Bet personnel) and daughter (who ended up on Trans Siberian RR and SFO via Kobe).
His brother in law RSYC was a POW of the Arab League, the British directed Jordanian Army in the Old City 1948. He must have married in that interim.
I doubt RAK’s daughter would have married an Israeli (forget politics), especially considering Philadelphia Yeshiva and her later living in Lakewood instead of Israel.
What do you mean that you doubt she would have married an Israeli? She DID marry an Israeli, Rabbi Schwartzman.
Was referring to her and presumably her father wanted the SIL to live in the states. Hence Philadelphia.
I highly doubt Rav Goren would have agreed to move to the States.
MiMedinat HaYam –
You could have made your message even shorter by using even more acronyms and abbreviations. Next time, please try!
“Rav Goren was a talmid of RIZM, at Yeshiva Etz Chaim who wrote him an “enthusiastic” (wiki quote) haskama for Shaarei Taharah in 1939. ”
RIZM’s haskama to Nezer Hakodesh, published when RSG was only 18 years old is absolutely remarkable. I’m unaware of its equivalent in recent rabbinic literature
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Business before pleasure. Rav Z. N. Goldberg was a wonderful person, but not doctrinaire in politics. He was on Rabbanut payroll and had to maintain a relationship with Chief Rabbi Goren. All the rabbis who had government rabbinate salaries remained on civil terms with Rabbi Goren.
No, Rav Elyashiv remained on the govt. payroll, and received a pesnion till his petirah. Also, you are just giving a hareidi whitewash, to “justify” the hesped by RZNG ztl.
If he held your views, he would not write such a long and honorary hesped.
There is a lot of post-holocaust denial by people in Satmar and NK. They use your stupid type of argument for the the positive letters abotu Rav Kook. they “justify” these by saying Rav Kook controlled all the visas and purse strings and saved many thousands of lives before the holocaust, that is why they wrote honorfic letters to him. Comlpete nonsense – except for the fact that rav Kook was a true tzaddik who saved many thousands of lives from europe . it was not out of greed or kavid, but becasue he was a Tzaddik, and the true leader of Israel.
I must have touched a very raw nerve in poor Kalonymus. Sorry. I didn’t bring up the name of Harav Kook זצוק״ל, you did. But since we are discussing government payroll, it is generally believed that Rav Elyashev’s retirement was connected to avoidance of working with R. Goren. Many halachic authorities really felt very strongly about the Langer case. And Mr. Hayam’s claim that there is something suspicious about Rabbi Shneur Kotler’s arrival in Jerusalem at the beginning of the war is not necessarily true. There were limited numbers of certificates given out for yeshiva students, and they were allocated to different people. Not all travel was illicit, and there several publications about the maapilim of that period, and his name does not appear on any of the lists.
Of interest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pacSopqgYjg