Shlomo Wolbe
Encyclopedia
Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe was a Haredi
rabbi
born in Berlin and died in Jerusalem. He is best known as the author of Alei Shur (עלי שור), a work of musar literature
discussing personal growth as it pertains to students of the Talmud
.
through the efforts of the Orthodox Students Union V.A.D. (Verein Judische Academiker.) After university he attended the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
(Rabbiner Seminar für das Orthodoxe Judenthum). He continued to study at Rabbi Boczko's yeshiva in Montreux, Switzerland
. He then attended the Mir yeshiva
in Poland, where he became a student of the Mashgiach Ruchani
, Rabbi Yeruchom Levovitz, and, then of Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein
.
While in the Mir, Wolbe befriended a young man from Stockholm, Sweden, Bert Lehmann, son of Hans (Chaim) and Fannie Lehmann. During World War II, Wolbe, who was a German national, was in danger of deportation and could not follow the Mir yeshiva into Russia
. Hans Lehmann invited Wolbe to stay with his family and be the Jewish teacher for his sons. Wolbe thus was able to spend the war years in neutral Sweden
. While he was in Sweden, he functioned there as a rabbi. During the war he worked for the US-based Rescue Committee in coordination with Rabbi Benjamin Jakobson. At the end of the war he created a girls school for refugees in Lidingö
. There, he wrote pamphlets on Judaism in Swedish
and German.
He moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1946 and studied at Yeshivas Lomzha in Petah Tikva
. He then married the daughter of Rabbi Avraham Grodzinski
, of the Slabodka yeshiva
. Wolbe continued his studies at Kollel Toras Eretz Yisroel in Petach Tikva under Rabbi Yitzchok Katz. In 1948, Wolbe took over a small yeshiva belonging to a youth organization called Ezra. Two years later was joined by Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapiro of Brisk. The yeshiva was located in the small town of Be'er Yaakov, and was known as the Be'er Yaakov Yeshiva. Shapiro became the Rosh Yeshiva
and Wolbe became the Mashgiach Ruchani
. For more than 30 years until 1981 Wolbe served as the menahel ruchani of Yeshivas Be'er Yaakov.
Later, he served as mashgiach in the Lakewood Yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel
and he then opened Yeshivas Givat Shaul specializing in mussar. During these post 1981 years Wolbe gave mussar talks in various yeshivas and to small groups. He also created many "mussar houses." The Bais Mussar was named with the support of Manfred Lehmann ( son of Hans Lehmann) in memory of Chaim (Jamie) Lehmann, who had died in 1982. Prominent amongst his many students are Rabbi Uri Weisblaum and Rabbi Reuven Leuchter, all of whom have published works of Mussar as well as Rabbi Benjie Jacoby who continues to successfully outreach to North American university students, bringing them closer to Torah.
Known for being a life-long reader of secular psychology
and educational theory, Rav Wolbe created his own educational philosophyfor the Haredi community.
In his important work on education Zeriah u'Binyan beChinnuch ("Planting and Building in Education") he presents a Haredi adaptation and paraphrase of John Dewey
’s Democracy and Education(1916), in which Dewey presented the tension of rote learning and a democratic individualism.
For Wolbe, the educator needs to “build” the students on the firm ground of Torah, the community, and Haredi yeshiva values, yet at the same time allow the students to “grow,” each in their own personal and individual way.
Wolbe emphasized the great stress Torah places on the individuality of every child and every situation. In his discussion of prayer he states:
("ethics") talks on a proper regiments life of a yeshiva student. The second volume published 20 years after the first was an intense glimpse into his actual mussar workshops for developing elevated character traits. The book contains step by step instructions and specific exercises.
Wolbe believed that the student should not rely on habit or emotions, rather they should structure their lives. "The greater the person is, the more organized is his life." (Alei Shur, Pg. 68)
In Alei Shur volume 2:Mussar chapter 5, he presents the core of his method: The continuous need to better oneself in the everyday. He calls this better of deepening Hislamdus ("teaching oneself"), a non-ego learning from things. Wolbe's method will slowly train one to contemplate nature, one’s surroundings, political events, and one’s home life:
Wolbe felt that there are four basic areas aside from the regular Gemara
curriculum of the yeshiva that the yeshiva student should master.
until the Yom Kippur War
.
This book is a fantastic collection of lectures and talks he gave to non-religious in Kibbutzim and to soldiers in the IDF. It also contains a selection of opinion letters he wrote regarding contemporary issues in the Jewish world.
In the post 1967
world, he predicted that people will become ba'alei teshuva
and there will be a great movement in Israel of people returning to their Jewish heritage.
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
born in Berlin and died in Jerusalem. He is best known as the author of Alei Shur (עלי שור), a work of musar literature
Musar literature
Musar literature is the term used for didactic Jewish ethical literature which describes virtues and vices and the path towards perfection in a methodical way.- Definition of Musar literature :...
discussing personal growth as it pertains to students of the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
.
Life and teaching positions
Shlomo (Wilhelm) Wolbe was raised in an irreligious Jewish home and received his education at the University of Berlin (1930–1933). During his university studies he became a Baal teshuvaBaal teshuva
Baal teshuva or ba'al teshuvah , sometimes abbreviated to BT, is a term referring to a Jew who turns to embrace Orthodox Judaism. Baal teshuva literally means, "repentant", i.e., one who has repented or "returned" to God...
through the efforts of the Orthodox Students Union V.A.D. (Verein Judische Academiker.) After university he attended the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
The Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary was founded in Berlin on 22 October 1873 by Rabbi Dr. Azriel Hildesheimer for the training of rabbis in the tradition of Orthodox Judaism.-History:...
(Rabbiner Seminar für das Orthodoxe Judenthum). He continued to study at Rabbi Boczko's yeshiva in Montreux, Switzerland
Montreux
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
. He then attended the Mir yeshiva
Mir yeshiva (Poland)
The Mir yeshiva , commonly known as the Mirrer Yeshiva or The Mir, was a Haredi yeshiva located in the town of Mir, Russian Empire...
in Poland, where he became a student of the Mashgiach Ruchani
Mashgiach ruchani
Mashgiach ruchani or mashgiach for short, means a spiritual supervisor or guide. It is a title which usually refers to a rabbi who has an official position within a yeshiva and is responsible for the non-academic areas of yeshiva students' lives.The position of mashgiach ruchani arose with the...
, Rabbi Yeruchom Levovitz, and, then of Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein
Yechezkel Levenstein
Yechezkel Levenstein, known as Reb Chatzkel, , was the mashgiach ruchani of the Mir yeshiva, in Mir, Belarus and during the yeshiva's flight to Lithuania and on to Shanghai due to the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in World War II...
.
While in the Mir, Wolbe befriended a young man from Stockholm, Sweden, Bert Lehmann, son of Hans (Chaim) and Fannie Lehmann. During World War II, Wolbe, who was a German national, was in danger of deportation and could not follow the Mir yeshiva into Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Hans Lehmann invited Wolbe to stay with his family and be the Jewish teacher for his sons. Wolbe thus was able to spend the war years in neutral Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. While he was in Sweden, he functioned there as a rabbi. During the war he worked for the US-based Rescue Committee in coordination with Rabbi Benjamin Jakobson. At the end of the war he created a girls school for refugees in Lidingö
Lidingö
Lidingö is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, located north east of central Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. It is also the seat of Lidingö Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 44,000 inhabitants in 2011....
. There, he wrote pamphlets on Judaism in Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
and German.
He moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1946 and studied at Yeshivas Lomzha in Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately...
. He then married the daughter of Rabbi Avraham Grodzinski
Avraham Grodzinski
Rabbi Avraham Grodzinski was a Haredi Rabbi born in 1883 in Warsaw, Poland and died in 1944 in Kovna, Lithuania. He is best known for being the primary disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the "Alter of Slabodka", serving as the Mashgiach Ruchani of the Slabodka yeshiva, and for authoring a book...
, of the Slabodka yeshiva
Slabodka yeshiva
Hebron Yeshiva, also known as Yeshivas Hevron, or Knesses Yisroel, and originally as Slabodka Yeshiva, is known colloquially as the "mother of yeshivas" and was devoted to high=level study of the Talmud. The yeshiva was located in the Lithuanian town of Slabodka, adjacent to Kovno , now...
. Wolbe continued his studies at Kollel Toras Eretz Yisroel in Petach Tikva under Rabbi Yitzchok Katz. In 1948, Wolbe took over a small yeshiva belonging to a youth organization called Ezra. Two years later was joined by Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapiro of Brisk. The yeshiva was located in the small town of Be'er Yaakov, and was known as the Be'er Yaakov Yeshiva. Shapiro became the Rosh Yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...
and Wolbe became the Mashgiach Ruchani
Mashgiach ruchani
Mashgiach ruchani or mashgiach for short, means a spiritual supervisor or guide. It is a title which usually refers to a rabbi who has an official position within a yeshiva and is responsible for the non-academic areas of yeshiva students' lives.The position of mashgiach ruchani arose with the...
. For more than 30 years until 1981 Wolbe served as the menahel ruchani of Yeshivas Be'er Yaakov.
Later, he served as mashgiach in the Lakewood Yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel
Lakewood East
Lakewood East, officially Beth Medrash Govoha of America in Eretz Yisroel , is a yeshiva in Jerusalem headed by Rabbi Yaakov Eliezer Schwartzman, son of Rabbi Dov Schwartzman and the eldest grandson of Rabbi Aharon Kotler, founder of the Lakewood Yeshiva...
and he then opened Yeshivas Givat Shaul specializing in mussar. During these post 1981 years Wolbe gave mussar talks in various yeshivas and to small groups. He also created many "mussar houses." The Bais Mussar was named with the support of Manfred Lehmann ( son of Hans Lehmann) in memory of Chaim (Jamie) Lehmann, who had died in 1982. Prominent amongst his many students are Rabbi Uri Weisblaum and Rabbi Reuven Leuchter, all of whom have published works of Mussar as well as Rabbi Benjie Jacoby who continues to successfully outreach to North American university students, bringing them closer to Torah.
Views on education
One of the Torah's dictums that Wolbe was most known in his advocacy of was his opposition to hitting children; this, in light of the longstanding misinterpretation of the biblical verse in Proverbs advising "spare the rod spoil the child."Known for being a life-long reader of secular psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and educational theory, Rav Wolbe created his own educational philosophyfor the Haredi community.
In his important work on education Zeriah u'Binyan beChinnuch ("Planting and Building in Education") he presents a Haredi adaptation and paraphrase of John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
’s Democracy and Education(1916), in which Dewey presented the tension of rote learning and a democratic individualism.
For Wolbe, the educator needs to “build” the students on the firm ground of Torah, the community, and Haredi yeshiva values, yet at the same time allow the students to “grow,” each in their own personal and individual way.
Wolbe emphasized the great stress Torah places on the individuality of every child and every situation. In his discussion of prayer he states:
- "Each davening performed with understanding is a qualitatively different experience and has its own unique feeling and quality. It is indeed impossible that two tefillos should be identical - even though the words are identical. One can compare this to riding a train watching a beautiful landscape. Although the scenery may appear the same, the experience is different from moment to moment. At each moment, one sees the scenery from a different perspective. Similarly, someone davening should constantly see himself and his relationship with Hashem from a different perspective - just as the traveler is looking at the scenery with a different, fresh perspective." (Alei Shur I:2)
- If one accepts that the Torah is from Sinai then one must accept that Torah study is so powerful that it can produce a human being who has superior understanding and wisdom in both heavenly and worldly matters. (Alei Shur vol. I p. 295)
Mussar approach
He published his first volume of Alei Shur in 1966, which contains his mussarMussar movement
The Musar movement is a Jewish ethical, educational and cultural movement that developed in 19th century Eastern Europe, particularly among Orthodox Lithuanian Jews. The Hebrew term Musar , is from the book of Proverbs 1:2 meaning instruction, discipline, or conduct...
("ethics") talks on a proper regiments life of a yeshiva student. The second volume published 20 years after the first was an intense glimpse into his actual mussar workshops for developing elevated character traits. The book contains step by step instructions and specific exercises.
Wolbe believed that the student should not rely on habit or emotions, rather they should structure their lives. "The greater the person is, the more organized is his life." (Alei Shur, Pg. 68)
In Alei Shur volume 2:Mussar chapter 5, he presents the core of his method: The continuous need to better oneself in the everyday. He calls this better of deepening Hislamdus ("teaching oneself"), a non-ego learning from things. Wolbe's method will slowly train one to contemplate nature, one’s surroundings, political events, and one’s home life:
- “There is nothing in creation that one cannot learn from, because that is why the blessed Holy One created so many things. As our sages already said, "Had the Torah not been given, we would learn modesty from the cat…." (Tractate Eruvin 100b) In this way, we learn something from all living things three times a day. If there is nothing to learn from them in behavior, we will learn to see in them the wisdom of the Creator.” (Fifth Va'ad)
- A yeshiva was a place where one learns to live, not just to learn (Pg. 31). One cannot learn Torah with bad character traits such as hate, competition, or jealousy.
Wolbe felt that there are four basic areas aside from the regular Gemara
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
curriculum of the yeshiva that the yeshiva student should master.
- He must know the HalakhaHalakhaHalakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
(Jewish law) that affects him through the Mishnah BerurahChofetz Chaim"The Chofetz Chaim" is a book on the Jewish laws of speech written by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan....
. - He should know Chumash with the commentaries of RashiRashiShlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...
and Ramban as a basis for one's hashkafah. - He should know Pirkei Avos with the commentary of Rabbeinu YonahYonah GerondiYonah ben Abraham Gerondi , also known as Rabbenu Yonah and Yonah of Gerona, was a Catalan rabbi and moralist, cousin of Nahmanides. He is most famous for his ethical work The Gates of Repentance .- Biography :...
(a cousin of Nachmanides) as a basic primer in acceptable character traits (midos). - He should know Mesillat YesharimMesillat YesharimThe Mesillat Yesharim is an ethical text composed by the influential Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto . It is quite different from Luzzato's other writings, which are more philosophical....
(by Rabbi Moshe Chaim LuzzattoMoshe Chaim LuzzattoMoshe Chaim Luzzatto , also known by the Hebrew acronym RaMCHaL , was a prominent Italian Jewish rabbi, kabbalist, and philosopher.-Padua:Born in Padua at night, he received classical Jewish and Italian educations, showing a...
) which he calls "the dictionary for midos."
Political positions
His work Ben sheshet le-Asor ("Between [the] Sixth [of] to [the] Tenth [of]"), now renamed "Olam Hayedidus" ("a world of friendship" i.e. between G-d and mankind) offers his views on the meaning of Jewish politics and changes to Jewish life resulting from the Six-day WarSix-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
until the Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
.
This book is a fantastic collection of lectures and talks he gave to non-religious in Kibbutzim and to soldiers in the IDF. It also contains a selection of opinion letters he wrote regarding contemporary issues in the Jewish world.
In the post 1967
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
world, he predicted that people will become ba'alei teshuva
Baal teshuva
Baal teshuva or ba'al teshuvah , sometimes abbreviated to BT, is a term referring to a Jew who turns to embrace Orthodox Judaism. Baal teshuva literally means, "repentant", i.e., one who has repented or "returned" to God...
and there will be a great movement in Israel of people returning to their Jewish heritage.
Publications
- Daat Shlomo: Talks on Mattan Torah, Jerusalem 2006.
- Igrot u-chetavim / mi ha-mashgiach; Yerushalayim : 2005.
- Planting & building : raising a Jewish child / Shlomo Wolbe ; translated by Leib Kelemen; Jerusalem ; New York : Feldheim Publishers, 1999 (Translation of Zerichah u-vinyan ba-chinuch)
- Translation of Zerichah u-vinyan ba-chinuch : sichot be-inyenei chinuch Yerushalaim : Feldheim, 5756, 1995).
- Kuntres hadrachah le-chalot; divrei mavo Shmuel Barelbach. Bnei Brak, 1976
- Ma'amarei Hadracha L'chosonim (1999)
- Shalhevetyah : chamishah asar pirchei hadrachah le-toch olam ha-Torah. (1979)
- Ben sheshet le-asor (1979), now renamed "Olam Hayedidus" ("a world of friendship" i.e. between G-d and mankind)
- Sefer Alei shur sha'arei ha-hadrachah (1968–1998)
- Pirkei Kinyan Da'as (2001)
- Pathways : a brief introduction to the world of Torah / Shlomo Wolbe; trans. by M. Samsonowitz Jerusalem : Jamie Lehmann Torah Ethics Center, c1983
External links
- Biography from Yated Ne'eman Haredi newspaper
- TzemachDovid 1
- TzemachDovid 2
- TzemachDovid 3
- TzemachDovid 6
- Translations of several chapters of Alei Shur volume II
- "Rav Shlomo Wolbe zt"l" London Jewish Tribune May 6, 2005 (Eulogy)
- London Jewish Tribune, letter of (Dr) Anne Ruth Cohn May 12, 2005 (On early life)