Next week (beginning if Iyar) we will begin again with two new series of shiurim from Rabbi Triebitz and the hashkafa circle.

On Mondays at 5:30 Rabbi Triebitz will be examining the Rambam’s explanations of taamei hamitzvos (the reasons for the mitzvos) which is the major theme of the third section of Moreh Nevuchim.

and on Thursdays, also at 5:30 Rabbi Triebitz will look at the hashkafa, philosophy and worldview of the Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv through selections from his book “Leshem Sh’vo ve-Achlama: Hakdamos U-Shearim”. Unfortunately at the moment only two of his other books are available online:
Sefer He-Biurim and Sefer Ha-Klalim
(there is a translation of part of Ha-Biurim into English on this website: www.thirtysix.org)

We are trying to get Hakdamos u-Shearim added to their website. (A word of warning – if you are looking to purchase the book make sure you don’t get one of the others by mistake – or the Shearei Leshem, which is a collection of his writings and seems to come up more often on web searches)

Here is a brief biography of the Leshem from Bezalel Naor

Rabbi Elyashev, a brilliant talmudist, had studied in the yeshivot of Minsk and Telz. After the death of Rabbi Isaac Haver (Wildman), Rabbi Elyashev emerged as the major exponent of Lithuanian Kabbalah. Rabbi Yizhak Eizik Haver of Suvalk (author of Pithei She’arim) was a student of Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Shklov, who in turn, had been apprentice to the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Elijah, founder of the Lithuanian school of Kabbalah. (Concerning the personality of the Gaon, see the introduction of his foremost disciple, Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin, to Be’ur ha-GRA le-Sifra di-Zeni-uta.)

There is also a Hebrew biography of him printed from pages 6-9 in Sefer Ha-Biurim.

Hopefully the shiurim will start going online next week. If you live in Yerushayalim and want to participate in the live shiurim please contact me and I will reveal the details of the ‘undisclosed location’ somewhere in Jerusalem.

Shabbat Shalom