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{{Short description|American rabbi (1906–1980)}}
{{Refimprove|date=December 2008}}
{{Infobox Jewish leader
'''Yitzchok (Isaac) Hutner''' (1906–1980) was an ] ] and American ] born in ], ], to a family with both ] ] and non-Hasidic ] roots. As a child he received private instruction in ] and ]. As a teenager he was enrolled in the ] in ], headed by Rabbi ], where he was known as the "Warsaw Illui" ("prodigy").
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| name = Yitzchak Hutner
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| image = R.Hutner (Purim).jpg
| caption = Yitzchak Hutner at a ] celebration in his ]
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| other_post = <!---------- Personal details ---------->
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| birth_date = 1906
| birth_place = ], ], ] (now ])
| death_date = {{death date and age |1980|11|28|1906|1|1|mf=y}} <!-- Death MM and DD are placeholders -->
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'''Yitzchak Hutner''' ({{langx|he|יצחק הוטנר}}; 1906{{snd}}November 28, 1980), also known as '''Isaac Hutner''', was an American ] ] and ] (dean).


Originally from ], Hutner was the long-time dean of ] in ], New York, an older institution that grew under his leadership. Hutner's pedagogic style was a blend of the ] and ] elements of his own family's origins. His discourses, called ''ma'amarim'', contained elements of a ]ic discourse, a ] and a philosophic lecture. Although his title was rosh yeshiva, Hutner's leadership style more closely resembled that of a ] who expected fealty from his followers.
] of ] at a special ] celebration in his ].]]


In his later years, Hutner established ] in ], which is named after his own magnum opus. On one of his trips there, Hutner's plane was seized by ] terrorists in the ], which he survived.
==Early years==


== Early life ==
Having obtained a solid grounding in ], Rabbi Hutner was sent to join an extension of the Slabodka yeshiva in ]. He studied there until 1929, narrowly escaping the ] because he was away for the weekend, on his way to see Rabbi ]. It was during his stay in the ] that he became a disciple of Rabbi ], the first ] of Palestine (as it was then known.) The philosophical and mystical mind-set of both men made them kindred spirits. Like Kook, the young Hutner eventually developed a warm welcoming posture towards non-religious Jews who were seeking to become more religious. They viewed things in the context of the end of the Jewish exile, ''] (galut)'', with the imminent coming of the ].
Hutner was born in ], ], to a family with both ] ] and non-Hasidic ] roots. As a child he received private instruction in ] and ].{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} As a teenager he was enrolled in the ], headed by ], where he was known as the "Warsaw Illui" (Genius of Warsaw).<ref name="Kook">Gerber, Alan Jay (August 5, 2015) , ''The Jewish Star''. Retrieved October 22, 2020.</ref>


In 1925, having obtained a solid grounding in Talmud, Hutner joined a group from the Slabodka yeshiva that established the ] in ]. He studied there until 1929,<ref name="Kook"/> narrowly escaping the ] because he was away for the weekend. Hutner then returned to Warsaw to visit his parents.<ref name="Kook"/> He then moved to Germany, to study philosophy at the ], where he befriended ]<ref name="Soloveitchik">, ''Jewish Virtual Library''. Retrieved October 22, 2020.</ref> and ],<ref name="Synoptic">{{cite journal |last1=Goldberg |first1=Hillel|date=Winter 1987 |title=Rabbi Isaac Hutner: A Synoptic Interpretive Biography|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23259487|journal=Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought|volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=18–46 (29 pgs) |jstor=23259487|access-date=October 22, 2020}}</ref> two future rabbinical leaders then studying in Berlin. In 1932, he authored a book called ''Torat HaNazir''.
In later years, when Kook's name became associated with the '']'', part of the ], Hutner, an eventual member of the non-Zionist ] ]'s ] ("Council of Torah Sages"), sought to downplay his former association with Kook, even though he maintained cordial relations with Kook's son and heir Rabbi ] and other prominent students such as Rabbi ]. Hutner's students recount that on ] he would hang a portrait of Kook in his ]. When controversy arose regarding the conscription of religious girls (''giyus banot'') into the ] after the founding of the State of ] in 1948, the photo of Kook was removed and replaced with one of Rabbi ] who ruled that Jewish females are forbidden to perform National Service (Sherut Leumi) in lieu of army service. Finally, when Hutner composed and published his work ''Pachad Yitzchok'' there is no overt reference to any of Kook's own extensive works (although Kook's ideas and ''motifs'' permeate Hutner's work according to those familiar with both rabbis' writings.) However, a select few of Hutner's early students are said to recall some of Hutner's lengthy comments to them regarding Kook, but none of them have ever written or repeated anything about what was said to them in a public forum. It has remained for the ] teacher, Rabbi Moshe-Zvi Neria to republish the approbation that Kook had written and some correspondence between Kook and Hutner about it.


In 1933, Hutner married Masha Lipshitz in ]. She was born in ] and raised in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSM1-DQRZ-R?i=1689&cat=988724|title=FamilySearch: Sign In|website=]}}</ref> That same year, the couple traveled to Mandatory Palestine, where they remained for about a year, and completed his research and writing of his ''Kovetz Ha'aros'' on ]'s commentary on ''] ].''{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
==Travels and marriage==


== Rabbinic and teaching career ==
After the pogrom in Hebron in 1929, Hutner spent some years as a wandering scholar. First, he returned to Warsaw, from there going to study ] at the ], but not for degree purposes; he was not interested in degrees or the jobs they could offer, but only in the actual material that the university taught him. During this period, in 1932, he wrote ''Sefer Torat HaNazir'', published by Hutner in 1932 wherein he titles himself in the book's title page as "Yitzchok Hutner: ''Mesivta rabta ']' Slabodka veChevron''" and dedicates the work to his parents Chaim Yoel and Chana Hutner.<ref>Hutner, Yitzchok. ''Torat Hanazir: Chidushim ubiurim be'inyanei nezirut mesudarim al hilchot nezirut lehaRambam z"l, chelek rishon.'' Published: Kovno, 5692 (1932)</ref> The Torat HaNazir is based on ]'s laws of Nezirut concerning the laws of the ], which he published with the approbations of at least two of the leading rabbinical scholars of his time: Rabbi ] and Rabbi ], the latter's approbation was removed by Hutner in later republications, but it had been published by Rabbi ]. He also spent time familiarizing himself with the intellectual milieu of Germany.
]. The building was constructed after Hutner's death.]]
In March 1934 Hutner moved to the United States<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24NT-XLN|title=FamilySearch: Sign In|website=]}}</ref> (his wife having preceded him by six months)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24VC-K7J|title=FamilySearch: Sign In|website=]}}</ref> and settled in ], where Hutner joined the faculty of the ]. Sometime between 1935 and 1936 he was appointed office manager of the newly established high school division of the ] known as ].


In 1940, after receiving permission from the rosh yeshiva, Yaakov Moshe Shurkin, he began to give a class to the 4th year of the post high school program.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}} Founded in 1904, it was the oldest elementary yeshiva in Brooklyn. Over the years he built up the yeshiva's post-high school ] division and became Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin's senior ] (dean). In this effort he also received the help of ] who headed Brooklyn's ]. Hutner was able to construct an environment that produced young Talmudic scholars in the model of their compatriots in Eastern Europe. By 1940 he had established a post-high-school beth midrash with hundreds of students.<ref name="Religious">{{cite journal |last1=Mayse |first1=Ariel Evan |title=Religious Education and Sacred Study in the Teachings of Rabbi Yitshak Hutner |journal=Religions |date=15 May 2019 |volume=10 |issue=5 |pages=327 |doi=10.3390/rel10050327|doi-access=free }}</ref>
He befriended two other future rabbinical leaders then studying philosophy in Berlin: Rabbi ], later to become ] at ] in ], and Rabbi ] who would become ] of ] in ]. The three were to retain close and cordial personal relations throughout their lives, even though each differed from the other radically in Torah '']'' ('']''). Nevertheless, each developed a unique bridge and synthesis between the ]an world-view connecting it with a ] way of thinking. This was a key factor enabling them to serve successfully as spiritual leaders in the ].


At Chaim Berlin, students were allowed to combine their yeshiva study with afternoon and evening classes at college, mainly ] and later ]. Hutner took great pride in the secular accomplishments of his students insofar as they fit into his vision of a material world governed by the principles of a spiritual Torah way of life. Thus, many alumni of Hutner's yeshiva have attained success as attorneys, accountants, doctors, and in information technology.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} One of his closest disciples, ], is an ] who edited Hutner's written works, ''Pachad Yitzchok''. Many of Hutner's disciples earned ]s, often with his blessing and guidance. This includes his daughter and only child, ], who obtained her ] at ]'s department of ] as a student of ]. She subsequently founded and became the dean of ], a prominent Jewish women's seminary that caters to young women from ] families in the United States. Her dissertation discussed the dual role ] as both a traditionalist and '']'' (follower of the ]). The list also includes ] (law) rosh yeshiva, ] (literature) rosh yeshiva, ] (law, international law and diplomacy), and ] (physics) professor and rector.
After marrying his American-born wife, Masha Lipshitz, in ], Poland, in 1932, the couple spent about a year in Palestine where Rabbi Hutner completed his research and writing of his ''Kovetz Ha'aros'' on ]'s commentary on ''] ]''. He visited Europe in 1934 to collate manuscripts of Hillel ben Eliakim's commentary.


In the 1950s, Hutner established a '']'' (post graduate division for married scholars) to continue their in-depth Talmudical studies. This school, ], was one of the first of its kind in America. Many of his students became prominent educational, outreach, and pulpit rabbis. He stayed in touch with them and was involved in major communal policy decision-making as he worked through his network of students in positions of leadership.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
By 1935 the couple had emigrated to Brooklyn, ] where Hutner pursued his private studies, initially not actively seeking a formal position. However, he soon joined the faculty of the ] (RJJ) and sometime between 1935–1936 was appointed first as a teacher then as principal of the newly established high school division of the ] known as ]. The yeshiva had been the oldest elementary yeshiva in Brooklyn since 1904. During 1939 and 1940 he established the yeshiva's post-high school ] division and became the senior ] of the entire ]. In this effort he also received the help of Rabbi ] who headed Brooklyn's largest and more established ]. Under Hutner's charismatic leadership, Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin grew from relative obscurity to prominence, and with it grew his reputation in the world of Torah scholarship.


Hutner established ] in ], Jerusalem, which he named for his book of the same name.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} He died in 1980, and was buried in the ] in ].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://harhazeisim.org/notables/ |title=Notables |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=harhazeisim.org|publisher=International Committee of Har HaZeitim|access-date=October 22, 2020 |quote=Yitzchok Hutner, rosh yeshivas Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Brooklyn, New York}}</ref>
==In the United States==


===Educational methods=== === Methodology ===
Hutner's methodology and style was complex, controversial, and difficult to pigeonhole. While placing great emphasis on intellectually penetrating Talmudic study and analysis, emotionally he veered towards the Hasidic-style, and more-so than his Lithuanian-style colleagues reared as ] could tolerate. Ultimately though, he saw himself more as a traditional ] rosh yeshiva.<ref name="5TJT">Gordon, Yochanan (March 19, 2019) , ''Five Towns Jewish Times''. Accessed July 31, 2022.</ref>


The core of Hutner's synthesis of different schools of Jewish thought was rooted in his studies of the teachings of ] (1525–1609) a scholar and mystic known as the ''Maharal of ]''. Various pillars of Hutner's thought system were likely the works of the ] and ]. He would only allude in the most general ways to other great ''mekubalim'' (mystics) such as the ], the '']'', ], ] of Izbitz and many other great Hasidic masters, as he did with the works of ] such as the ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hyperleap.com/topic/Yitzchok_Hutner|title=Yitzchok Hutner}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
His methodology and style was complex, controversial, and difficult to pigeonhole. While placing great emphasis on intellectually penetrating Talmudic study and analysis, emotionally he veered towards the Hasidic-style, and more-so than his Lithuanian-style colleagues reared as "]" could tolerate.


Hutner initiated a number of changes in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin that differed greatly from the '']'' (ethics) yeshiva practice in Slabodka. He abolished the half-hour learning session in ''mussar'' and replaced it with one of ten or fifteen minutes.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}
He was able to construct an intense ] and an environment that produced young Talmudic scholars who were viewed as being in the same league as their compatriots in Eastern Europe. By 1940 he had established a post-high school ], ] with hundreds of students.


He viewed secular studies as essential in learning a profession for people to support themselves by eventually going to college and becoming professionals. Together with the dean of the ], ] a charter to set up a combined yeshiva and college was obtained from the ]. However, this plan was abandoned upon the insistence of Rabbi ] the anti-secular leader of the ] (Beth Medrash Gevoha), which would become the largest yeshiva of its kind in the United States, who wielded great influence and rabbinical power. Hutner viewed secular studies as essential for attending college, learning a profession and becoming self-supporting. He obtained, together with Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, a charter from the ] to set up a combined yeshiva and college. However, this plan was dropped at the insistence of ].{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}


Hutner developed a style of celebrating ] and the ]s by delivering a type of discourse known as a ''ma'amar''. It was a combination of Talmudic discourse, ] celebration ('']''), philosophic lecture, group singing, and when possible, like on ], a ten-piece band was brought in as accompaniment. Many times there was singing and dancing all night. All of this, together with the respect to his authority that he demanded, induced in his students an obedience and something of a "heightened consciousness" that passed into their lives transforming them into literal Hasidim of their rosh yeshiva, who in turn encouraged this by eventually personally donning Hasidic garb (''levush'') and behaving like something of a synthesis between a rosh yeshiva and a ]. He also instructed some of his students to do likewise.<ref name="Religious"/>
Hutner was well versed in many intellectual areas, even studying and refuting secular and non-traditional Jewish scholarship. It is alleged that Hutner once slapped a student who made a remark about a religious issue, saying to the student "You read that in ]!"


== Relationships with other rabbis ==
===Mesivta Chaim Berlin high school===
During his stay in Palestine, Hutner visited ], the first ] of Palestine, to whom he was distantly related.<ref name="Kook"/> Hutner eventually became a member of the non-Zionist ] ] (Council of Torah Sages) of ] following his immigration to the United States.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kaplan |first1=Lawrence |date=Fall 1980 |title=Rabbi Isaac Hutner's "Daat Torah Perspective" on The Holocaust: A Critical Analysis|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23258776 |journal=Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=235–248 (14 pgs)|jstor=23258776 |access-date=October 22, 2020}}</ref>


Hutner's work ''Pachad Yitzchok'' contains no overt reference to Kook. A few of Hutner's early students recall Hutner's lengthy comments regarding Kook. ] said that Hutner told them that "Rav Kook was 20 times as great as those who opposed him".<ref></ref> Similarly, Moshe Zvi Neria heard Hutner say that "if I would not have met Rav Kook, I would be lacking 50% of myself".<ref></ref>
In 1936 Hutner established and pioneered a new yeshiva high school known as Mesivta Chaim Berlin. It was from the graduates of this school that Hutner went on the establish his post-high school, yeshiva in 1940. The school has continued as branch of the "Chaim Berlin" campus and network of schools presently located in ], New York City.


While staying in Berlin, Hutner developed a friendship with ]<ref name="Synoptic"/> and ].<ref name="Soloveitchik"/> Hutner referred to Soloveitchik as a '']'' (foremost Torah scholar of the time)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2007-10-07|title=Looking Before And After – Yudaica|url=http://media.www.yucommentator.com/media/storage/paper652/news/2005/05/16/Yudaica/Looking.Before.And.After-951249.shtml}}</ref> and to Schneerson as ''] hador'' (righteous one of the generation), while at other times saying some negative things about the latter.<ref name="5TJT"/> Nevertheless, the three maintained close personal relations throughout their lives, though each differed markedly in Torah '']'' (]), developing a unique bridge and synthesis between the ]an world-view and a ] way of thinking. This enabled them to serve successfully as spiritual leaders after each of them immigrated to the United States of America.<ref name="Soloveitchik"/>
===Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin===
{{main|Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin}}


Citing an anonymous source, Hillel Goldberg reports that Hutner became a fierce critic of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic group and the "personality cult built up around" Schneerson.<ref name=Goldberg1989p79>Goldberg, Hillel. ''Between Berlin and Slobodka: Jewish transition figures from Eastern Europe'', Ktav Publishing House, 1989, {{ISBN|978-0-88125-142-5}}, p. 79: "Rabbi Hutner relentlessly sustained a biting critique of the Lubavitcher movement on a number of grounds…", p. 187 footnote 41: "Rabbi Hutner was opposed to the personality cult built up around the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and to the public projection of both the Rebbe and the Lubavitch movement, by the movement, through public media-print and broadcast journalism, books, film, and the like."</ref> Hutner purposefully moved up his ] ''ma'amar'' to preempt his students from attending Schneerson's ] ].<ref name="5TJT"/> Still, Hutner corresponded regularly with Schneerson throughout his lifetime on a variety of '']'' (Jewish law), Hasidic and kabbalistic subjects, and occasionally sought his blessing.<ref>Some of this correspondence has been published in Igros Kodesh, Kehot 1986–2008 Volumes 7- pp. 2, 49, 192, 215, 12- pp. 28, 193, 14- pp. 167, 266, 18- pp. 251, 25- pp. 18–20, and 26- p. 485</ref><ref>Mibeis Hagenozim, S.B. Levine, Kehot 2009, pp. 88–98, where copies of Hutners' actual letters are included alongside the relevant section, and his criticism is explained.</ref> Hutner also had several lengthy private meetings with Schneerson.<ref>Mibeis Hagenozim, S.B. Levine, Kehot 2009, p. 88</ref>
In 1940 Hutner founded and established the post-high school college level Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin.<ref>{{cite web |publisher= ou.org |date=October 27, 2010 |title= Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner (1906-1980) |url=http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/hutner.htm}}</ref> Hutner maintained a relatively liberal policy during his tenure at the helm of his own ], allowing students to combine their day's learning in yeshiva together with attending college, mainly at ] and later at ] in late afternoons and evenings. He would take great pride in the secular accomplishments of his students insofar as they fit into his vision of a material world governed by the principles of a spiritual ] way of life. One of his closest disciples is the renowned ], Rabbi ] who edited Hutner's written works, ''Pachad Yitzchok''.


Hutner appointed Soloveitchik's younger brother, whom he had tutored in ], ] (later to head his own yeshiva in ] near ]), as head of his own Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin. Ahron Soloveichik completed a ] in ] at ] at the same time that he lectured in Hutner's Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin.
===Kollel Gur Aryeh===
{{main|Kollel Gur Aryeh}}


In the early 1940s, Hutner asked a friend from Slabodka, ], to become a dean-Talmudical lecturer in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin. Lieberman instead accepted an offer from the ] (JTSA), the seminary of ].
In 1956 Hutner established a new graduate school ]<ref>{{cite web |publisher= ou.org |date=October 27, 2010 |title= Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner (1906-1980) |url=http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/hutner.htm}}</ref> for married post-graduate scholars to continue their in-depth Talmudical studies, who are paid a stipend to help support their young families. This was a '']'', (a post graduate division), the Kollel Gur Aryeh, one of the first of its kind in America. Many of its alumni became prominent educational, outreach, and pulpit rabbis. He stayed in touch with them and was intimately involved in major communal policy decision-making as he worked through his network of students in positions of leadership, and won over to his cause people who came to meet with him.


Hutner had a number of disagreements with some of the religious scholars who taught in his yeshiva. These disputes were usually not over ideology, but about positions in the school. He eased out many of the older rabbis who were his contemporaries in favor of his disciples. Rabbis Prusskin (a first cousin to his wife), Goldstone, Shurkin, Snow, ] and others are among them. Though Hutner was, by all accounts, quite steadfast in his opinions, he was not above begging forgiveness from those he had slighted, even when they had initiated attacks on him,<ref>Hutner, Yitzchok. ''Pachad Yitzchok'', Gur Aryeh, 2007, Vol.9, p. 273</ref> and adopting a conciliatory tone.<ref>Hutner, Yitzchok. ''Pachad Yitzchok'', Gur Aryeh, 2007, Vol.9 pp. 283, 291</ref>
===Influence on students===


Hutner appointed ] educated ] as the '']'' (spiritual mentor and supervisor) of the yeshiva. After the yeshiva relocated to Far Rockaway, New York in the 1960s, Miller resigned from his position due to the difficulties a daily commute from Brooklyn entailed.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Many of Hutner's disciples went about quietly obtaining doctorates often with his blessings and guidance, including his daughter ] Dr. ] (philosophy). The list includes Rabbis ] (mathematics) founder and dean of ], ] (statistics) rosh yeshiva and principal, ] (psychology) psychologist and rosh yeshiva, Moshe Homnick (psychology), ] (law) rosh yeshiva, Zecharia Dor-Shav (Dershowitz) (psychology) educator, ] (literature) rosh yeshiva, Dr ] (education), Joseph Thurm (information technology), Naftoli Meir Langsam (education), Yedidyah Langsam (chemistry & computer science), Chaim Feuerman (education), Zvhil-Mezbuz Rebbe Grand Rabbi ] (law, international law and diplomacy). Many alumni of his yeshiva have attained success as attorneys, accountants, doctors, and in information technology.


==TWA hijacking==
===His daughter: Dr. Bruria Hutner David===
In the late 1960s he began to visit Israel again, planning to build a new yeshiva there. On 6 September 1970, he and his wife, daughter, and son-in-law ] were returning to New York on ] Flight 741 when their flight was ] by the ] Palestinian terrorist organization.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/23/archives/information-here-meager.html|title=Information Here Meager|author=Emanuel Perlmutter|date=September 23, 1970}}</ref> The terrorists freed the non-Jewish passengers and held the Jewish passengers hostage on the plane for one week, after which the women and children were released and sent to ]. The hijacked airplanes were subsequently detonated. The remaining 40-plus Jewish men – including Hutner, David, and two students accompanying Hutner, Meir Fund and Yaakov Drillman – and male flight crew continued to be held hostage in and around ], ]; Hutner was held alone in an isolated location while Jews around the world prayed for his safe release. The terrorists tried to cut off his beard, but were stopped by their commanders. Hutner was reunited with the rest of the hostages on 18 September, and was finally released on 26 September and flown together with his family members to ], Cyprus. Israeli ] Member ] chartered a private plane to meet the Hutners in Nicosia, and Willie Frommer, a former student, gave him his own shirt and '']'', since Hutner's ''tallit'', '']'', shirt, jacket and hat had been confiscated during his three-week ordeal. On 28 September Hutner and his group were flown back to New York via Europe, and were home just in time for the first night of ].<ref>Bin-Nun, Dov and Ginsberg, Rachel. "He Swallowed My Papers To Save Me". '']'', 14 September 2011, pp. 34–43.</ref>
{{main|Bruria Hutner David}}


== Published work ==
His daughter and only child, ] ], obtained her ] at ]<ref>David, Bruria Hutner, 1938- . (478 pages) Columbia University Ph.D. 1971. (University Microfilms. Ann Arbor, Michigan)</ref> in the department of ] as a student of ]. She subsequently founded and became the dean of a major post-high school seminary for Jewish women in ] known as ] (BJJ) that caters to young women from mostly English-speaking ] families in the United States. Her dissertation discussed the dual role of Rabbi ] as both a traditionalist and '']'' ("follower of the ]").<ref>David, Bruria Hutner, 1938- . (478 pages) Columbia University Ph.D. 1971. (University Microfilms. Ann Arbor, Michigan)</ref> Some have noted the remarkable parallels between her own father and Rabbi Chajes, the subject of her dissertation.
In 1938 Hutner published a short booklet of ''halakhic'' decisions sourced in the Sifra but not cited in the ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hebrewbooks.org/41263|title=HebrewBooks.org Sefer Detail: קונטרוס -- הוטנר, יצחק|website=www.hebrewbooks.org}}</ref> Many years later, he published what is considered to be his ''magnum opus'', which he named '']'' ("Fear Isaac", meaning the God whom ] feared). He called his outlook ''Hilchot Deot Vechovot Halevavot'' ("Laws 'Ideas' and 'Duties Heart'") and wrote in a poetic modern-style ] reminiscent of his original mentor Abraham Isaac Kook's style, even though almost all of Hutner's original lectures were delivered in ].<ref name="Religious"/>


== Notable students ==
===Appointments of mashgiach ruchanis===
]]]
Among Hutner's notable students are first and foremost his only daughter Rebbetzin Dr. ] (1938–2023) the founder of the ] seminary for young Jewish women in Israel. Rabbis ], and Feivel Cohen, a noted Posek. Another was the author ], who was appointed as the ''mashgiach ruchani'' at the Yeshiva Chaim Berlin, but who split with Hutner on policy matters in the 1970s. They were both ] survivors whom Hutner took upon himself to raise as his own "sons" together with others in similar circumstances. Hutner also gave ] to ], during the days that the latter was still with Lubavitch.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}


Other students included rabbis ] (his son-in-law) and ], his successors as rosh yeshivas of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin; ], son-in-law of Joseph B. Soloveitchik and rosh yeshiva of ] in Israel; Rabbi ], Rosh Yeshiva of ] and a member of the ];<ref>{{Cite web |title=Interview with Rabbi Aharon Feldman |url=https://www.maxraskin.com/interviews/rabbi-aharon-feldman |access-date=2024-10-16 |website=Interviews with Max Raskin |language=en-US}}</ref> ] of the ] and founder of ] who followed Hutner's guidelines in setting up this youth outreach movement; ], prominent rabbi, past President of the Young Israel Council of Rabbis and disseminator of Hutner's views;<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 1977|title=Rav Hutner's view on the Holocaust|url=https://agudah.org/the-jewish-observer-vol-12-no-8-october-1977chesvan-5738/}}</ref> ] who set up one of the first full-time yeshivas for ] students in the world; ], past leader and executive Vice President of ] the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools; ], the Novominsker ] of ]; ], the Zvhil-Mezbuz Rebbe of Boston and Jerusalem, and ] founder and head of ] as well as his brother ] of ] in Baltimore.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Hutner appointed ] educated Rabbi ] as the '']'' ("spiritual mentor and supervisor") of the yeshiva. After the yeshiva relocated to Far Rockaway, New York in the 1960s, Rabbi Miller resigned from his position due to the difficulties a daily commute from Brooklyn entailed.


== Works ==
Hutner subsequently chose one of his disciples, Rabbi ] (not the singer) to be the next mashgiach ruchani, but when Hutner made plans to move on to Israel, a fierce struggle and dispute ensued with Carlebach, that has not been settled to this day.
=== Works about Hutner ===
* ''An Inner Life: Perspectives On The Legacy of Harav Yitzchok Hutner zt"l'' by Rebbitzen Bruriah David, translated by Rabbi Shmuel Kirzner (Gur Aryeh Institute For Advanced Jewish Scholarship, 2024)
* ''Dershowitz Family Saga: A Century and a Half of Jewish Life in Poland, Through America, and Into Israel'' by Zecharia Dor-Shav (Dershowitz) (Skyhorse Publishing, 2022, {{ISBN| 1510770232}})
* ''Rabbi Hutner and Rebbe'', by Chaim Dalfin (Jewish Enrichment Press, 2019, {{ISBN|0997909935}})
* ''Between Berlin and Slobodka: Jewish Transitional Figures from Eastern Europe'' by Hillel Goldberg (KTAV Publishing House, 2010, {{ISBN|1602801355}})
* "" by Alon Shalev (Hebrew Phd Thesis)
=== Works based upon Hutner's writings ===


* ''Pachad Yitzchok: Selected Ma'Amarim of Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner on Shabbos and the Yamim Tovim'', adapted by Eliakim Willner (Artscroll Mesorah Publications, 2024, {{ISBN|9781422640715}})
===Maamorim and special celebrations===
* ''Shabbos in a New Light: Majesty, Mystery, Meaning: Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner Sefer Pachad Yitzchak'' by Pinchas Stolper (David Dov Foundation, 2009, {{ISBN|1600910661}})
* ''Chanukah in a New Light: Grandeur, Heroism and Depth as Revealed Through the Writings of Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner ZTZK"L'' by Pinchas Stolper (Israel Bookshop, 2005, {{ISBN|1931681767}})
* ''Purim in a New Light: Mystery, Grandeur, and Depth as Revealed Through the Writings of Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner'' by Pinchas Stolper (David Dov Publications, 2003, {{ISBN|1931681309}})
* ''Living Beyond Time: The Mystery and Meaning of the Jewish Festivals: Includes 20 Essays Based on the Teachings of Hagaon Harav Yitzchok Hutner ZTZ"L'' by Pinchas Stolper (Shaar Press, 2003, {{ISBN|1578197449}})


== References ==
Hutner developed a style of celebrating '']'' and the ], ''Yom Tov'', by delivering a type of discourse known as a ''ma'amar''. It was a combination of Talmudic discourse, Hasidic celebration ('']''), philosophic lecture, group singing, and when possible, like on ], a ten piece band was brought in as accompaniment. Many times there was singing and dancing all night. All of this, together with the respect to his authority that he demanded, induced in his students an obedience and something of a "heightened consciousness" that passed into their lives transforming them into literal ''hasidim'' ("devotees") of their ], who in-turn, encouraged this by eventually personally donning Hasidic garb, ('']'') and behaving like something of a synthesis between a '']'' and a ''].'' He also instructed some of his students to do likewise.
{{Reflist|30em}}


{{Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah}}
===Designated heirs===
{{Authority control}}
{{main|Aaron Schechter|Yonason David}}


While making plans to return to Israel in the 1960s, Hutner also groomed two designated heirs to succeed him as the ]s of the ] he headed. One was Rabbi ] who remains the rosh yeshiva until the present time in the Brooklyn, New York yeshiva. The other was Hutner's son-in-law Rabbi ] who accompanied Hutner to Israel and who remains as the rosh yeshiva at ] in Jerusalem, Israel. Hutner's teachings and influence, and by implication his authority, is spread through these two leading disciples who have since Hutner's passing in 1980 built up a large following of their own. While Aaron Schechter remains at the helm of the Brooklyn yeshiva, Yonasan David is primarily based in Jerusalem, but commutes from Israel back to America several times a year to share co-equal status as rosh yeshiva in the Brooklyn yeshiva with Aaron Schechter.

==Attitude to other movements==

===Attitude to Chabad===
Hutner had a mixed attitude to the ] movement. While he had positive personal relationships and friendships with the sixth Rebbe ] and his son-in-law who became the seventh Rebbe of Chabad ], he nevertheless would often openly critique the leaders and the movement to his closest students. He would not allow them to attend Chabad ]s (celebrations) and it was rare that a disciple of Hutner would cross over to Chabad even though they shared the same neighborhood in ] where Hutner's ] Talmudic graduate school was located from 1956 to 1966.

Rabbi Hillel Goldberg, a noted senior editor of the ] states that Hutner became a fierce critic of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic group and the idolization of its Rebbe Schneerson: Goldberg states that: "The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menahem Schneerson (born 1902)... still met with Rabbi Hutner's opposition -- and also against a background of earlier friendship...But all this could not obscure a clear breach. Rabbi Hutner relentlessly sustained a biting critique of the Lubavitcher movement on a number of grounds."<ref name=Goldberg1989p79>Goldberg, Hillel. ''Between Berlin and Slobodka: Jewish transition figures from Eastern Europe'', Ktav Publishing House, 1989, ISBN 9780881251425, pages 78-79. P. 187 footnote 41</ref> That:

:"Rabbi Hutner was opposed to the personality cult built up around the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and to the public projection of both the Rebbe and the Lubavitch movement, by the movement, through public media -- print and broadcast journalism, books, film, and the like."<ref>Goldberg, Hillel. ''Between Berlin and Slobodka: Jewish transition figures from Eastern Europe'', Ktav Publishing House, 1989, ISBN 9780881251425, P. 188 end of footnote 41</ref>

Hutner conveyed this to his own followers and they have retained Hutner's antipathies to Chabad.

While there is evidence of an ongoing relationship and mutual respect between them. Hutner corresponded quite frequently with Schneerson over the years, often seeking guidance and input on a variety of halachic, chasidic and kabalistic subjects, as well as occasionally seeking Schneersons blessing.<ref>Some of the correspondence has been published in ''Igros Kodesh'', Kehot 1986-2008 Volumes 7- pgs. 2, 49, 192, 215, 12- pgs. 28, 193, 14-pgs. 167, 266, 18- pgs. 251, 25- pgs. 18-20, 26, p. 485</ref><ref>Mibeis Hagenozim, S.B. Levine, Kehot 2009, p. 88-98 where copies of the actual letters are provided alongside the relevant section</ref> He also visited Schneerson privately a number of times and they conversed for lengthy periods of time.<ref>Mibeis Hagenozim, S.B. Levine, Kehot 2009, p. 88</ref>

===Attitude to Yeshiva University===
Hutner discouraged students from attending ] although he welcomed a number of Yeshiva University studnets into his own yeshiva. He reportedly forbade his students from attending any lectures given by Rabbi ] while at the same time apponting Soloveitchik's younger brother, whom he had tutored in ], Rabbi ] (later to head his own yeshiva in ] near ]) as head of his own Yeshivas Rabbi Chaim Berlin. Ahron Soloveichik completed a ] in ] at ] at the same time that he lectured in Hutner's Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin.

==Return to Israel==
===Partnership with Rabbi Dov Schwartzman===

In the early 1960s Hutner began to plan for a return to Israel and build a yeshiva in Jerusalem. He entered into a partnership with Rabbi ] and together they pioneered and built up the ] yeshiva. However the partnership broke up. Hutner returned to America while he left a core of students at a small kollel known as ].

===1970 hijacking===
{{main|Dawson's Field hijackings}}
In the middle of his travels on September 1970, shuttling between Israel and America, Hutner, his wife Masha, his daughter and her husband Rabbi ] were on board the TWA Flight 741 to New York, that together with three other jetliners, was hijacked by the ] terrorists. After three weeks in captivity, during which the war of ] was fought, Hutner and his family together with the other Jewish hostages were released.

===Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok===
{{main|Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok}}

A few years prior to his passing, Hutner and his son-in-law Yonason David finally made a more permanent move to Israel, leaving their ] in ] under the control of Hutner's disciple Rabbi ]. They formally established a new yeshiva and called it ].<ref>{{cite web |publisher= ou.org |date=October 27, 2010 |title= Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner (1906-1980) |url=http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/hutner.htm}}</ref> They had hoped to set it up in a central part of Jerusalem but lost a struggle with the ] and were forced to find a new location in the ] area that extends from Jerusalem. Hutner did not live to see the completion of the new building, but he took charge of all the details in the initial stages of laying the groundwork, recruiting a nucleus of a small group of students and, most importantly, gaining the trust and approval of his rabbinic colleagues who were not sure what to make of this long-lost but now new arrival of a famous rabbi with hard to fathom methods and thought systems. Hutner received a particularly strong boost from the famous ] rabbi, Rav ] who devoted himself to letting it be known about Hutner's greatness in all areas of Torah study.

==Publications==

In 1938 Rabbi Hutner published a short booklet regarding halachic decisions sourced in the Sifra but not cited in the Babylonian Talmud<ref>http://www.hebrewbooks.org/41263</ref>. Many years later, he published what is considered to be his ''magnum opus'' which he named '']'', ("Fear Isaac", meaning the God whom ] feared). He called his outlook ''Hilchot Deot Vechovot Halevavot'', ("Laws 'Ideas' and 'Duties Heart'") and wrote in a poetic modern-style ] reminiscent of his original mentor Kook's style, even though almost all of Hutner's original lectures were delivered in ].

The core of his synthesis of different schools of Jewish thought was rooted in his deep studies of the teachings of Rabbi ] (1525–1609) a scholar and mystic known as the ''Maharal of ]''. Various pillars of Hutner's thought system were likely the works of the ], Rabbi Elijah, (1720–1797) and of Rabbi ] (1707–1746). He would only allude in the most general ways to other great mystics, in Hebrew ''mekubalim'', such as the ] (founder of Hasidism), the great mystic known as the '']'' who lived in the late Middle Ages, the founder of Chabad Hasidism, the ''Baal Ha]'' ], Rabbi ] of Izbitz and many other great Hasidic masters as well as to the great works of ] such as the ].

==Mentor to others==

He was the mentor of some famous as well as controversial figures in modern Jewish outreach to other Jews, such as Rabbi ], who split with Hutner and became a prominent scholar at ]'s ] (JTSA). Another was a cousin to Rabbi ], who was appointed as the '']'' ("spiritual supervisor") at the Yeshiva Chaim Berlin, but who split with Hutner on policy matters in the 1970s. They were both ] survivors who Hutner took upon himself to raise as his own "sons" together with others in similar circumstances.

Hutner is known to have given smicha to Carlebach, during the days that the latter was still with Lubavitch.

In the early forties Hutner asked a friend from Slabodka, Rabbi ] to become a dean-Talmudical lecturer in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin. Lieberman instead accepted an offer from the JTSA, the seminary of Conservative Judaism.

Hutner had a number of disagreements with some of the religious scholars who taught in his Yeshiva. These disputes were usually not over ideology, but about positions in the school. Hutner attempted (and did in many cases) ease out the older rabbis who were his contemporaries in favor of his disciples. Rabbi Prusskin (a first cousin to his wife), Rabbi Goldstone, Rabbi Shurkin, Rabbi Snow, Rabbi ] and others are among them. While Hutner was steadfast in his opinions he was nevertheless not above asking forgiveness from those he may have slighted, even when they had initiated attacks on him,<ref>Hutner, Yitzchok. ''Pachad Yitzchok'', Gur Aryeh Publications, 2007, Vol.9 p. 273</ref> and adopting a conciliatory tone<ref>Hutner, Yitzchok. ''Pachad Yitzchok'', Gur Aryeh Publications, 2007, Vol.9 p. 283, 291</ref>.

He did initiate a number of changes in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin that differed greatly from the '']'' yeshiva practice in Slabodka. He abolished the half hour learning session in ''mussar'' ("ethics") and replaced it with one of ten or fifteen minutes. He changed the traditional ''mussar'' lecture to a ''maamar'' utilizing Maharal instead of the classical ''mussar'' approach to ].

===Notable alumni===

His students included Rabbis: ] (his son-in-law) and ], his successors as ]s of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin; Hirsch Diskind, son-in-law of Rabbi ] and long-time Dean of Bais Yaakov School for Girls in Baltimore, ], son-in-law of Rabbi ] and ] of ] in Israel; ] of the ] and founder of ] who followed Hutner's guidelines in setting up this youth outreach movement; Avrohom Davis, founder of the Metzudah religious books series; ] who set up the one of the first full-time yeshivas for ] students in the world, and who personally maintained an open relationship with Lubavitch; Joshua Fishman, leader and executive Vice President of ] the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools; ], a lecturer in ] and translator of the Genesis and Exodus volumes of the Metzuda Bible Commentary of Rabbi Solomon and the Kol Sasson Sephardic Siddurim and Machzorim; ], the Novominsker ] of ]; Meir Bilitzky, senior rabbi of ]; ] founder and head of ] and his brother ] of ] in Baltimore; Yosef Katzenstein of Copenhagen, author of ''Kol Chayil'' and ''Lema'an Achai''; ] of Brooklyn, author of "Badei HaShulchan" and world renowned ], ], rabbi of Congregation Gvul Yaabetz and an author of a number of books on Jewish theology, and ] Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva Gedola of Waterbury, son in law to Feivel Cohen.

==Final years==

In the late 1960s he began to visit ] again planning to build a new yeshiva there. In 1970 he, together with his wife, daughter and son-in-law Rabbi ], were captured by the ] Palestinian terrorist organization, who were in turn attacked by ]'s army in ], ] where the hostages found themselves after being let off the planes that were hijacked. Many Jews prayed fervently for his safe release.

In spite of this experience, Hutner continued his efforts to build his yeshiva in Israel. Eventually it was established and named ] based on his life's work, in ], ]. He died in 1980 and is buried in ].

==See also==
*]
*]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* (PDF), ou.org
* about 1970 hijacking mentioning Rabbi Hutner's captivity
*
*
*

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Latest revision as of 00:35, 22 December 2024

American rabbi (1906–1980)
RabbiYitzchak Hutner
Yitzchak Hutner at a Purim celebration in his yeshiva
Personal life
Born1906
Warsaw, Congress Poland, Russian Empire (now Poland)
DiedNovember 28, 1980(1980-11-28) (aged 74)
Jerusalem
Religious life
ReligionJudaism

Yitzchak Hutner (Hebrew: יצחק הוטנר; 1906 – November 28, 1980), also known as Isaac Hutner, was an American Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean).

Originally from Warsaw, Hutner was the long-time dean of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, New York, an older institution that grew under his leadership. Hutner's pedagogic style was a blend of the Hasidic and Misnagdic elements of his own family's origins. His discourses, called ma'amarim, contained elements of a Talmudic discourse, a Hasidic Tish and a philosophic lecture. Although his title was rosh yeshiva, Hutner's leadership style more closely resembled that of a rebbe who expected fealty from his followers.

In his later years, Hutner established Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok in Jerusalem, which is named after his own magnum opus. On one of his trips there, Hutner's plane was seized by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorists in the Dawson's Field hijackings, which he survived.

Early life

Hutner was born in Warsaw, Poland, to a family with both Ger Hasidic and non-Hasidic Lithuanian Jewish roots. As a child he received private instruction in Torah and Talmud. As a teenager he was enrolled in the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania, headed by Nosson Tzvi Finkel, where he was known as the "Warsaw Illui" (Genius of Warsaw).

In 1925, having obtained a solid grounding in Talmud, Hutner joined a group from the Slabodka yeshiva that established the Hebron Yeshiva in Mandatory Palestine. He studied there until 1929, narrowly escaping the 1929 Hebron massacre because he was away for the weekend. Hutner then returned to Warsaw to visit his parents. He then moved to Germany, to study philosophy at the University of Berlin, where he befriended Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Menachem Mendel Schneerson, two future rabbinical leaders then studying in Berlin. In 1932, he authored a book called Torat HaNazir.

In 1933, Hutner married Masha Lipshitz in Kobryn. She was born in Slutsk and raised in the United States. That same year, the couple traveled to Mandatory Palestine, where they remained for about a year, and completed his research and writing of his Kovetz Ha'aros on Hillel ben Eliakim's commentary on midrash sifra.

Rabbinic and teaching career

New building of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin. The building was constructed after Hutner's death.

In March 1934 Hutner moved to the United States (his wife having preceded him by six months) and settled in Brooklyn, where Hutner joined the faculty of the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School. Sometime between 1935 and 1936 he was appointed office manager of the newly established high school division of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin known as Mesivta Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin.

In 1940, after receiving permission from the rosh yeshiva, Yaakov Moshe Shurkin, he began to give a class to the 4th year of the post high school program. Founded in 1904, it was the oldest elementary yeshiva in Brooklyn. Over the years he built up the yeshiva's post-high school beth midrash division and became Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin's senior rosh yeshiva (dean). In this effort he also received the help of Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz who headed Brooklyn's Yeshiva Torah Vodaas. Hutner was able to construct an environment that produced young Talmudic scholars in the model of their compatriots in Eastern Europe. By 1940 he had established a post-high-school beth midrash with hundreds of students.

At Chaim Berlin, students were allowed to combine their yeshiva study with afternoon and evening classes at college, mainly Brooklyn College and later Touro College. Hutner took great pride in the secular accomplishments of his students insofar as they fit into his vision of a material world governed by the principles of a spiritual Torah way of life. Thus, many alumni of Hutner's yeshiva have attained success as attorneys, accountants, doctors, and in information technology. One of his closest disciples, Israel Kirzner, is an economist who edited Hutner's written works, Pachad Yitzchok. Many of Hutner's disciples earned doctorates, often with his blessing and guidance. This includes his daughter and only child, Bruria David, who obtained her PhD at Columbia University's department of philosophy as a student of Salo Baron. She subsequently founded and became the dean of Beth Jacob Jerusalem, a prominent Jewish women's seminary that caters to young women from Haredi families in the United States. Her dissertation discussed the dual role Zvi Hirsch Chajes as both a traditionalist and maskil (follower of the enlightenment). The list also includes Ahron Soloveichik (law) rosh yeshiva, Aharon Lichtenstein (literature) rosh yeshiva, Yitzhak Aharon Korff (law, international law and diplomacy), and Yehuda (Leo) Levi (physics) professor and rector.

In the 1950s, Hutner established a kollel (post graduate division for married scholars) to continue their in-depth Talmudical studies. This school, Kollel Gur Aryeh, was one of the first of its kind in America. Many of his students became prominent educational, outreach, and pulpit rabbis. He stayed in touch with them and was involved in major communal policy decision-making as he worked through his network of students in positions of leadership.

Hutner established Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok in Har Nof, Jerusalem, which he named for his book of the same name. He died in 1980, and was buried in the Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery in East Jerusalem.

Methodology

Hutner's methodology and style was complex, controversial, and difficult to pigeonhole. While placing great emphasis on intellectually penetrating Talmudic study and analysis, emotionally he veered towards the Hasidic-style, and more-so than his Lithuanian-style colleagues reared as Misnagdim could tolerate. Ultimately though, he saw himself more as a traditional Litvish rosh yeshiva.

The core of Hutner's synthesis of different schools of Jewish thought was rooted in his studies of the teachings of Judah Loew ben Bezalel (1525–1609) a scholar and mystic known as the Maharal of Prague. Various pillars of Hutner's thought system were likely the works of the Vilna Gaon and Moshe Chaim Luzzatto. He would only allude in the most general ways to other great mekubalim (mystics) such as the Baal Shem Tov, the Ari, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbitz and many other great Hasidic masters, as he did with the works of Kabbalah such as the Zohar.

Hutner initiated a number of changes in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin that differed greatly from the mussar (ethics) yeshiva practice in Slabodka. He abolished the half-hour learning session in mussar and replaced it with one of ten or fifteen minutes.

Hutner viewed secular studies as essential for attending college, learning a profession and becoming self-supporting. He obtained, together with Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, a charter from the New York State Board of Regents to set up a combined yeshiva and college. However, this plan was dropped at the insistence of Aharon Kotler.

Hutner developed a style of celebrating Shabbat and the Jewish holidays by delivering a type of discourse known as a ma'amar. It was a combination of Talmudic discourse, Hasidic celebration (tish), philosophic lecture, group singing, and when possible, like on Purim, a ten-piece band was brought in as accompaniment. Many times there was singing and dancing all night. All of this, together with the respect to his authority that he demanded, induced in his students an obedience and something of a "heightened consciousness" that passed into their lives transforming them into literal Hasidim of their rosh yeshiva, who in turn encouraged this by eventually personally donning Hasidic garb (levush) and behaving like something of a synthesis between a rosh yeshiva and a rebbe. He also instructed some of his students to do likewise.

Relationships with other rabbis

During his stay in Palestine, Hutner visited Abraham Isaac Kook, the first chief rabbi of Palestine, to whom he was distantly related. Hutner eventually became a member of the non-Zionist Haredi Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (Council of Torah Sages) of Agudath Israel of America following his immigration to the United States.

Hutner's work Pachad Yitzchok contains no overt reference to Kook. A few of Hutner's early students recall Hutner's lengthy comments regarding Kook. Eliezer Waldman said that Hutner told them that "Rav Kook was 20 times as great as those who opposed him". Similarly, Moshe Zvi Neria heard Hutner say that "if I would not have met Rav Kook, I would be lacking 50% of myself".

While staying in Berlin, Hutner developed a friendship with Menachem Mendel Schneerson and Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Hutner referred to Soloveitchik as a gadol (foremost Torah scholar of the time) and to Schneerson as tzadik hador (righteous one of the generation), while at other times saying some negative things about the latter. Nevertheless, the three maintained close personal relations throughout their lives, though each differed markedly in Torah hashkafa (weltanschauung), developing a unique bridge and synthesis between the Eastern European world-view and a Western European way of thinking. This enabled them to serve successfully as spiritual leaders after each of them immigrated to the United States of America.

Citing an anonymous source, Hillel Goldberg reports that Hutner became a fierce critic of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic group and the "personality cult built up around" Schneerson. Hutner purposefully moved up his Hanukkah ma'amar to preempt his students from attending Schneerson's Yud Tes Kislev farbrengen. Still, Hutner corresponded regularly with Schneerson throughout his lifetime on a variety of halakhic (Jewish law), Hasidic and kabbalistic subjects, and occasionally sought his blessing. Hutner also had several lengthy private meetings with Schneerson.

Hutner appointed Soloveitchik's younger brother, whom he had tutored in Warsaw, Ahron Soloveichik (later to head his own yeshiva in Skokie near Chicago, Illinois), as head of his own Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin. Ahron Soloveichik completed a Doctorate in law at New York University at the same time that he lectured in Hutner's Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin.

In the early 1940s, Hutner asked a friend from Slabodka, Saul Lieberman, to become a dean-Talmudical lecturer in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin. Lieberman instead accepted an offer from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA), the seminary of Conservative Judaism.

Hutner had a number of disagreements with some of the religious scholars who taught in his yeshiva. These disputes were usually not over ideology, but about positions in the school. He eased out many of the older rabbis who were his contemporaries in favor of his disciples. Rabbis Prusskin (a first cousin to his wife), Goldstone, Shurkin, Snow, Avrohom Asher Zimmerman and others are among them. Though Hutner was, by all accounts, quite steadfast in his opinions, he was not above begging forgiveness from those he had slighted, even when they had initiated attacks on him, and adopting a conciliatory tone.

Hutner appointed Slabodka yeshiva educated Avigdor Miller as the mashgiach ruchani (spiritual mentor and supervisor) of the yeshiva. After the yeshiva relocated to Far Rockaway, New York in the 1960s, Miller resigned from his position due to the difficulties a daily commute from Brooklyn entailed.

TWA hijacking

In the late 1960s he began to visit Israel again, planning to build a new yeshiva there. On 6 September 1970, he and his wife, daughter, and son-in-law Yonasan David were returning to New York on TWA Flight 741 when their flight was hijacked by the PFLP Palestinian terrorist organization. The terrorists freed the non-Jewish passengers and held the Jewish passengers hostage on the plane for one week, after which the women and children were released and sent to Cyprus. The hijacked airplanes were subsequently detonated. The remaining 40-plus Jewish men – including Hutner, David, and two students accompanying Hutner, Meir Fund and Yaakov Drillman – and male flight crew continued to be held hostage in and around Amman, Jordan; Hutner was held alone in an isolated location while Jews around the world prayed for his safe release. The terrorists tried to cut off his beard, but were stopped by their commanders. Hutner was reunited with the rest of the hostages on 18 September, and was finally released on 26 September and flown together with his family members to Nicosia, Cyprus. Israeli Knesset Member Menachem Porush chartered a private plane to meet the Hutners in Nicosia, and Willie Frommer, a former student, gave him his own shirt and tallit katan, since Hutner's tallit, tefillin, shirt, jacket and hat had been confiscated during his three-week ordeal. On 28 September Hutner and his group were flown back to New York via Europe, and were home just in time for the first night of Rosh Hashana.

Published work

In 1938 Hutner published a short booklet of halakhic decisions sourced in the Sifra but not cited in the Babylonian Talmud. Many years later, he published what is considered to be his magnum opus, which he named Pachad Yitzchok ("Fear Isaac", meaning the God whom Isaac feared). He called his outlook Hilchot Deot Vechovot Halevavot ("Laws 'Ideas' and 'Duties Heart'") and wrote in a poetic modern-style Hebrew reminiscent of his original mentor Abraham Isaac Kook's style, even though almost all of Hutner's original lectures were delivered in Yiddish.

Notable students

Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner with his daughter Rebbetzin Bruria David

Among Hutner's notable students are first and foremost his only daughter Rebbetzin Dr. Bruria David (1938–2023) the founder of the Beth Jacob Jerusalem seminary for young Jewish women in Israel. Rabbis Yisroel Eliyah Weintraub, and Feivel Cohen, a noted Posek. Another was the author Shlomo Carlebach, who was appointed as the mashgiach ruchani at the Yeshiva Chaim Berlin, but who split with Hutner on policy matters in the 1970s. They were both Holocaust survivors whom Hutner took upon himself to raise as his own "sons" together with others in similar circumstances. Hutner also gave semikhah to Shlomo Carlebach, the musician, during the days that the latter was still with Lubavitch.

Other students included rabbis Yonasan David (his son-in-law) and Aharon Schechter, his successors as rosh yeshivas of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin; Aharon Lichtenstein, son-in-law of Joseph B. Soloveitchik and rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel; Rabbi Aharon Feldman, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah; Pinchas Stolper of the Orthodox Union and founder of NCSY who followed Hutner's guidelines in setting up this youth outreach movement; Yaakov Feitman, prominent rabbi, past President of the Young Israel Council of Rabbis and disseminator of Hutner's views; Shlomo Freifeld who set up one of the first full-time yeshivas for baal teshuva students in the world; Joshua Fishman, past leader and executive Vice President of Torah Umesorah the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools; Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe of Boro Park; Yitzhak_Aharon_Korff, the Zvhil-Mezbuz Rebbe of Boston and Jerusalem, and Noah Weinberg founder and head of Aish Hatorah as well as his brother Yaakov Weinberg of Ner Israel Yeshiva in Baltimore.

Works

Works about Hutner

  • An Inner Life: Perspectives On The Legacy of Harav Yitzchok Hutner zt"l by Rebbitzen Bruriah David, translated by Rabbi Shmuel Kirzner (Gur Aryeh Institute For Advanced Jewish Scholarship, 2024)
  • Dershowitz Family Saga: A Century and a Half of Jewish Life in Poland, Through America, and Into Israel by Zecharia Dor-Shav (Dershowitz) (Skyhorse Publishing, 2022, ISBN 1510770232)
  • Rabbi Hutner and Rebbe, by Chaim Dalfin (Jewish Enrichment Press, 2019, ISBN 0997909935)
  • Between Berlin and Slobodka: Jewish Transitional Figures from Eastern Europe by Hillel Goldberg (KTAV Publishing House, 2010, ISBN 1602801355)
  • "ORTHODOX THEOLOGY IN THE AGE OF MEANING: THE LIFE AND WORKS OF RABBI ISSAC HUTNER" by Alon Shalev (Hebrew Phd Thesis)

Works based upon Hutner's writings

  • Pachad Yitzchok: Selected Ma'Amarim of Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner on Shabbos and the Yamim Tovim, adapted by Eliakim Willner (Artscroll Mesorah Publications, 2024, ISBN 9781422640715)
  • Shabbos in a New Light: Majesty, Mystery, Meaning: Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner Sefer Pachad Yitzchak by Pinchas Stolper (David Dov Foundation, 2009, ISBN 1600910661)
  • Chanukah in a New Light: Grandeur, Heroism and Depth as Revealed Through the Writings of Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner ZTZK"L by Pinchas Stolper (Israel Bookshop, 2005, ISBN 1931681767)
  • Purim in a New Light: Mystery, Grandeur, and Depth as Revealed Through the Writings of Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner by Pinchas Stolper (David Dov Publications, 2003, ISBN 1931681309)
  • Living Beyond Time: The Mystery and Meaning of the Jewish Festivals: Includes 20 Essays Based on the Teachings of Hagaon Harav Yitzchok Hutner ZTZ"L by Pinchas Stolper (Shaar Press, 2003, ISBN 1578197449)

References

  1. ^ Gerber, Alan Jay (August 5, 2015) "Ravs Kook and Hutner, zichronum livracha", The Jewish Star. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  2. ^ "Joseph Soloveitchik (1903-1993)", Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  3. ^ Goldberg, Hillel (Winter 1987). "Rabbi Isaac Hutner: A Synoptic Interpretive Biography". Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought. 2 (4): 18–46 (29 pgs). JSTOR 23259487. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  4. "FamilySearch: Sign In". FamilySearch.
  5. "FamilySearch: Sign In". FamilySearch.
  6. "FamilySearch: Sign In". FamilySearch.
  7. ^ Mayse, Ariel Evan (15 May 2019). "Religious Education and Sacred Study in the Teachings of Rabbi Yitshak Hutner". Religions. 10 (5): 327. doi:10.3390/rel10050327.
  8. "Notables". harhazeisim.org. International Committee of Har HaZeitim. Retrieved October 22, 2020. Yitzchok Hutner, rosh yeshivas Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Brooklyn, New York
  9. ^ Gordon, Yochanan (March 19, 2019) "Rabbi Hutner And The Rebbe", Five Towns Jewish Times. Accessed July 31, 2022.
  10. "Yitzchok Hutner".
  11. Kaplan, Lawrence (Fall 1980). "Rabbi Isaac Hutner's "Daat Torah Perspective" on The Holocaust: A Critical Analysis". Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought. 18 (3): 235–248 (14 pgs). JSTOR 23258776. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  14. "Looking Before And After – Yudaica". 2007-10-07.
  15. Goldberg, Hillel. Between Berlin and Slobodka: Jewish transition figures from Eastern Europe, Ktav Publishing House, 1989, ISBN 978-0-88125-142-5, p. 79: "Rabbi Hutner relentlessly sustained a biting critique of the Lubavitcher movement on a number of grounds…", p. 187 footnote 41: "Rabbi Hutner was opposed to the personality cult built up around the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and to the public projection of both the Rebbe and the Lubavitch movement, by the movement, through public media-print and broadcast journalism, books, film, and the like."
  16. Some of this correspondence has been published in Igros Kodesh, Kehot 1986–2008 Volumes 7- pp. 2, 49, 192, 215, 12- pp. 28, 193, 14- pp. 167, 266, 18- pp. 251, 25- pp. 18–20, and 26- p. 485
  17. Mibeis Hagenozim, S.B. Levine, Kehot 2009, pp. 88–98, where copies of Hutners' actual letters are included alongside the relevant section, and his criticism is explained.
  18. Mibeis Hagenozim, S.B. Levine, Kehot 2009, p. 88
  19. Hutner, Yitzchok. Pachad Yitzchok, Gur Aryeh, 2007, Vol.9, p. 273
  20. Hutner, Yitzchok. Pachad Yitzchok, Gur Aryeh, 2007, Vol.9 pp. 283, 291
  21. Emanuel Perlmutter (September 23, 1970). "Information Here Meager". New York Times.
  22. Bin-Nun, Dov and Ginsberg, Rachel. "He Swallowed My Papers To Save Me". Mishpacha, 14 September 2011, pp. 34–43.
  23. "HebrewBooks.org Sefer Detail: קונטרוס -- הוטנר, יצחק". www.hebrewbooks.org.
  24. "Interview with Rabbi Aharon Feldman". Interviews with Max Raskin. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  25. "Rav Hutner's view on the Holocaust". October 1977.
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