Chiddushei Rabbeinu Chaim
Chiddushei Rabbeinu Chaim HaLevi Al-HaRambam (Hebrew: חידושי רבינו חיים הלוי על הרמב"ם, lit. Our Rabbi Chaim the Levite's Novellae on Maimonides) is a volume of commentary by Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik on Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah. It also contains original commentary on the Talmud. There are 154 pieces in the work, with some themes overlapping through multiple pieces. Soloveitchik was the founder of the Brisker Derech (also known as Lomdus, a conceptual approach to Talmudic study), and was known for reconciling contradictions in Maimonides' writings. The text was written in a very terse style whose intricacy is difficult even for those very familiar with the Brisker Derech, and was written for those already on a very advanced level of Talmudic and Halachic study.[1] Rabbi Chaim’s son Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik first printed it posthumously in 1936, he stated in the preface that his father wrote it with extreme precision, having “sifted the text seven times over and winnowed it a hundred times more.”[2] Some years later a commentary on Chiddushei Rabbeinu Chaim was written by Rabbi Chaim's student Rabbi Yehezkel Abramsky.[3] Audio explanations of the entire work are available on podcast from Rabbi Elisha Friedman.[4]
Notes and references
[edit]- ^ “Rabbenu Chaim HaLevi's sefer of chiddushim on the Rambam... is a difficult sefer. Its words are not understandable from only a light reading, even to those who are used to the Brisker way of thinking. The Grach's son, Rav Moshe... said that the sefer is difficult because his father wrote it for men on his level.” In-Depth Features: A Divine Prince in our Midst by Mordechai Plaut Archived April 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Mentor of Generations: Reflections on Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik by Zev Eleff. Published by KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 2008. Pg. 84
- ^ Sunset: Stories of Our Contemporary Torah Luminaries, Zt"l, and Their Spiritual Heroism by Hanoch Teller, Marsi Tabak. Edition: 2. Published by Feldheim Publishers, 1987. Pg. 256.
- ^ "Podcasts About the Soloveitchiks Completed by Rabbi Friedman of YIFH". 23 August 2023.
See also
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