The Hazon Ish

Halakhist, Believer and Leader of the Haredi Revolution

By:

Benjamin Brown

Preview

Rabbi Avraham Yesha'ayahu Karelitz, the "Hazon Ish" (1878-1953), is recognized as the leader who charted the course of Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) Judaism in the critical period following the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel. He arrived in Israel at a relatively advanced age in 1933, with no source of income, contacts, or rabbinic reputation, and settled in the small town of Bnei Brak, which was then less than ten years old and housed only one yeshivah. Yet, within a few years, the Hazon Ish became the most prominent spiritual leader of Haredi Judaism, and Bnei Brak rapidly became "the city of the Torah", to a large extent thanks to him. In those years, he developed his pragmatic ideological line that he believed should be adopted by Haredi Judaism – not an approach of political isolationism, but rather one of cultural fortification, focusing on the support of religious and educational institutions.

In the 1940's, he already achieved prominence in the halakhic polemics relating to measurements, commemoration of the Holocaust, and the use of electricity on the Sabbath. As the establishment of the State of Israel approached, he refrained from giving guidance to the political leaders of the Agudat Yisrael party as to how they should conduct themselves, but he revealed clear reservations about the impending political entity. After the establishment of the state, he waged a stormy battle against the induction of women to National Service, a struggle that in the opinion of some of his biographers led ultimately to his death. At the height of the controversy, in 1952, he met with Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and presented his allegory that has mistakenly been called "the parable of the full wagon and the empty wagon", in which he apparently expressed the supremacy of the Haredim over the secularists.

This book is the first monograph on this influential personality. It presents and nalyzes his image and his activities in all of the areas in which he left his imprint. he book discusses the story of his life in both Lithuania and the Land of Israel, the oundations of his worldview and his faith, his polemic against the Musar Movement, is stances on public issues, and selected rulings from his diverse halakhic works. All of these components help to portray his personality and allow for a general assessment of his influence on Haredi society and on halakhic literature until our times.

"Professor Benjamin Braun’s monumental study of the great 19th-century rabbi and scholar Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz known as the Chazon Ish is an exhaustive scholarly work treasured by people from very diverse circles (for instance, have seen this book in a chassidic shtiebel in Lakewood, although it is not common to see works by Magnes Press [in conjunction with YU Press] in such places)." - Jewishlink, By Joel Weisberger, January 13, 2022
"This book presents a very extensive research and examination of many sources and disciplines, ideas, opinions, and thoughts of the HI. It seems that such an extensive research has hardly been written in this field in recent years." - Katharsis vol. 18, by Shlomo Z. Havlin, 2013
Authors words about the Hazon Ish
For the Sake of Heaven, by Immanuel Etkes, September 2016
Zion 68-1, by Kimmy Kaplan, 2013
Haaretz, turned into saints, Immanuel Etkes. june2012
Rabbi Shael Speaks...Tachles, a blog by Rabbi Shael Siegel, November 2011
"...a volume that offers the first-ever book-length academic look at Rabbi Abraham Isaiah Karelitz zt"l, widely known as The Hazon Ish, at the founding of a modern Haredi community in the State of Israel, and is a significant contribution towards the study of Orthodox Judaism and religious life in the Land of Israel during the twentieth-century." - The Seforim blog, by Menachem Butler, June 2011
Hirhurim - Musings, November 2011
Jewish Ideas Daily, Lawrence Grossman, November 2011

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Halakhist, Believer and Leader of the Haredi Revolution

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