The Pillar of Volozhin: Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin and the World of Nineteenth Century Lithuanian Torah Scholarship (Studies in Orthodox Judaism)

The work of Rabbi Naftali vi Yehuda Berlin, the Neiv, ranks amongst the most often read rabbinic literature of the nineteenth century. His breadth of learning, unabashed creativity, and penchant for walking against the stream of the rabbinic commentarial establishment has made his commentaries a favorite amongst rabbinic scholars and scholars of rabbinics alike. Yet, to date, there has been no comprehensive and systematic attempt to place his intellectual oeuvre into its historical context-until now. In 'The Pillar of Volozhin', Gil Perl traces the infl uences which helped mold and shape the Neiv's thinking while also opening new doors into the world of early-nineteenth-century Lithuanian Torah scholarship, an area heretofore almost completely untouched by academic research.