Avivah Zornberg spoke in KJ last night and it was, as usual, awesome. There are very few living scholars who can successfully commingle Parshanut, Chasidut, Psychology, literature and all around insight and erudition like she can. The Chasidic rebbes of old could; my rebbe, Rav Ebner can. Good drash-based parshanut skirts very close to peshat. If anything, she and scholars like her are able to elucidate the probity and purpose of Midrash, demonstrating through their modern abilities that the rabbis of the Midrash were equal geniuses. The hacks and clowns who normally deal with Midrash either reduce their words to childish literalism or take Midrash as a literary license to kill.Two reasons why I'm a Zornberg fan: One is that she is a teacher. She loves to just sit and teach. She doesn't care if the crowd is small; she has no diva ego. The second is directly related: when she teaches, she innovates. She obviously looks at every class opportunity as a time to create new ideas and knowledge. She is the real deal.
Very few scholars on the circuit are like that. A way to tell if you're dealing with a real teacher is (a) the readiness to teach, even on short notice, and (b) the lack of what I called above the "diva ego." (Another scholar who has these laudable traits, for example, is Rachel Friedman of Drisha).
When I was the Torah U-Madda dude at YU, Avivah agreed to speak for us for a nominal fee. And she was extraordinary. It was not beneath her dignity to go down to Stern to teach to college students. Other speakers I arranged gave that impression (one in particular who till this day harbors ill will against me).
To sum up: Yay Avivah Zornberg.
No comments:
Post a Comment