On Presence, Questions, and Independence: Remembering Rav Ezra Neuberger

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we mark the yahrtzeit of Rav Ezra Dovid Halevi Neuberger with remembrances from Dovid Bashevkin and David Fohrman of a teacher who valued privacy, presence, and intellectual honesty, and who taught his students to take life seriously by becoming fully themselves.

In this episode we discuss:

—What does it mean to take life seriously while treating ourselves with mercy?
—How did Rav Neuberger teach his students to read texts closely and think for themselves?
—What is the purpose of raising children, and what does it mean for a tradition to hold many voices?

Interview begins at 19:53.

Tune in to hear a conversation about a teacher whose greatest lesson was to be present, honest, and unafraid of questions.

Rabbi Ezra Dovid Halevi Neuberger was the rosh kollel and senior maggid shiur of Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Pikesville, Maryland, where he was a leader for more than three decades. The youngest son of Rabbi Herman Neuberger, the yeshiva’s longtime president, he was appointed rosh kollel in 1994 by Rabbi Yaakov S. Weinberg and passed away on 7 Cheshvan at the age of 68. Known to decades of students as Rav Ezra, he is remembered for his humility, his depth, and his devotion to his talmidim. Rabbi David Fohrman, a former student, is the founder and lead scholar of Aleph Beta and the author of The Beast That Crouches at the Door, The Queen You Thought You Knew, and The Exodus You Almost Passed Over.

References:

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren

Aleph Beta

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