[Avodah] Rabbi Dr Seth Mandel zt"l

[Micha Berger]

I blogged the following hesped.
http://aspaqlaria.aishdas.org/2023/05/24/rsm

-micha

Rabbi Dr Seth Mandel zt"l

There is something I wanted to check today in Chovos haLvavos, Shaar
haBitachon. Related to the machloqes between the prescriptive focus
of Chassidus and Novhardoker Mussar (if you have bitachon, things will
work out well) and the descriptive focus of the Chazon Ish (bitchon is
the knowledge that things are working out well as Hashem Planned it,
even if I personally would have wanted something else).

My question revolved around specific wording.

And this is only a couple of days after losing the rebbe-chaver who would
have explained the original Judeo-Arabic Al Hidayah ila Faraid al-Qulub,
the word Rabbeinu Bachyah ibn Pequdah actually used!

R Dr Seth Mandel not only held a PhS in Linguistics from Harvared,
specializing in Semitic Languages. He is a Rav I am sure pasqened
for you personally. If you ever ate meat with OU shechitah, you
relied on his decision as the OU's Rabbinic Coordinator for all of
Shechitah. (See his article at
<https://oukosher.org/passover/articles/kosher-meat-some-things-you-thought-you-knew/>.)

We met some 44 years ago. R Matis Blum zt"l, the Torah Lodaas and my
"chavrusah" who taught me how to figure out a piece of gemara on my
own, obtained the Science Room at the Yeshiva of Central Queens for his
Bachurei Minyan. I found a seat at one of the tables next to someone
a bit older than the rest of us. And I haven't spoken Hebrew like a
normal Ashkenazi ever since. Attention to where in davening the commas
should go. Which syllable to emphasize. How to pronounce a dageish in a
letter than doesn't make two distinct sounds. Which sheva is pronounced,
and which silent. Long and short qamatz. All things I learned by osmosis
and by asking many small questions back in those years. Back before I
realized I should have been asking him about how halakhah works and can
you articulate the system behind Brisker Lomdus?

I remember one time, the then-future-Rabbi Gil Student and I organized a
Yom Iyun. I asked R Seth Mandel z"l to be one of the speakers. I asked him
for his Hebrew name to put on the fliers. I figured "Rabbi Seth Mandel"
would give the whole program a more Modern Orthodox first impression,
limiting our potential audience. Whereas a Hebrew name would be equally
inviting to any observant Jew. "Well, it's 'Binyamin'. But really I am
'Seth'. I don't go by 'Binyamin'; it would be pretending to be something
I am not." The posters said "Binyamin". Personal misgivings came second
to letting me have what I asked for.

You often hear of a man who authors his own derekh get called a Man
of Truth, an Ish Emes. But that idiom is usually hiding a criticism,
describing someone who values Truth over tact. More rare is the Ish Emes
who emulated Hashem as "Rav Chessed veEmes -- Who has much Lovingkindness
and Truth." Who lived on that tightrope walk of Truth and Personal
Integrity and also of Lovingkindness and Peace.

Rabbi Seth Mandel's pursuit of Truth took his life on a unique trajectory
-- to shemiras hamitzvos, to the Rav (R YB Soloveitchik; he wrote for
Jewish Action about that relationship at
<https://jewishaction.com/the-rav/observing-the-rav/>, to a love of the
Rambam, to becoming the Rav of a Teimani Minyan -- all the while loyal to
his own Novhardoker ancestry, and the attention to Middos he grew up with.

Or when he said, "Pardon me for telling you this story. It feels like
bragging to let you know one of my professors confided something personal
to me. But you really out to know..."

Rabbi Mandel was active on the email lists that I run. There, he
was "RSM", following the convention that everyone was a "Rav" or
"Reb", "Rebbetzin" or a Sephardiah "Rabbanit". Above, I called RSM a
"rebbe-chaver". He couldn't be just an unhyphenated "rebbe", because
despite his brilliance he would never have assumed that kind of air of
authority. And similarly, when Areivim, the chattier side-room to our
Torah discussions on Avodah, needed a moderator, he happened to be out
of work and he offered to do the work. Picture a rav offering to fill
in as secretary. Hakaras hatov to the group for the discussions we had
together was primary. Ego wasn't an issue.

Novhardok and Brisk in harmony.

The last time I saw Rabbi Mandel was a week before his passing. A
combination biqur cholim visit and shiv'ah call, as his son Yisrael had
just passed away when he was only 36. And all RSM spoke about was tzidduq
hadin, accepting the righteousness of Hashem's Justice.. He expressed his
pain at the loss of his son, the loss of the dreams of what that son could
be someday, and how much it hurt. Last week and that week were different
worlds. He didn't pretend all was well. He quoted Yeshaiah, Hashem "makes
Peace and creates Ra." The tragic is indeed ra. And despite that... It
was the right thing to happen because it was Hashem's Will. "Yehi sheim
Hashem mevorakh!"

I opened by lamenting being unable to just email RSM one more time to see
something in the Chovos haLvavos -- did Rabbeinu Bachya really support
the idea that bitachon is a way for Hashem to provide you with a happy
life, or a way to come to terms with the life He provided you. Many
popularizations say the former, but from seeing the Hebrew translations
myself, I still can't judge the wording well enough to know what Rabbeinu
Bachya really meant. But the last lesson Rabbi Mandel taught me was
which he believed.

I know I just closed the circle and therefore could have, and perhaps
should have, just ended this hespeid there. But I want to leave you
with a different take-away. The one thing I recall the most of all the
things he taught me, is how happy he was to discuss just anything. And
how he would make sure you were proud of your thoughts and questions,
to make sure he knew he valued your opinion.

Yehi zikhro barukh