The Royal Table
A Passover Haggadah
by Rabbi Norman Lamm
edited by Joel B. Wolowelsky
Hardcover, 200 pages, Regularly $24.95 / Now $21.21 (15% discount), ISBN 9781602801394
Buy the book here: link
Celebrate the publication of this book at The Jewish Center on Wednesday, March 10 at 8pm: more information
The Passover Haggadah is perhaps the most popular Jewish liturgical book after the siddur. Each year families gather around their tables to retell the story of the Exodus of the nascent Jewish community from Egypt, using an ancient text made ever-relevant by each generation’s added commentaries. Now the OU Press has the honor of publishing Rabbi Norman Lamm’s Haggadah commentary, a work of brilliant insights expressed in Rabbi Lamm’s inimitable style, articulate and engaging, while sensitive and moving.
For this commentary, Rabbi Lamm’s weekly sermons and divrei Torah delivered while he was Rabbi of The Jewish Center have been culled for his insights on the Haggadah and the Passover holiday. Together with relevant selections from his written works, they make up this new and compelling commentary on the Haggadah. We now have the opportunity on Passover evening to join Rabbi Lamm at his Royal Table and retell the story of the Exodus with new understanding.
| Excerpt |
| The old and the new are combined in the rhythm of Judaism. Both instincts are satisfied. The ancient Hallel is indeed also a shirah hadashah. All of life testifies to this meeting of old and new in rhythm. Indeed, there is much that is new in that which is old. Our Torah is an old Torah. Its principles came down to us from Sinai. It is always the same Torah. But only one who has immersed himself totally in Talmud study, at least for a while, can appreciate the combination of old and new in talmud torah.
Here, then, is the lesson of the new song of the ge’ulim, the redeemed. The unredeemed can never understand this. We are always to combine the old and the new — to find new insights in the old, and relate the new to the permanent and unchanging. We must never be satisfied to keep the old without adding to it the dynamics of one’s own soul, the life throbbing in our spirits and pulsating in our hearts. We must never forget to sing the old Hallel as if it were truly a shirah hadashah. If we fail to strive for hiddush, for the element of newness — then we are at the mercy of boredom — the horror of that “Same Old Thing” — and that is the death of the spirit. We must keep the old in sight; perceive in it the new through Insight; and as a result learn — to excite our souls and our spirits. |
| About the Author |
| Rabbi Norman Lamm, Chancellor of Yeshiva University and Rosh HaYeshiva of its affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, is one of the most gifted and profound thinkers of the Modern Orthodox community. He was the founding editor of Tradition, the journal of Orthodox thought published by the Rabbinical Council of America, and to this day convenes the Orthodox Forum, a think tank of rabbis, academicians, and community leaders that meets annually to discuss topics of concern in the Orthodox community. Before assuming the presidency of Yeshiva University, Rabbi Lamm served for many years as Rabbi of The Jewish Center, one of New York City’s most prominent and vibrant Orthodox synagogues. A prolific author in the field of Jewish philosophy and law, a distinguished academician, and a charismatic pulpit rabbi, Rabbi Lamm has made, and continues to make, an extraordinary impact on the Jewish community. With a rare combination of penetrating scholarship and eloquence of expression, he has successfully presented a Torah view of contemporary Jewish life that speaks movingly to all. |
| Edited By |
| The commentary was compiled and edited by Dr. Joel B. Wolowelsky, Dean of the Faculty at the Yeshivah of Flatbush. He is associate editor of Tradition and the series MeOtzar HoRav: Selected Writings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. He is a member of the steering committee of the Orthodox Forum and serves as a member of various professional advisory boards, including the Bar Ilan University Lookstein Center for Jewish Education in the Diaspora, the Boston Initiative for Excellence in Jewish Day Schools, the Pardes Educators Program in Jerusalem, and Atid: the Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions.
People who buy this book may also be interested in The Seder Night: An Exalted Evening by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Learn about this book here: link. Explore other books from OU Press here: link
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