Jun
It is with tremendous sadness and not a small amount of regret that I mourn the passing of Rabbi Jay Miller. There are many of us from the golden age of Brovenders who will always bear his exacting brand of Torah study. He was a man unique in his talents and his flaws, but I always felt the two were inextricably tied, and as often is the case, without the other, the one would not exist either.
In the ’70’s when learning Gemara was all but closed to Ba’alei Teshuva, Rabbi Miller developed a method of learning that could achieve in a year what most day schools could not achieve in twenty, or fifty for that matter. The daily first year Mishnah class had a quality of perpetual high drama. Studying Mishnah and Gemara could only be characterized as a gladiator sport where he was always the last man standing. There would be no such thing as a slow day in Miller’s shiur.
Excited, irritated, mystically enveloped in a veil of tobacco smoke, he took Mishnas we thought we understood, and then after rendering them inscrutable, he helped us relearn them correctly. He admonished us, shrieking, “Don’t think, just do what I do!” Many of us, I’d like to believe the best of us, loved him for it.
The fierce discipline, passion and commitment belied a softer side that would emerge only when he deemed necessary. I remember when we were helping pack up his books prior to his moving from Yerushalayim to New York. At one point, he opened a can of olives to share with us. He then saturated the olives in olive oil because Chazal said that olives cause one to forget, while olive oil helps one to remember. (Horayot 13b) He explained that these are the simple ways we keep the Talmud present in our lives and actions.
I remember thinking that it doesn’t matter whether olives and olive oil contain these properties in fact, but for him it was a simple act of affection and fealty to bring what our Sages had said into the world, reminding us that remembering Torah is important and forgetting any apart of it may even be a sin. Such was his devotion, to and his compulsion for learning.
If everything we contribute emanates from the skills we are given, then Rabbi Miller singularly, selflessly and passionately was the one who taught me, and countless others, everything.
Tags: Eulogy, Rabbi Jay Miller, Rabbi Weinstein
Rabbi Avi Weinstein
Rabbi Avi Weinstein is the Head of Jewish Studies at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy in Kansas City. He began his career in Jewish Education with Rabbi Brovender at Yeshivat HaMivtar nearly thirty years ago. He hails most recently from Silver Spring, Maryland where he worked as the Director of Jewish Studies at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, MD. Before that he was the Founding Director of The Joseph Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Learning at Hillel, The Foundation for Campus Jewish Life. His publications include reviews, articles and translations published in: Commentary Magazine, The Jerusalem Report, the London Jewish Chronicle, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post. He also translated, 1949, The First Israelis, Tom Segev Free Press 1984, and Sharre Orah, Gates of Light Rabbi Yosef Gikatilla, a thirteenth century Kabbalistic Lexicon, Harper Collins, 1994. He has taught at Brandeis University, Hebrew College and Harvard Hillel where he served as the Orthodox Rabbi.
Rabbi Weinstein is teaching Maharal of Prague on Wednesdays at 4am Israel time/Tuesdays at 9pm Eastern time; and Siddur on Thursdays at 3am Israel time/Wednesdays at 8pm Eastern time during the Spring semester at WebYeshiva.
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- Pingback by Rabbi Jay Miller z”l « Menachem Mendel on June 29, 2009 @ 9:16 pm
Since 1986, when he was my high school shiur rebbe, I have counted myself to be very fortunate to be a friend of Rabbi Miller’s. No matter where in the world I have lived, no minyan speech or dvar torah was complete for me until I had spoken with Rabbi Miller and let him point out flaws in and recommend sources to strengthen the positions in my speech. I don’t know what I will do for my next one. One of the things that I am most happy about is that when I was back in the states for a few days for work last December (the first time in 4 years), I had the opportunity to spend an evening with him up in Washington Heights. I find that almost every day I utilize the analytical skills and the ethical values which I learned together with Rabbi Miller.
יהי זכרונו מבורך
One cannot forget the Rambam Shiur given by our esteemed Rebbe, Rabbi Jay Miller, Z”L…The Shiur in Hilchos Talmud Torah as well as our Mishnayos and Gemora shiur were exceptional in both the content as well as his unique presentation. The Rambam asks until when is one obligated to teach Torah? …. until one’s day of death (Tractate Shabbos). Rabbi Miller explained the obligation begins at the moment there is someone to teach and ends at death. His ability to teach a multitude of talmidim continues beyond his petira. The unique method and delivery of his shiur was his ability to achieve perfection and how to master its details…. On a personal basis he provided direction and practical advice promoting my growth…..
The Brisker Rov once explained that for a Rebbe Muvhak (one’s personal rebbe and mentor) one must remain standing as long as he can see his rebbe. This concept of respecting and honoring the Rebbe Muvhak must exist as long as he is still visible… Rav Miller will remain with all of his students and we will continue to benefit from his presence. Zev Compton
Wickliffe, Ohio
We lived next door to Jay Miller in Washington Heights for many years. Though I did not know him from my time at Brovender’s, there was an immediate bond between us because of his relationship with R. Brovender.
He was brilliant and eccentric, irreverant and insightful.
May his memory be a blessing. Yehe zichrono l’bracha.
Thank you Avi. Bekitzur, but for him I would have done nothing. He enabled everything I have done since, and so I owe him everything. This is a Rebbe.