Rays of Wisdom

I have a rule not to write about any book that I have not read in its entirety. But I’m going to break that rule for my late brother Rabbi Mattisyahu Rosenblum’s posthumously published collection of essays, Rays of Wisdom (Eshel Publications), for two reasons.

First, it would be a disservice to readers to refrain from calling their attention to the sefer until I can find the time to complete all 543 pages. When my brother felt he had thoroughly clarified a Torah concept, he would often jump up and down in excitement, and then start drawing rapid-fire connections to other Torah concepts. As he put it, “The Torah shines a bright light, and suddenly I see how the Torah enlightens a variety of disparate topics.” Too many such “jump up and click your heels” moments and startlingly incisive formulations await the reader to delay any further.

(An example of the latter: Our essential task is to connect the Upper and Lower worlds. Materialism — Eisav — prevents that by focusing exclusively on this world. And Eastern spirituality, and the perverted vision of the World to Come of Yishmael, do so by focusing exclusively on the Upper World.)

Second, Rays of Wisdom is a collection of essays, not a single extended argument, and as such it is justifiable to focus on the opening and longest section, “Letters to Jordan” (the original working title for the entire volume), of over 200 pages of letters written by my brother to a talmid then studying in an Ivy League university. Mattisyahu’s life history as a much-decorated graduate of Yale, and as one who continued to read voraciously his entire life, made him the ideal guide.