Letter of R. Chaim of Volozhin to his son R. Joseph of Shereshov - transcribed by S[aul] CH[ono] Kook from amanuscript of his great-grandfather R. Dov Baer Jaffe of Utian

In this important letter, R. Chaim, founder of the famed Volozhin Yeshivah and prize pupil of the Vilna Gaon, instructs his son concerning the correct methodology for the study of Talmud. Printed in numerous places (usually in truncated form), this letter has provided guidance to numerous scholars since. One of the many insights reads: “The essence is to arrive at a straightforward explanation; if it is not straightforward, it is not Torah in truth. Even if the explanation be sharp, distance it. When you examine well, you find that all the great sages, early and late, were esteemed only for their targeted reasoning. The more unadulterated the reasoning, the greater the man.” Rabbi Dov Baer Jaffe (1783-1828) of Turetz and Utian, was reputed as one of the first ten students of R. Chaim of Volozhin. He was the father of R. Mordecai Gimpel Jaffe (1820-1891) of Rozhinoi and later Yahud, Eretz Israel, as well as of Batyah, mother of Shlomo Zalman Kook (1844-1929), who in turn, fathered the researcher S.Ch. Kook (1879-1955), and his more famous older brother A.I. Kook, Chief Rabbi of Eretz Israel. The manuscript begins: “I copied [it] when I was fifteen years old from the manuscript of Great Grandfather the Gaon R. Dov Baer of Utian, father of the Gaon R. Mordecai Gimpel Jaffe, of blessed memory. S. Ch. Kook.” See EJ, Vol. IX, cols. 1259-60 (genealogy of Jaffe-Kook family); Vol. X, col. 1187