In the Morning in the East, In the Evening in the West

«This shiur cannot be fully understood or appreciated without a familiarity with the historical setting in which it was delivered. Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff has lectured in detail in describing the communal and personal background leading to the Rav's embrace of Religious Zionism. See for instance a summary at YUTorah. What follows here should be seen as a complement to his analysis that adds crucial perspectives that emerge from the shiur itself.

In June 1943 American Jewry was well aware of the dire straits of European Jewry, even if it was yet fully informed of the extent of the catastrophic loss of Jewish life at the hands of Germany together with its allies and collaborators. A few months earlier Roosevelt and Churchill had met in Casablanca to set in motion a multi-front counterattack against the German and Axis armies, and at the same time the Russian military had captured the bulk of the German forces that had invaded Russia. In September of 1943 Italy would surrender to the Allied forces, to be followed by the D-Day attack on the coast of Normandy in June of 1944.

Thus, the Rav spoke (and the shiur was later readied for publication) at a time that was filled on the one hand with grief for the fate of European Jewry, but on the other with guarded hope that a turning point in the war and hence the salvation of the remnant of European Jewry had been reached. These complex contemporary realities are reflected at key points in the shiur.»

In the Morning in the East, In the Evening in the West | Torah Musings
http://www.torahmusings.com/2014/05/in-the-morning-in-the-east-in-the-evening-in-the-west/


Kol Tuv,
RRW