Abba Arika, the name of the Babylonian 'amora of the 3rd century, who established at Sura the systematic study of the Rabbinic traditions which, using the Mishnah as text, led to the compilation of the Talmud. He is commonly known as Rav (Rab).
Rav Yosef Dov Soloveichik (Soloveitchik) is considered one of the greatest Rabbis of the 20th century.
Rav talks about how Megillat Esther came to be part of the Kitvei HaKodesh.
There are 2 interesting stories, one of what Rav Chaim told his son Rav Moshe (the Rav's father) when the latter left Brisk to become a rav in another town; and the other of the kadosh "Reb Man" of Vilna.
Shiur after exhilarating shiur, we watched the Rav coolly, objectively and incisively reason to achieve an interpretation of the Talmudic texts that was intellectually elegant and as consistent as possible with other texts.
The Rav, who had studied philosophy in Berlin, was much too respectful of continental philosophy in the first half of the 20th century; I never went along with him in his admiration for the existentialists or for philosophers of religion like Rudolph Otto.
The Rav's example had left me with no option; if I was going to do philosophy as he did Talmud, I must be focused on the subject matter and not on the potential reader.
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