Culture

Ode to a Nightingale

Yocheved Friedman

In memory of Rav Yosef Dov Ha-Levi Soloveitchik, ZT”L

A shooting star, you streaked across our skies,

And lit a path for those who’d lost their way.

With your poetic voice and burning eyes,

You blazed a trail that still leads us today.

 

Your tongue charmed thousands, who sat there, enthralled.

You wove for us a  brilliant tapestry.

Be it in Boston, or in Lamport Hall,

We learned humility and majesty.

 

In Talmud class we trembled at your word,

Afraid to offer a “farkrumte svara.”

The voices of the past were clearly heard:

Maimonides through “numen fun mein Zeyde.”

 

You taught us to live life heroically:

Halakhic man’s eternal destiny.

Yocheved Friedman is a special educator whose expertise is in the teaching of reading and writing. She is currently a literacy coach at Bais Yaakov Adas Yereim Vien, where she mentors teachers and teaches creative writing. She also has a private practice, remediating students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. Mrs. Friedman is completing a Master's degree in Judaic Studies at the Touro Graduate School and is writing her dissertation on an aspect of Rav Soloveitchik's thought. She is the mother of six and lives in Brooklyn, New York.