In
my humble opinion, probably the greatest Orthodox rabbi in history
was British Chief Rabbi Hertz, whose hertz Chumash has one of the
greatest commentaries available.
Hertz
was a Bible scholar and Professor of Philosophy, before assuming the
role of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire. His honest reading of
the Bible is most usually in line with the plain meaning of the text.
Of course, he was not a Karaite, but strictly orthodox in practice.
However, as a scholar and translator, his commentary often goes
against the grain of Rabbinical distortions.
Hertz
fought a battle on several fronts. This included a critiques against
Bible criticism; a refutation of Christological claims in the Torah;
a humanist approach which was opposed to the ultra-orthodox
viewpoint; a pro-Zionist view, which was opposed by many in the Anglo
Jewish establishment.
What
I learned from his arguments against the alleged Christological
references in the Bible, has long term effects, in that the same
methodology will lead to a rejection of rabbinical claims as well.
Although hertz doesn't go so far, there are some readings of his
which
do
contradict the fallacious fantasies of rabbinic commentaries. For
example, his translation does not mention the presence of wool in the
priestly garments. That is simply because the Torah also does not
mention it. However, he does make pro-mikve claims, even though the
Torah also does not mention this.
The
brilliance of Hertz is demonstrated by the fact that Ultra-Orthodox
rabbis attempted to ban his Chumash, and instead proposed the
introduction of the S.R. Hirsch Chumash. Ironically, Hirsch was also
Modern in his thinking and was influenced by Hegelian philosophy.
There
are several points on which I might differ from the Hertz commentary,
but it is about as good as one can find in the Rabbinical world. It
is also one which mentions Karaite Hacham, Isaac of troki, and his
famous work Hizzuk
Emunah.
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