Feldheim's New Bio on Reb Dovid Soloveichik Should be Destroyed "It Contains Extremely Dangerous Ideas"

by "Not Daas Torah"

I remember the controversy when “The Making of a Godol” was banned. There was a whole brouhaha about censorship, banning, and whether there was actually anything wrong with the book. 

While its been years since I researched it, and I don’t remember who said it, there was one quote in support of the ban that has stuck with me all these years (and I am of course paraphrasing, if anyone knows the original quote please let me know): “When I read a biography of a gadol, I am looking to be inspired. To let me know the heights a person can reach. To help me set goals in my own personal ruchniyos. Knowing a certain godol wiped his nose on his sleeves doesn’t help me do that.”

I think there is a lot of truth in that quote. For better or worse, Gadolagraphies are not biographies. They are not academic works. They are not meant to be. They are there to push us to be greater - and that is totally fine. 

For all the criticism Art Scroll gets for how bland their gadol biographies are, they do an excellent job in pursuit of that goal. Even if read with a jaded eye, I put down the biography with a new appreciation of that gadol, his greatness, and his legacy, all of which inspires me to grow regardless of factual accuracy. Even as myth it does its job admirably.

This brings us to a new godol biography which has extremely dangerous ideas. I want to make clear: I am not talking hashkafically¹, I am not talking metaphorically. I mean literally life-threateningly dangerous ideas. Ideas that can physically damage a person for life, or even cause him to take his own life cha”v, and I say this from my professional viewpoint as a mental health professional. 

This book should be removed off the shelves as a chashash sakanas nefashos and I do not mean that lightly.

Furthermore, nothing in the following article is to impugn cha’v the greatness of the gadol discussed. These stories may have been exaggerated, in a different context, or simply not be true. They may have even been appropriate for someone on that level. That said, as presented in the book and in the context of inspiring someone to grow, they are dangerous and should not have been printed at all.

The book is Reb Dovid, vol 2: and subtitled “Rav Meshulam Dovid HaLevi Soloveichik - Continuing the Brisker dynasty”. It is published by Feldheim.

The following are just some of the troubling anecdotes found in the book:

1. The book constantly and consistently presents severe OCD symptoms as something to strive for and an ideal in Avodas Hashem. There are many such stories in the book. One example is where the biographical subject² has a severe anxiety attack after being told he missed the first zman of krias shema. This is not a case of anxiety in service of a mitzva - this is after the mitzva was performed. The same thing shows itself in a different story, where the protagonist is severely anxious he wasn’t aroused with even a drop of water splashed on his head on Yom Kippur. There are countless more such stories. Obviously, such things have no basis in halacha whatsoever. Yet, the book constantly frames these anxieties as a result of said protagonist being only concerned with what Hashem wants and as an ideal to strive for if only we were on the level. This is extremely dangerous besides for the hashkafic reasons: From a mental health perspective, this frames OCD thoughts as an ideal to emulate and worse, Hashem as someone who is emotionally abusive cha”v, and can inspire poor relationships with religion, Hashem, and oneself.

2. The book shows the deprivation mindset as a religious ideal. For example, the book frames getting a new hat for a wedding instead of using one’s bar mitzva hat as a violation of Torah Mitoch Hadchak. To be clear, the context here is where there is more than enough money to afford a new hat and the social environment is that this is the norm. This is a toxic thought process to say the least, and certainly should not be framed as ideal in any way in the twenty-first century.

3. Worse, the book in one place promotes an extremely dysfunctional view of the family as the Torah ideal. The book shares a devar torah that the reason why Avraham did not ask Yitzchok before sending out Eliezer is because in a Torah family, there is no room for a son to have a different opinion than his father - even at 40 years old. To be clear, there are nontoxic ways this vort could be said (e.g., Yitzchok fully trusted Avraham ) but the book frames it as this is what the Torah is coming to teach us: that a son may not have a different opinion than his father on any thing whatsoever even at age 40 and that this is the Torah-true ideal. Needless to say, this is extremely toxic and unhealthy.

However, besides for the above, by far the worst is the following two anecdotes, which I am republishing in full. (Page 483 in my edition)

Judging Himself Strictly

[The gadol] WAS once giving shiur, and he told a frightening story that happened to one of the talmidim of the Maharam of Rottenberg.

“It happened that in Igalitra there was a devoted and very wealthy scholar who sat and learned, named Rav Yom Tov, zt”l. On Erev Shavuos he took his belt and he hanged himself. His father, Rav Moshe Chassid didn’t leave his room nor shed a tear. He learned in his beis midrash as if nothing bad had happened, for he said my son was the one who harmed himself...”

And servants lacking heart and wisdom took care of the niftar. On that night he came to me in a dream, and he appeared to be very beautiful, more than he had been when he was alive. He appeared to many people that same night, and it seemed that he had come to a great light and was ensconced safely in Olam HaBa.

“That young man was a chassid and a yarei Shamayim. In all of the communities I never saw anyone like him; he spoke truth in his heart, and I saw all the holy and pure character traits in him.

…it emerged that he had judged himself guilty of the worst sin (avoda zara -Ash)… A demon had shown him a religious symbol and compelled him to serve the idol… This is what the nephew of Yosi ben Yoezer did as well; he judged himself guilty of the worst sin and he hanged himself… and a bas kol was heard and it said that he had a portion in Olam HaBa.”

[The Gadol] added a similar story of a certain tailor who lived in the Kerem neighborhood in the days of Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, zt”l. The tailor was a yarei Shamayim who one day burned his house down, killing himself in the fire. Afterward, they discovered a letter in which he wrote that his yetzer hara was pushing him to serve idols.

The tailor had been ill, and a doctor who cared for him was a missionary. He told him of the teachings of Christianity, and the words entered his head. He was terrified that he would not be able to resist these thoughts of apostasy. In the end, he felt he had no choice but to take his own life rather than fall into idol worship. They gave him great honor in his death and many participated in his levayah. Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld took the lead in honoring him, accompanying him all the way to the burial, weeping uncontrollably as he walked.

In the context of the book, with its severe emphasis on Chumra and valorization of OCD behavior, I believe these two anecdotes to be extremely dangerous. This is encouraging and valorizing suicide for strange thoughts - a common OCD symptom! To be clear, in the era the stories took place, it may well be that these stories were positive and inspiring to teach yiras shemayim, but in 2025, these stories should not have been published!

It is not a jump - unfortunately, in my mind it is a way higher than zero chance - to imagine this story encouraging people to commit suicide cha”v, especially in the context of this book. This book’s target audience is Briskers and very frum Bnei Torah. While all Briskers are obviously not OCD, it is easy to imagine that those with OCD find an attraction to Beis Brisk, with the heavy emphasis on Chumros there. This is a gadol biography, designed to inspire people to spiritual heights. Someone with that profile reading this book and is dealing with kefiradig thoughts and intrusions, which are extremely common symptoms of OCD - especially in religious people - may just be inspired to commit suicide as a result of these stories’ valorizations of it.

We are already in the midst of one suicide crisis. We don’t need any more cases.

The Suicide Crisis Ash · Mar 27 Read full story

Please email Feldheim at sales@feldheim.com and ask them to remove this book from print or at the very least delete the above stories. It is a chashash of sakanas nefashos.