Overview
Born in 1908 in the illustrious German-Jewish community of Frankfurt-am-Main, Rav Shimon Schwab shlita grew up under the influence of Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch's teachings and his revolutionary Torah im derech eretz principle. After learning in the yeshivos of Mir and Telz, Rav Schwab became a dayan in the city of Darmstadt and then rav in the district of Ichenhausen in Bavaria. Then, as the Nazis began their brutal reign of terror throughout Europe, Rav Schwab fled Germany, arriving in America in1936. Preceded by his reputation as a powerful manhig, Rav Schwab soon became a prominent figure, serving as rav in Baltimore and then in New York, where he was instrumental in continuing to build up the Jewish community in Washington Heights, founded by Rav Joseph Breuer zt'l. In America, Rav Schwab immediately recognized the spiritual challenges that faced contemporary Jewry, and he has striven ceaselessly to strengthen and enlighten with his powerful speeches and writings. The profound and insightful essays of Rav Shimon Schwab are written with the clarity of one who studied under the Torah giants of the last generation. In this third volume of his collected works, following the highly acclaimed Selected Writings and Selected Speeches, Rav Schwab closely examines the differing views on Torah im derech eretz, and his incisive words on teshuvah, bitachon, and day-to-day living provide many inspiring insights on a wide range of topics.