By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin in Pikesville, Maryland
The Koren Mesorat HaRav Tehillim is the Rabbi Dr. Raymond Harari Edition, published jointly by OU Press and Koren Publishers Jerusalem. It is a 2026, 582-page edition of Sefer Tehillim—the biblical Book of Psalms—with commentary based on the teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.
Dr. Reuven Mohl compiled and edited the commentary from Soloveitchik’s teachings. The Hebrew word mesorat (מסורת) means “tradition” or “transmission.” It refers to the passing down of customs, laws, teachings, and beliefs from one generation to the next.
Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik (1903–1993), widely known as “the Rav,” is considered one of the most influential Orthodox Jewish thinkers and teachers of the 20th century. Born into a famous rabbinic family – my father, Rabbi Dr. Nathan Drazin, studied under his father – he inherited the rigorous analytical approach to Talmud associated with his grandfather, Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk.
He also studied philosophy at the University of Berlin, earning his doctorate, and brought Western philosophical learning into conversation with traditional Jewish thought. He became the rosh yeshiva (rabbinic head) of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University in 1941. For decades, he taught Talmud and Jewish philosophy and trained approximately 2,000 rabbis.
His writings, lectures, and teachings repeatedly explore the human being’s struggle between intellectual understanding and emotional experience, individuality and community, human creativity and dependence upon God, and the demands of Halakhah (Jewish Law) and the longing for a personal relationship with God. His famous works include The Lonely Man of Faith and Halakhic Man. His importance lies not only in his scholarship but also in his ability to show how Jewish religious life addresses the deepest questions of human existence.
The new 2026 book on Psalms gives literary expression to many of the religious and psychological tensions that occupied him throughout his life. OU Press describes him as both a consummate Talmudist and a person of exceptionally deep religious feeling. The Psalms likewise move between intellect and emotion, confidence and anxiety, loneliness and community, despair and hope, petition and thanksgiving.
Readers encounter it through the intellectual and spiritual perspective of one of modern Judaism’s most important thinkers. Passages familiar from years of recitation can take on new significance when viewed through the Rav’s teachings.
The Book of Psalms contains 150 individual psalms, traditionally divided into five books:
Book I: Psalms 1–41
Book II: Psalms 42–72
Book III: Psalms 73–89
Book IV: Psalms 90–106
Book V: Psalms 107–150
The first four books conclude with doxologies—statements of praise to God—and Psalm 150 functions as the climactic conclusion of the entire book.
The fivefold organization is interesting in Talmudic tradition because it can be understood and compared to the five books of Moses. The Psalter also contains an extraordinary range of human experience: fear, loneliness, illness, persecution, gratitude, love, anger, repentance, confidence, mourning, national catastrophe, thanksgiving, and praise. It can therefore be read not merely as an ancient collection of religious poems but as a remarkably comprehensive portrait of human life.
Readers can gain several kinds of understanding from The Koren Mesorat HaRav Tehillim: They discover new mind-opening dimensions in familiar Psalms. They see how Jewish laws embrace human emotions. They learn about the Rav’s understanding of the religious personality.
Soloveitchik’s thought is deeply concerned with the individual who searches for God while simultaneously confronting the limitations of the human mind and the difficulties of human existence. Psalms provide an unusually rich biblical expression of that search. They also discover that prayers contain lessons people must learn: suffering need not have the final word, and they should read the Bible more carefully.
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Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin is a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps.