Haym Soloveitchik
Encyclopedia
Rabbi Dr. Haym Soloveitchik (b. September 19, 1937) is the only son of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. He graduated from the Maimonides School
which his father founded in Brookline, Massachusetts
and then received his B.A.
degree from Harvard College
in 1958 with a major in History
. After two years of post-graduate study at Harvard, he moved to Israel
and began his studies toward an M.A.
and PhD
at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, under the historian Professor Jacob Katz
. He wrote his Master's thesis on the Halakha
of gentile wine in medieval Germany
. His doctorate, which he received in 1972, concentrated on laws of pawnbroking and usury
.
and served as a Rosh Yeshiva
(dean) at its affiliate, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
. In the early 1980s, he left Hebrew University and began teaching at Yeshiva University on a full-time basis, serving as University Professor. He taught there until 2006, when he was appointed University Research Professor.
Soloveitchik is known as a very demanding teacher. Rabbi Michael Rosensweig
, Rosh Yeshiva and Rosh Kollel at Yeshiva University, wrote his Ph.D. (Debt Collection in Absentia: Halakhah in a Mobile and Commercial Age) under Dr. Soloveitchik, and is one of the few students mentored by him.
of Halakha
, the collective body of Jewish religious law. Much of his work focuses on the interaction of Halakha with changing economic realities. Specifically, he has produced major studies of usury and pawnbroking and the multiple ramifications of Jewish involvement in the manufacture and sale of wine. A major theme of his writing is the positing of an essential integrity to the Jewish Legal process in its interaction with contemporary challenges. In addition, his oft-cited essay Rupture and Reconstruction is viewed as a major statement on the state of contemporary Orthodox Judaism
.
Halakha, Economy and Self-Image, Jerusalem 1985.
Responsa as an Historical Source, Jerusalem 1990.
Principles and Pressures: Jewish Trade in Gentile Wine in the Middle Ages. Am Oved (Tel Aviv, 2003).
Articles:
'Pawnbroking: A Study in "Ribbit" and of the Halakah in Exile,' PAAJR 38-39(1970–1971)203-268.
'Three Themes in Sefer Hassidim,' AJS Review 1 (1976), 311-358
'Can Halakhic Texts Talk History?" AJS Review 3 (1978), pp. 153-196
'Maimonides’"’Iggeret Ha-Shemad" - Law and Rhetoric,'Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein Memorial Volume, New York 1980, 281-319.
'Rabad of Posquières: A Programmatic Essay,' Studies in the History of Jewish Society Presented to Jacob Katz, Jerusalem 1980, vii-xl.
'Religious Law and Change: The Medieval Ashkenazic Example,' AJS Review 12(1987), 205-221.
'History of Halakhah - Methodological Issues: A Review Essay of I. Twersky’s "Rabad of Posquières,"' Jewish History 5(1991), 75-124.
'Catastrophe and Halakhic Creativity: Ashkenaz - 1096, 1242, 1306 and 1298,' Jewish History 12(1998), 71-85.
'[On] Yishaq (Eric) Zimmer, "Olam ke-Minhago Noheg"'AJS Review 23(1998), 223-234.
'Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy,'Tradition, 28(1994) 64-130.
'Responsa: Literary History and Basic Literacy,'AJS Review, 24(1999),343-357.
'Piety, Pietism and German Pietism : "Sefer Hasidim I" and the influence of "Hasidei Ashkenaz,"
Jewish Quarterly Review 92(2002), 455-493.
'Halakhah, Hermeneutics, and Martyrdom in Medieval Ashkenaz,' Jewish Quarterly Review 94,1 (2004) 77-108; 2: 278-299.
'The Midrash, "Sefer Hasidim" and the Changing Face of God,' Creation and Re-Creation in Jewish Thought, New York 2005, 165-177.
Maimonides School
Maimonides School is a coeducational, Modern Orthodox, Jewish day school located in Brookline, Massachusetts. The school was founded in 1937 by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik and his wife Tonya Soloveitchik...
which his father founded in Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...
and then received his B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
in 1958 with a major in History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
. After two years of post-graduate study at Harvard, he moved to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and began his studies toward an M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
and PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, under the historian Professor Jacob Katz
Jacob Katz
Jacob Katz was a Jewish historian and educator. He established the history curriculum used in Israel's High Schools....
. He wrote his Master's thesis on the Halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
of gentile wine in medieval Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. His doctorate, which he received in 1972, concentrated on laws of pawnbroking and usury
Usury
Usury Originally, when the charging of interest was still banned by Christian churches, usury simply meant the charging of interest at any rate . In countries where the charging of interest became acceptable, the term came to be used for interest above the rate allowed by law...
.
Teaching
Soloveitchik taught at Hebrew University until 1984, and reached the rank of full Professor. During that period, he also taught at and served as Dean of the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva UniversityYeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
and served as a Rosh Yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...
(dean) at its affiliate, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary , or Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, is the rabbinical seminary of Yeshiva University, located in Washington Heights, New York. It is named after Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, who died the year it was founded, 1896...
. In the early 1980s, he left Hebrew University and began teaching at Yeshiva University on a full-time basis, serving as University Professor. He taught there until 2006, when he was appointed University Research Professor.
Soloveitchik is known as a very demanding teacher. Rabbi Michael Rosensweig
Michael Rosensweig
Michael Rosensweig is a Rosh Yeshiva and Rosh Kollel at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University.-Education:Rabbi Rosensweig graduated early from the Yeshiva High School of Queens...
, Rosh Yeshiva and Rosh Kollel at Yeshiva University, wrote his Ph.D. (Debt Collection in Absentia: Halakhah in a Mobile and Commercial Age) under Dr. Soloveitchik, and is one of the few students mentored by him.
Scholarship
Haym Soloveitchik is acknowledged as a leading contemporary historianHistorian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
of Halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
, the collective body of Jewish religious law. Much of his work focuses on the interaction of Halakha with changing economic realities. Specifically, he has produced major studies of usury and pawnbroking and the multiple ramifications of Jewish involvement in the manufacture and sale of wine. A major theme of his writing is the positing of an essential integrity to the Jewish Legal process in its interaction with contemporary challenges. In addition, his oft-cited essay Rupture and Reconstruction is viewed as a major statement on the state of contemporary Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
.
Published works
Books:Halakha, Economy and Self-Image, Jerusalem 1985.
Responsa as an Historical Source, Jerusalem 1990.
Principles and Pressures: Jewish Trade in Gentile Wine in the Middle Ages. Am Oved (Tel Aviv, 2003).
Articles:
'Pawnbroking: A Study in "Ribbit" and of the Halakah in Exile,' PAAJR 38-39(1970–1971)203-268.
'Three Themes in Sefer Hassidim,' AJS Review 1 (1976), 311-358
'Can Halakhic Texts Talk History?" AJS Review 3 (1978), pp. 153-196
'Maimonides’"’Iggeret Ha-Shemad" - Law and Rhetoric,'Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein Memorial Volume, New York 1980, 281-319.
'Rabad of Posquières: A Programmatic Essay,' Studies in the History of Jewish Society Presented to Jacob Katz, Jerusalem 1980, vii-xl.
'Religious Law and Change: The Medieval Ashkenazic Example,' AJS Review 12(1987), 205-221.
'History of Halakhah - Methodological Issues: A Review Essay of I. Twersky’s "Rabad of Posquières,"' Jewish History 5(1991), 75-124.
'Catastrophe and Halakhic Creativity: Ashkenaz - 1096, 1242, 1306 and 1298,' Jewish History 12(1998), 71-85.
'[On] Yishaq (Eric) Zimmer, "Olam ke-Minhago Noheg"'AJS Review 23(1998), 223-234.
'Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy,'Tradition, 28(1994) 64-130.
'Responsa: Literary History and Basic Literacy,'AJS Review, 24(1999),343-357.
'Piety, Pietism and German Pietism : "Sefer Hasidim I" and the influence of "Hasidei Ashkenaz,"
Jewish Quarterly Review 92(2002), 455-493.
'Halakhah, Hermeneutics, and Martyrdom in Medieval Ashkenaz,' Jewish Quarterly Review 94,1 (2004) 77-108; 2: 278-299.
'The Midrash, "Sefer Hasidim" and the Changing Face of God,' Creation and Re-Creation in Jewish Thought, New York 2005, 165-177.