Joseph Soloveitchik
Encyclopedia
Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ( (1903–1993) was an American
Orthodox
rabbi
, Talmud
ist and modern Jewish philosopher
. He was a descendant of the Lithuanian Jewish
Soloveitchik rabbinic dynasty.
As Rosh Yeshiva
of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
at Yeshiva University
in New York City
, The Rav (actually pronounced The Rov, similar to his illustrious uncle Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik who was commonly called "The Rov"), as he came to be known, ordained
close to 2,000 rabbis over the course of almost half a century. He advocated a synthesis between Torah scholarship and Western, secular scholarship as well as positive involvement with the broader community.
He served as an advisor, guide, mentor, and role-model for tens of thousands of Jews, both as a Talmudic scholar and as a religious leader. He is regarded as a seminal figure by Modern Orthodox Judaism
.
, then Russia
, next Poland
, now Belarus
). He came from a rabbinical dynasty dating back some 200 years: his paternal grandfather was Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik
, and his great-grandfather and namesake was Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, the Beis HaLevi. His great-great-grandfather was Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
(The Netziv). His father, Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik
(note different spelling of last name), preceded him as head of the RIETS
rabbinical school at Yeshiva University.
On his maternal line, Soloveitchik was a grandson of Rabbi Eliyahu Feinstein
and his wife Guta Feinstein née Davidovitch, who in turn was a descendant of a long line of Kapulyan rabbis, and of the Tosafot Yom Tov, the Shelah
, the Maharshal, and Rashi
.
, an elementary yeshiva
, and by private tutors, as his parents realized his great mental powers. According to a curriculum vitae written and signed in his own hand, in 1922 he graduated from the liberal arts `Gymnasium' in Dubno
. Thereafter he entered in 1924 the Free Polish University in Warsaw
where he spent three terms, studying political science. In 1926 he came to Berlin
, Germany
and entered the Friedrich Wilhelm University. He passed the examination for supplementary subjects at the German Institute for Studies by Foreigners and was then given full matriculation at the University. He took up studies in philosophy, economics and Hebrew subjects, simultaneously maintaining a rigorous schedule of intensive Talmud
study.
According to the CV, among his "highly honored" teachers in university, "Geheimrat", were Professor Dr. Heinrich Maier (1867–1933) and Professor Dr. Max Dessoir
, along with Professor Dr. Eugen Mittwoch and Professor Dr. Ludwig Bernhard. He studied the work of European philosophers, and was a lifelong student of neo-Kant
ian thought.
He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on the epistemology and metaphysics
of the German philosopher Hermann Cohen
.
Contrary to most biographies, which erroneously state that in 1931 he received his degree, he actually passed his oral doctor's examination on July 24, 1930, but graduated with a doctorate only on December 19, 1932. Documents exist to support this assertion, possessed and publicized by the late Manfred Lehmann.
In 1931 he married Tonya Lewit (1904–1967), who had earned a Ph.D. in Education from Jena University.
During his years in Berlin, Soloveitchik became a close disciple of Rabbi Hayyim Heller, who had established an institute for advanced Jewish Studies from an Orthodox perspective in the city. He also made the acquaintance of other young scholars pursuing a similar path to his own. One such figure was Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner
who would become the rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
also in Brooklyn
, New York
. Both of them developed a system of thought that bridged the Eastern Europe
an way of traditional scholarship with the new forces of modernity
in the Western World
. Among the other personalities with whom he came into contact were Professor Alexander Altmann
, Rabbi Dr.Yehiel Yaakov Weinberg, Rector of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
, and Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz
.
, one of the first Hebrew day schools in Boston
in 1937. When the school's high school was founded in the late forties, he instituted a number of innovations in the curriculum, including teaching Talmud to boys and girls studying in classes together. He involved himself in all manner of religious issues in the Boston area. He was at times both a rabbinical supervisor of kosher
slaughtering – shechita – and gladly accepting invitations to lecture in Jewish and religious philosophy at prestigious New England
colleges and universities. His son-in-law, Rabbi Professor Isadore Twersky
was an internationally renowned expert on the writings of Maimonides and succeeded Professor Harry Austryn Wolfson
to the Nathan Littauer chair of Jewish History and Literature at Harvard University
.
(never, however, a formally recognized position at YU) from the time he began teaching there until his death in 1993. He was the first occupant of the Leib Merkin Distinguished Professorial Chair in Talmud and Jewish Philosophy at RIETS.
He ordained over 2,000 rabbis, many of whom are among the leaders of Orthodox Judaism and the Jewish people today. In addition, he gave public lectures that were attended by thousands from throughout the greater Jewish community as well as regular classes at other New York institutions.
Soloveitchik advocated more intensive textual Torah study
for Jewish women at the Stern College for Women
, giving the first class in Talmud inaugurated at Stern College. With his enlightened outlook, he attracted and inspired many young men and women to become spiritual leaders and educators in Jewish communities worldwide. They in turn went out with the education of Yeshiva University to head synagogues, schools and communities, where they continue to influence many Jews to remain committed to Orthodoxy and observance.
– "Torah and secular wisdom" the motto of Yeshiva University. Through public lectures, writings, and his policy decisions for the Modern Orthodox world, he strengthened the intellectual and ideological framework of Modern Orthodoxy.
In his major non–Talmudic publications, which altered the landscape of Jewish philosophy
and Jewish theology, Soloveitchik stresses the normative and intellectual centrality of the halakhic
corpus. He authored a number of essays and books offering a unique synthesis of Neo-Kantian existentialism and Jewish thought, the most well-known being The Lonely Man of Faith which deals with issues such as the willingness to stand alone in the face of monumental challenges, and Halakhic Man.
A less known essay, though not less important is "The Halakhic Mind – An essay on Jewish tradition and modern thought" written in 1944 and published only 40 years later, without any change as the author himself stresses. [published by Seth Press, distributed by Free Press – ISBN 0-68-486372]
Soloveitchik reads the first two chapters of Genesis as a contrast in the nature of the human being and identifies two human types: Adam I, or "majestic man", who employs his creative faculties in order to master his environment; and Adam II, or "covenantal man", who surrenders himself in submission to his Master. Soloveitchik describes how the man of faith integrates both of these aspects.
In the first chapter, Adam I is created together with Eve and they are given the mandate to subdue nature, master the cosmos, and transform the world "into a domain for their power and sovereignty." Adam I is majestic man who approaches the world and relationships—even with the divine—in functional, pragmatic terms. Adam I, created in the image of God, fulfills this apparently "secular" mandate by conquering the universe, imposing his knowledge, technology, and cultural institutions upon the world. The human community depicted in Genesis 1 is a utilitarian one, where man and woman join together, like the male and female of other animals, to further the ends of their species.
In chapter two of Genesis, Adam II, on the other hand represents the lonely man of faith – bringing a "redemptive interpretation to the meaning of existence". Adam II does not subdue the garden, but rather tills it and preserves it. This type of human being is introduced by the words, "It is not good for man to be alone" – and through his sacrifice (of a metaphoric rib) he gains companionship and the relief of his existential loneliness – this covenantal community requires the participation of the Divine.
. His theological outlook is distinguished by a consistent focus on halakha, i.e., the fulfillment and study of the divine law. He presents the halakha as the a priori basis for religious practice and for the theological foundation for Jewish thought. Soloveitchik emphasizes halakha's "this-worldly, here-and-now grounding", as opposed to religious approaches that focus on the nature of the transcendent realm. This work argues that Jewish piety does not, therefore, fit familiar models of Western religiosity
, and presents a phenomenology of this religious type. Here, "Halakhic man", as a result of his study of Torah
and his observance of the commandments
, develops a set of coherent attitudes towards intellectual activity
, asceticism, death, esotericism
, mysticism
, creativity, repentance
, and providence. He also underscores the necessity for individual self-creation as the divinely assigned task of the human being.
Halakhic Man has become well read in the Orthodox Jewish community, but its psychology and model of Jewish law was rejected by others, such as Abraham Joshua Heschel
.
of Europe
, while for those on the religious right, he was seen as legitimizing those wanting to lower their religious standards in the attempt to modernize and Americanize. Despite this criticism, Soloveitchik remained steadfast in his beliefs and positions throughout the years of his leadership. His highly original use in all of the foregoing works of categories and concepts drawn from existentialism and other schools of secular modern philosophy is analyzed in some depth in the writings of Fr. Christiam M. Rutishauser, S.J.
Brisk Yeshiva, he was respected for his genius in Talmudic scholarship which few could challenge or disparage. However, Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik
(the "Brisker Rov") and his followers still viewed him as their wayward cousin who had departed family Haredi
tradition.
At the same time, recent research published by Shlomo Pick indicates that his father, Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik maintained a close relationship with Religious Zionist (Mizrahi) circles in Warsaw
, prior to the father's departure for Yeshiva University
and the son's departure for the University of Berlin in 1923.
, Irving Greenberg
, and Michael Wyschogrod
. Leading right-wing figures at Modern Orthodox institutions wished to keep Modern Orthodoxy within the boundaries which were established by Soloveitchik. This included much of Yeshiva University
's leadership, such as Rabbi Hershel Reichman
, Rabbi Mayer Twersky
, and Rabbi Hershel Schachter
.
, who was Soloveitchik's cousin, maintained very warm and profoundly respectful relations with him. They corresponded and spoke (at least) on the eve of every Jewish holiday. Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner
referred to him as a "gadol
hador" (foremost Torah scholar of the time). Rabbi Aaron Kotler, whose public policy in relation to American Jewry was far more right-wing than Soloveitchik's, was introduced by Soloveitchik at a Chinuch Atzmai dinner and this later became famous as an instance of unity among the Orthodox leadership. Agudath Israel's mouthpiece, the "Jewish Observer" also mentioned Soloveitchik as one of the greatest rabbis of the generation when detailing a cable which was sent by various gedolim to former Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol
requesting the government to put a stop to Christian missionary activity in Israel. In May 1993, Rabbi Nisson Wolpin penned an obituary for Soloveitchik in the "Jewish Observer." The article was criticized for being titled "Zecher L'bracha" ("May his memory be a blessing") as opposed to the usual "Zecher Tzaddik L'bracha" (May his righteous memory be a blessing), for being a mere page long as instead of the Jewish Observer's usually comparatively long obituaries, for the obituary not being mentioned in the table of contents, and portraying Soloveitchik as not clarifying his views enough. Rabbi Moshe David Tendler
wrote a scathing attack on Wolpin's piece, which was published both in The Community Synagogue of Monsey's newsletter and the Algemeiner Journal
.
Soloveitchik did not sign Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's proposed ban on interfaith dialogue. Instead he published a pathbreaking essay expounding his views on the subject, entitled "Confrontation." He also did not sign the ban by America's foremost rabbis against participating in the Synagogue Council of America. It has been debated whether his refusal to sign was because he believed in participating in the SCA or because he was not happy with the way the ban was instituted.
Despite the Agudah's comparative silence on Soloveitchik and his stances, the Jewish Observer has often criticized the Rabbinical Council of America
in which he served and his more modern students, including Rabbi Norman Lamm
, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
and Rabbi Lawrence Kaplan.
Many of Soloveitchik's students became leaders in the Modern Orthodox community. These students tend to espouse very distinct world views.
One of the most iconoclastic yet revered is include Rabbi Prof. David Hartman
of Jerusalem, whose support for pluralism
has gained him serious backing in non-Orthodox streams and who has brought Soloveitchik's thinking to non-Orthodox. The institution he founded, the Shalom Hartman Institute
, is a home for serious thinkers from Orthodoxy, Conservative/Masorti, Reform and even secular scholars, and trains hundreds of Jewish community leaders annually. Rabbis Avi Weiss
and Saul Berman
, who represent liberal Modern Orthodox institutions such as Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
and Edah
, are somewhat further to the right of Greenberg and Hartman, but still very liberal in comparison to most Orthodox thinkers (Rabbi Weiss has classified this approach as "Open Orthodoxy").
Many students of Soloveitchik represent a centrist approach to Modern Orthodoxy (which Lamm has coined "Centrist Orthodoxy") such as Rabbis Aharon Lichtenstein
, Shlomo Riskin
, Lawrence Kaplan, and Lamm. This is the mainstream approach to Soloveitchik's thought; the Torah UMadda Journal, Tradition magazine, the Rabbinical Council of America
, Efrat
, Teaneck, Yeshiva University
, Bnei Akiva
, the Orthodox Union
, and various post-high school yeshivot and seminaries in Israel (i.e. Yeshivat Har Etzion
) are largely, if not mostly (but almost never monolithically) populated by "Centrist Orthodox" Jews.
Further to the right in the spectrum of Orthodoxy lie Rabbis Yehuda Parnes and Abba Bronspiegel, both of whom resigned from teaching positions in Yeshiva University to join right-wing alternative Lander College
. Some of Soloveitchik's students even identify themselves and Soloveitchik's teachings with the Haredi
world, such as Rabbi Moshe Meiselman
, Soloveitchik's nephew and Rosh Yeshiva
of Yeshiva Toras Moshe
in Jerusalem; Rabbi Mosheh Twersky, The Rav's grandson and a teacher at Toras Moshe; Rabbi Michel Shurkin, also a teacher at Toras Moshe; and Rabbi Chaim Ilson, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Derech Hatalmud in Jerusalem.
believes that Rabbis Chaim Ilson, Hershel Schachter
, Aharon Lichtenstein
, Aharon Kahn, and Zvi Kanotopsky were each Soloveitchik's top student in their decade. Additionally, Rabbi Yosef Granofsky—Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Ohr David—has noted that many considered Rabbi Hershel Reichman
to be the top rabbinical student while the former attended YU. While Lichtenstein leans more towards centrist Orthodoxy, most of the rest tend to be right-leaning forces at Modern Orthodox institutions or completely Haredi. Rabbi Simcha Krauss
has the distinction of having learned in Soloveitchik's class, despite being a student in Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner
's Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
.
. Some Haredim
and some on the right wing of Modern Orthodoxy believe that Hirsch only wanted Jews to combine an observant Jewish lifestyle with learning the surrounding gentile society's language, history, and science, so that a religious Jew could earn a living in the surrounding secular society. It should be noted, however, that this is not by any means a universally held opinion among right-wing Orthodox Jews (see, for example, the writings of Rabbi Shimon Schwab
and the biography of Rabbi Hirsch by Rabbi Victor Klugman). There exists a fringe position among scholars of Soloveitchik's philosophy that states that a similar pragmatic approach was adopted by Soloveitchik as well. On this view, Soloveitchik did not approve of Jews learning secular philosophy, music, art, literature or ethics, unless it was for either the purpose of obtaining a livelihood or outreach.
In contrast, most scholars believe that this understanding of Soloveitchik's philosophy is misguided. This issue has been discussed in many articles in Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Thought, published by the Rabbinical Council of America
. In this view, both Hirsch and Soloveitchik believed that it was permissible for Jews to learn secular philosophy, music, art, literature and ethics for their own sake and even encouraged this.
Professor Yitzchak Twersky pointed out in a eulogy published in the journal Tradition
in 1996 that Soloveitchik's philosophy could be paraphrased as follows: "When you know your [Jewish] Way—your point of departure and goals—then use philosophy, science and the humanities to illumine your exposition, sharpen your categories, probe the profundities and subtleties of the masorah and reveal its charm and majesty; in so doing you should be able to command respect from the alienated and communicate with some who might otherwise be hostile or indifferent to your teaching as well as to increase the sensitivity and spirituality of the committed." Rabbi Moshe Meiselman
, on the other hand, believes that Soloveitchik's sole purpose of allowing secular study was for purposes of outreach.
and Conservative Judaism
. He believed that where these denominations differed from Orthodox Judaism, the non-Orthodox groups were in significant error. He compared religious dialogue with Reform and Conservative leaders to dialogue between Pharisees
and Karaites, considering it ridiculous. One of the major differences was in regard to the use of a mechitza
in the synagogue, a divider between the men's and women's sections. Consistent with the traditional rabbinic understanding of this issue, Soloveitchik ruled that it was forbidden to pray in a synagogue without a separation between the sexes. The effect of this was to prohibit prayer in any Reform synagogue and in many Conservative synagogues. His responsum
on this question was also directed at the small number of Orthodox synagogues that were adopting mixed-sex seating. He was vociferous on this issue.
Soloveitchik believed that Reform and Conservative rabbis did not have proper training in halakha and Jewish theology, and that due to their decisions and actions they could not be considered rabbis as Orthodox Jews traditionally understood the term. He was a lifelong critic of all forms of non-Orthodox Judaism. On the other hand, in practice he often granted non-Orthodox rabbis some level of validity (see examples below).
Soloveitchik developed the idea that Jews have historically been linked together by two distinct covenants. One is the brit yi'ud, "covenant of destiny", which is the covenant by which Jews are bound together through their adherence to halakha. The second is the brit goral, "covenant of fate", the desire and willingness to be part of a people chosen by God to live a sacred mission in the world, and the fact that all those who live in this covenant share the same fate of persecution and oppression, even if they do not live by halakha. Soloveitchik held that non-Orthodox Jews were in violation of the covenant of destiny, yet they are still bound together with Orthodox Jews in the covenant of fate.
In 1954 Soloveitchik issued a responsum on working with non-Orthodox Jews, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews in the United States: Second article in a series on Responsa of Orthodox Judaism in the United States. The responsum recognized the leadership of non-Orthodox Jews in Jewish communal institutions (but not their rabbis in the Orthodox sense of the term), and concluded that participation with non-Orthodox Jews for political or welfare purposes is not only permissible, but obligatory.
The Haredi Council of Torah Sages of Agudath Yisroel countered with a ruling that such cooperation with non-Orthodox Jews was equivalent to endorsement of non-Orthodox Judaism, and thus was forbidden. In 1956 many Yeshiva
leaders, including two rabbis from his own Yeshiva University
, signed and issued a proclamation forbidding any rabbinical alumni of their yeshivot from joining with Reform or Conservative rabbis in professional organizations.
Soloveitchik declined to sign the proclamation, maintaining that there were areas, particularly those relating to problems that threatened all of Judaism
, that required co-operation regardless of affiliation. His refusal emboldened other Modern Orthodox rabbis, and the Rabbinical Council of America
and Union of Orthodox Congregations then joined the Synagogue Council of America
, a group in which Orthodox, Reform and Conservative denominations worked together on common issues. (The Synagogue Council of America ceased operating in 1994.)
In the 1950s Soloveitchik and other members of the Rabbinical Council of America
engaged in a series of private negotiations with the leaders of Conservative Judaism's Rabbinical Assembly
, especially with Rabbi Saul Lieberman
; their objective was to found a joint Orthodox-Conservative beth din
that would be a national rabbinic court for all Jews in America; it would supervise communal standards of marriage and divorce. It was to be modeled after the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, with only Orthodox judges, but with the expectation that it would be accepted by the larger Conservative movement as legitimate. Conservative rabbis in the Rabbinical Assembly
formed a Joint Conference on Jewish Law and devoted a year to the effort.
For a number of reasons, the project did not succeed. According to Orthodox Rabbi Bernstein, the major reason for its failure was that the Orthodox rabbis insisted that the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly expel Conservative rabbis for actions they took before the new Beit Din was formed, and the RA refused to do so (Bernstein, 1977). According to Orthodox Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, former president of the RCA, the major reason for its failure was pressure from right-wing Orthodox rabbis, who held that any cooperation between Orthodoxy and Conservatism was forbidden. In an account prepared in 1956, Rabbi Harry Halpern
of the Rabbinical Assembly's Joint Conference wrote that negotiations between the Orthodox and Conservative were completed and agreed upon, but then a new requirement was demanded by the RCA: that the RA "impose severe sanctions" upon Conservative rabbis for actions they took before the new beth din was formed. The RA "could not assent to rigorously disciplining our members at the behest of an outside group." Per Halpern, subsequent efforts were made to cooperate with the Orthodox, but a letter from eleven Rosh Yeshiva
s was circulated declaring that Orthodox rabbis were forbidden to cooperate with Conservative rabbis (Proceedings of the CJLS of the Conservative Movement 1927–1970 Vol. II, pp. 850–852).
Until the 1950s, Jews of all denominations were generally allowed to use the same communal mikvaot
(ritual baths) for the purposes of converting to Judaism, observing the rules of niddah
in regard to laws of marital purity, ritually cleansing dishes, etc. However the Orthodox movement increasingly denied the use of mikvaot to non-Orthodox rabbis for use in conversions. According to Rabbi Walter Wurzburger
, Rav Soloveitchik counselled Orthodox rabbis against this practice, insisting that non-Orthodox have the option to use mikvaot (Wurzburger, 1994).
sought his advice and blessings in state affairs. He was reputedly offered the position of Chief Rabbi of Israel, such as by Prime Minister Menachem Begin
, but he quietly and consistently refused this offer. Despite his open and ardent support for the modern State of Israel
, he only visited Israel—then called Palestine
– once, in 1935, before the state was established. Rabbi Yosef Blau
has pointed out that Soloveitchik's non-messianic Zionism was philosophically similar to that of Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines
(see Tradition 33.2, Communications). Rabbi Moshe Meiselman
believes that Soloveitchik joined Mizrachi
as part of a plan to help Zionistic Jews become more observant. As against that "pragmatic" interpretation, it should be pointed out that, in an essay entitled Kol Dodi Dofek (the voice of my beloved knocking), Soloveitchik argued that the Zionist project was a precursor of redemption.
and the Agudat Harabanim – the Union of Orthodox Rabbis
of North America. In fact, Soloveitchik was on the first Moetzes Chachmei HaTorah of America. However, he later removed himself from the former organizations, and instead joined with the Mizrachi Religious Zionists
of America (RZA) and became Chairman of the centrist Orthodox
Rabbinical Council of America
's (RCA) Halakhah Commission (the other two members are the time were Rabbis Hayyim Heller and Samuel Belkin
).
in Onset, Massachusetts
, where they would pray at Congregation Beth Israel
.
Soloveitchik's daughters married prominent academics and Talmudic scholars: his daughter Tovah married Rabbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein
, Rosh Yeshiva
of Yeshivat Har Etzion
in Israel (with a PhD from Harvard University
); his daughter Atarah married the late Rabbi Dr. Isadore Twersky
, former head of the Jewish Studies department at Harvard University
(who also served as the Talner Rebbe
in Boston
). His son Rabbi Dr. Haym Soloveitchik
is a University Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University
. His siblings included Dr. Samuel Soloveitchik (1909–1967), Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik
(1917–2001), Mrs. Shulamith Meiselman (1912-2009), and Mrs. Anne Gerber (b. 1915). His grandchildren have maintained his heritage and also hold distinguished scholarly positions.
As he got older he suffered several bouts of serious illness (Alzheimer's Disease
preceded by Parkinsons Disease). Family members cared for his every need. He died on Hol HaMoed Pesach (18 Nisan, in 1993, at the age of ninety. He was interred next to his beloved wife, Tonya Lewit Soloveitchik, in Beth El Cemetery in the Baker Street Jewish Cemeteries
, West Roxbury, Massachusetts
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Orthodox
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...
rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
, Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ist and modern Jewish philosopher
Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy , includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or, in relation to the religion of Judaism. Jewish philosophy, until modern Enlightenment and Emancipation, was pre-occupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism; thus organizing...
. He was a descendant of the Lithuanian Jewish
Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks are Jews with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania:...
Soloveitchik rabbinic dynasty.
As 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...
of 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...
at Yeshiva University
Yeshiva 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...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, The Rav (actually pronounced The Rov, similar to his illustrious uncle Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik who was commonly called "The Rov"), as he came to be known, ordained
Semicha
, also , or is derived from a Hebrew word which means to "rely on" or "to be authorized". It generally refers to the ordination of a rabbi within Judaism. In this sense it is the "transmission" of rabbinic authority to give advice or judgment in Jewish law...
close to 2,000 rabbis over the course of almost half a century. He advocated a synthesis between Torah scholarship and Western, secular scholarship as well as positive involvement with the broader community.
He served as an advisor, guide, mentor, and role-model for tens of thousands of Jews, both as a Talmudic scholar and as a religious leader. He is regarded as a seminal figure by Modern Orthodox Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law, with the secular, modern world....
.
Heritage
Joseph Ber Soloveitchik was born on February 27, 1903 in PruzhanyPruzhany
Pruzhany is a town in Brest Voblast, Belarus. Pruzhany is the center of a district in Brest Region, Belarus. Its population is about 20.000 people. The town is located at the confluence of the Mukha River and the Vets Canal, which give the start to Mukhavets River.-History:Pruzhany has been known...
, then Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, next Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, now Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
). He came from a rabbinical dynasty dating back some 200 years: his paternal grandfather was Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik
Chaim Soloveitchik
Chaim Soloveitchik , also known as Reb Chaim Brisker, was a rabbi and Talmudic scholar credited as the founder of the popular Brisker approach to Talmudic study within Judaism. He was born in Volozhin in 1853, where his father, Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik served as a lecturer in the famous...
, and his great-grandfather and namesake was Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, the Beis HaLevi. His great-great-grandfather was Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, , also known as Reb Hirsch Leib Berlin, and commonly known by the acronym Netziv, was an Orthodox rabbi, dean of the Volozhin Yeshiva and author of several works of rabbinic literature in Lithuania.- Family :Berlin was born in Mir, Russia in 1816 into a family of Jewish...
(The Netziv). His father, Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik
Moshe Soloveichik
Moshe Soloveitchik , was an Orthodox rabbi. He was the second son of renowned rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and grandson of the Beis HaLevi. He married Pesya Feinstein, daughter of the renowned Rabbi of Pruzany, Rabbi Eliyahu Feinstein, and first cousins with Rabbi Moshe Feinstein.At the age of 31, he...
(note different spelling of last name), preceded him as head of the RIETS
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...
rabbinical school at Yeshiva University.
On his maternal line, Soloveitchik was a grandson of Rabbi Eliyahu Feinstein
Eliyahu Feinstein
Eliyahu Halevi Feinstein, also known as Reb Elye Pruzhaner, , was a leading rabbinic authority of his time.-Education:...
and his wife Guta Feinstein née Davidovitch, who in turn was a descendant of a long line of Kapulyan rabbis, and of the Tosafot Yom Tov, the Shelah
Shelah
According to the Bible, Shelah/Shela was the youngest brother among Judah's first three sons, and was born at Chezib.-Biblical narrative:...
, the Maharshal, and Rashi
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...
.
Early years, education, and immigration
Soloveitchik was educated in the traditional manner at a Talmud TorahTalmud Torah
Talmud Torah schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of public primary school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew, the Scriptures , and the Talmud...
, an elementary yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
, and by private tutors, as his parents realized his great mental powers. According to a curriculum vitae written and signed in his own hand, in 1922 he graduated from the liberal arts `Gymnasium' in Dubno
Dubno
Dubno is a city located on the Ikva River in the Rivne Oblast of western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of Dubno Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast...
. Thereafter he entered in 1924 the Free Polish University in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
where he spent three terms, studying political science. In 1926 he came to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, 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...
and entered the Friedrich Wilhelm University. He passed the examination for supplementary subjects at the German Institute for Studies by Foreigners and was then given full matriculation at the University. He took up studies in philosophy, economics and Hebrew subjects, simultaneously maintaining a rigorous schedule of intensive Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
study.
According to the CV, among his "highly honored" teachers in university, "Geheimrat", were Professor Dr. Heinrich Maier (1867–1933) and Professor Dr. Max Dessoir
Max Dessoir
Max Dessoir was a German philosopher and theorist of aesthetics.Dessoir was born in Berlin. He earned doctorates from the universities of Berlin and Würzburg...
, along with Professor Dr. Eugen Mittwoch and Professor Dr. Ludwig Bernhard. He studied the work of European philosophers, and was a lifelong student of neo-Kant
KANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
ian thought.
He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on the epistemology and metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
of the German philosopher Hermann Cohen
Hermann Cohen
Hermann Cohen was a German-Jewish philosopher, one of the founders of the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism, and he is often held to be "probably the most important Jewish philosopher of the nineteenth century".-Life:...
.
Contrary to most biographies, which erroneously state that in 1931 he received his degree, he actually passed his oral doctor's examination on July 24, 1930, but graduated with a doctorate only on December 19, 1932. Documents exist to support this assertion, possessed and publicized by the late Manfred Lehmann.
In 1931 he married Tonya Lewit (1904–1967), who had earned a Ph.D. in Education from Jena University.
During his years in Berlin, Soloveitchik became a close disciple of Rabbi Hayyim Heller, who had established an institute for advanced Jewish Studies from an Orthodox perspective in the city. He also made the acquaintance of other young scholars pursuing a similar path to his own. One such figure was Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner
Yitzchok Hutner
Yitzchok Hutner was an Orthodox rabbi and American rosh yeshiva.-Early years:Yitchok Hutner was born in Warsaw, Poland, to a family with both Ger Hasidic and non-Hasidic Lithuanian Jewish roots. As a child he received private instruction in Torah and Talmud...
who would become the rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin or Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, is a Haredi Lithuanian-type yeshiva located in Brooklyn, New York. Established in 1904 as Yeshiva Tiferes Bachurim, it is the oldest yeshiva in Kings County...
also in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Both of them developed a system of thought that bridged the Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an way of traditional scholarship with the new forces of modernity
Modernity
Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance...
in the Western World
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
. Among the other personalities with whom he came into contact were Professor Alexander Altmann
Alexander Altmann
Alexander Altmann was an Orthodox Jewish scholar and rabbi born in Kassa, Austria-Hungary, today Košice, Slovakia. He emigrated to England in 1938 and later settled in the United States, working productively for a decade and a half as a professor within the Philosophy Department at Brandeis...
, Rabbi Dr.Yehiel Yaakov Weinberg, Rector of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
The Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary was founded in Berlin on 22 October 1873 by Rabbi Dr. Azriel Hildesheimer for the training of rabbis in the tradition of Orthodox Judaism.-History:...
, and Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz
Yeshayahu Leibowitz
Yeshayahu Leibowitz was an Israeli public intellectual and polymath known for his outspoken opinions on Judaism, ethics, religion and politics.- Biography :...
.
Boston
After taking up residence in that city in 1932, Soloveitchik would refer to himself as "The Soloveitchik of Boston". He pioneered the Maimonides SchoolMaimonides 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...
, one of the first Hebrew day schools in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1937. When the school's high school was founded in the late forties, he instituted a number of innovations in the curriculum, including teaching Talmud to boys and girls studying in classes together. He involved himself in all manner of religious issues in the Boston area. He was at times both a rabbinical supervisor of kosher
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
slaughtering – shechita – and gladly accepting invitations to lecture in Jewish and religious philosophy at prestigious New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
colleges and universities. His son-in-law, Rabbi Professor Isadore Twersky
Isadore Twersky
Isadore Twersky was an Orthodox rabbi and the Nathan Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at Harvard University, a chair previously held by Harry Austryn Wolfson. Twersky was an internationally recognized authority on Rabbinic literature and Jewish philosophy...
was an internationally renowned expert on the writings of Maimonides and succeeded Professor Harry Austryn Wolfson
Harry Austryn Wolfson
Harry Austryn Wolfson was a scholar, philosopher, and historian at Harvard University, the first chairman of a Judaic Studies Center in the United States...
to the Nathan Littauer chair of Jewish History and Literature at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
New York
Joseph Soloveitchik succeeded his father, Moses (Moshe) Soloveichik, as the head of the RIETS rabbinical school at Yeshiva University in 1941. He taught there until 1986, when illness kept him from continuing, and was considered the top Rosh YeshivaRosh 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...
(never, however, a formally recognized position at YU) from the time he began teaching there until his death in 1993. He was the first occupant of the Leib Merkin Distinguished Professorial Chair in Talmud and Jewish Philosophy at RIETS.
He ordained over 2,000 rabbis, many of whom are among the leaders of Orthodox Judaism and the Jewish people today. In addition, he gave public lectures that were attended by thousands from throughout the greater Jewish community as well as regular classes at other New York institutions.
Soloveitchik advocated more intensive textual Torah study
Torah study
Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts...
for Jewish women at the Stern College for Women
Stern College for Women
Stern College for Women is the undergraduate women's college of arts and sciences at Yeshiva University. It is located at Yeshiva University's Israel Henry Beren Campus in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan....
, giving the first class in Talmud inaugurated at Stern College. With his enlightened outlook, he attracted and inspired many young men and women to become spiritual leaders and educators in Jewish communities worldwide. They in turn went out with the education of Yeshiva University to head synagogues, schools and communities, where they continue to influence many Jews to remain committed to Orthodoxy and observance.
Torah Umadda synthesis
During his tenure at Yeshiva University in addition to his Talmudic lectures, Soloveitchik deepened the system of "synthesis" whereby the best of religious Torah scholarship would be combined with the best secular scholarship in Western civilization. This has become known as the Torah UmaddaTorah Umadda
Torah Umadda is a philosophy of Modern Orthodox Judaism, concerning the interrelationship between the secular world and Judaism, and in particular between secular knowledge and Jewish knowledge...
– "Torah and secular wisdom" the motto of Yeshiva University. Through public lectures, writings, and his policy decisions for the Modern Orthodox world, he strengthened the intellectual and ideological framework of Modern Orthodoxy.
In his major non–Talmudic publications, which altered the landscape of Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy , includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or, in relation to the religion of Judaism. Jewish philosophy, until modern Enlightenment and Emancipation, was pre-occupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism; thus organizing...
and Jewish theology, Soloveitchik stresses the normative and intellectual centrality of the halakhic
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...
corpus. He authored a number of essays and books offering a unique synthesis of Neo-Kantian existentialism and Jewish thought, the most well-known being The Lonely Man of Faith which deals with issues such as the willingness to stand alone in the face of monumental challenges, and Halakhic Man.
A less known essay, though not less important is "The Halakhic Mind – An essay on Jewish tradition and modern thought" written in 1944 and published only 40 years later, without any change as the author himself stresses. [published by Seth Press, distributed by Free Press – ISBN 0-68-486372]
The Lonely Man of Faith
In The Lonely Man of FaithThe Lonely Man of Faith
The Lonely Man of Faith is a philosophical essay written by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.In The Lonely Man of Faith Soloveitchik reads the first two chapters of Genesis as offering two images of Adam which are, in many ways, at odds with one another...
Soloveitchik reads the first two chapters of Genesis as a contrast in the nature of the human being and identifies two human types: Adam I, or "majestic man", who employs his creative faculties in order to master his environment; and Adam II, or "covenantal man", who surrenders himself in submission to his Master. Soloveitchik describes how the man of faith integrates both of these aspects.
In the first chapter, Adam I is created together with Eve and they are given the mandate to subdue nature, master the cosmos, and transform the world "into a domain for their power and sovereignty." Adam I is majestic man who approaches the world and relationships—even with the divine—in functional, pragmatic terms. Adam I, created in the image of God, fulfills this apparently "secular" mandate by conquering the universe, imposing his knowledge, technology, and cultural institutions upon the world. The human community depicted in Genesis 1 is a utilitarian one, where man and woman join together, like the male and female of other animals, to further the ends of their species.
In chapter two of Genesis, Adam II, on the other hand represents the lonely man of faith – bringing a "redemptive interpretation to the meaning of existence". Adam II does not subdue the garden, but rather tills it and preserves it. This type of human being is introduced by the words, "It is not good for man to be alone" – and through his sacrifice (of a metaphoric rib) he gains companionship and the relief of his existential loneliness – this covenantal community requires the participation of the Divine.
Halakhic Man
In Halakhic Man Soloveitchik propounds the centrality of halakha in Jewish thoughtJewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy , includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or, in relation to the religion of Judaism. Jewish philosophy, until modern Enlightenment and Emancipation, was pre-occupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism; thus organizing...
. His theological outlook is distinguished by a consistent focus on halakha, i.e., the fulfillment and study of the divine law. He presents the halakha as the a priori basis for religious practice and for the theological foundation for Jewish thought. Soloveitchik emphasizes halakha's "this-worldly, here-and-now grounding", as opposed to religious approaches that focus on the nature of the transcendent realm. This work argues that Jewish piety does not, therefore, fit familiar models of Western religiosity
Religiosity
Religiosity, in its broadest sense, is a comprehensive sociological term used to refer to the numerous aspects of religious activity, dedication, and belief . Another term that would work equally well, though is less often used, is religiousness...
, and presents a phenomenology of this religious type. Here, "Halakhic man", as a result of his study of Torah
Torah study
Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts...
and his observance of the commandments
Mitzvah
The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...
, develops a set of coherent attitudes towards intellectual activity
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
, asceticism, death, esotericism
Esotericism
Esotericism or Esoterism signifies the holding of esoteric opinions or beliefs, that is, ideas preserved or understood by a small group or those specially initiated, or of rare or unusual interest. The term derives from the Greek , a compound of : "within", thus "pertaining to the more inward",...
, mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, creativity, repentance
Repentance
Repentance is a change of thought to correct a wrong and gain forgiveness from a person who is wronged. In religious contexts it usually refers to confession to God, ceasing sin against God, and resolving to live according to religious law...
, and providence. He also underscores the necessity for individual self-creation as the divinely assigned task of the human being.
Halakhic Man has become well read in the Orthodox Jewish community, but its psychology and model of Jewish law was rejected by others, such as Abraham Joshua Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-born American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th century.-Biography:...
.
Halakhic Mind
Halakhic Mind is a four part analysis on the correlation between science and philosophy historically. Only in its fourth and last part the Author introduces the consequences on the Halakha of the analysis performed in the previous three parts.Other views and controversy
Soloveitchik became a "lightning rod" of criticism from two directions. From the religious left, he was viewed as being too connected to the Old WorldOld World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, while for those on the religious right, he was seen as legitimizing those wanting to lower their religious standards in the attempt to modernize and Americanize. Despite this criticism, Soloveitchik remained steadfast in his beliefs and positions throughout the years of his leadership. His highly original use in all of the foregoing works of categories and concepts drawn from existentialism and other schools of secular modern philosophy is analyzed in some depth in the writings of Fr. Christiam M. Rutishauser, S.J.
Departure from the traditional Brisker view of Zionism
Soloveitchik was proud of his connections to the Soloveitchik rabbinic dynasty, speaking fondly of his "uncles" and chiding them from time to time in public. To his relatives and namesakes who now lived in Jerusalem where they had established their own branch of the anti-ZionistAnti-Zionism
Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionistic views or opposition to the state of Israel. The term is used to describe various religious, moral and political points of view in opposition to these, but their diversity of motivation and expression is sufficiently different that "anti-Zionism" cannot be...
Brisk Yeshiva, he was respected for his genius in Talmudic scholarship which few could challenge or disparage. However, Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik
Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik
Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik , also known as Velvel Soloveitchik or as the Brisker Rov Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik (Hebrew: יצחק זאב הלוי סולובייצ'יק), also known as Velvel Soloveitchik ("Zev" means "wolf" in Hebrew, and "Velvel" is the diminutive of "wolf" in Yiddish) or as the Brisker...
(the "Brisker Rov") and his followers still viewed him as their wayward cousin who had departed family Haredi
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
tradition.
At the same time, recent research published by Shlomo Pick indicates that his father, Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik maintained a close relationship with Religious Zionist (Mizrahi) circles in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, prior to the father's departure for Yeshiva University
Yeshiva 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 the son's departure for the University of Berlin in 1923.
Impact on Modern Orthodoxy
Leading left-wing Modern Orthodox figures deemed that Soloveitchik was a prototype for an ideal type of Jew, but were against what they define as "The Soloveitchik Line," and wished to establish more dynamism in Orthodoxy. These included Rabbis David HartmanDavid Hartman (rabbi)
David Hartman is an American and Israeli rabbi and philosopher of contemporary Judaism, founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Israel, and a Jewish author.- Early life :...
, Irving Greenberg
Irving Greenberg
Irving Greenberg, also known as Yitz Greenberg, is a Modern Orthodox rabbi, Jewish-American scholar and author. He is known as a strong supporter of Israel and a promoter of greater understanding between Judaism and Christianity....
, and Michael Wyschogrod
Michael Wyschogrod
Michael Wyschogrod is a Jewish German-American philosopher of religion, Jewish theologian, and activist for Jewish-Christian relations...
. Leading right-wing figures at Modern Orthodox institutions wished to keep Modern Orthodoxy within the boundaries which were established by Soloveitchik. This included much of Yeshiva University
Yeshiva 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...
's leadership, such as Rabbi Hershel Reichman
Hershel Reichman
Hershel Reichman is an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University.- Education :...
, Rabbi Mayer Twersky
Mayer Twersky
Mayer E. Twersky is an Orthodox rabbi and one of the roshei yeshiva at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University. He holds the Leib Merkin Distinguished Professorial Chair in Talmud and Jewish Philosophy...
, and Rabbi Hershel Schachter
Hershel Schachter
Hershel Schachter is a rabbi and rosh yeshiva at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary , Yeshiva University, in New York City, and the son of the late Rabbi Melech Schachter, who was also a rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University...
.
Relations with Agudath Israel
After Soloveitchik left Agudath Israel, the organization's leadership was mostly quiet when it came to public statements involving Soloveitchik. Rabbi Moshe FeinsteinMoshe Feinstein
Moshe Feinstein was a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi, scholar and posek , who was world-renowned for his expertise in Halakha and was regarded by many as the de facto supreme halakhic authority for Orthodox Jewry of North America during his lifetime...
, who was Soloveitchik's cousin, maintained very warm and profoundly respectful relations with him. They corresponded and spoke (at least) on the eve of every Jewish holiday. Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner
Yitzchok Hutner
Yitzchok Hutner was an Orthodox rabbi and American rosh yeshiva.-Early years:Yitchok Hutner was born in Warsaw, Poland, to a family with both Ger Hasidic and non-Hasidic Lithuanian Jewish roots. As a child he received private instruction in Torah and Talmud...
referred to him as a "gadol
Gadol
Gadol or godol גדול , is a Hebrew term used mostly by Haredi Litvish Jews to refer to the most revered rabbis of their generation. These rabbis are usually held in high esteem by other Haredi or Orthodox Jews, though not necessarily to the same degree as by Litvish Jews...
hador" (foremost Torah scholar of the time). Rabbi Aaron Kotler, whose public policy in relation to American Jewry was far more right-wing than Soloveitchik's, was introduced by Soloveitchik at a Chinuch Atzmai dinner and this later became famous as an instance of unity among the Orthodox leadership. Agudath Israel's mouthpiece, the "Jewish Observer" also mentioned Soloveitchik as one of the greatest rabbis of the generation when detailing a cable which was sent by various gedolim to former Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol
Levi Eshkol
' served as the third Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969. He was the first Israeli Prime Minister to die in office.-Biography:...
requesting the government to put a stop to Christian missionary activity in Israel. In May 1993, Rabbi Nisson Wolpin penned an obituary for Soloveitchik in the "Jewish Observer." The article was criticized for being titled "Zecher L'bracha" ("May his memory be a blessing") as opposed to the usual "Zecher Tzaddik L'bracha" (May his righteous memory be a blessing), for being a mere page long as instead of the Jewish Observer's usually comparatively long obituaries, for the obituary not being mentioned in the table of contents, and portraying Soloveitchik as not clarifying his views enough. Rabbi Moshe David Tendler
Moshe David Tendler
Moshe David Tendler is the rabbi of The Community Synagogue of Monsey. He is a senior Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University's RIETS and the Rabbi Isaac and Bella Tendler Professor of Jewish Medical Ethics and Professor of Biology at Yeshiva College. He has a Ph.D...
wrote a scathing attack on Wolpin's piece, which was published both in The Community Synagogue of Monsey's newsletter and the Algemeiner Journal
Algemeiner Journal
The Algemeiner Journal is a New York-based Jewish, Yiddish and English weekly newspaper.- History :The Algemeiner Journal was founded in 1972 by Gershon Jacobson . The Algemeiner is currently owned and operated by the Gershon Jacobson Jewish Continuity Foundation...
.
Soloveitchik did not sign Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's proposed ban on interfaith dialogue. Instead he published a pathbreaking essay expounding his views on the subject, entitled "Confrontation." He also did not sign the ban by America's foremost rabbis against participating in the Synagogue Council of America. It has been debated whether his refusal to sign was because he believed in participating in the SCA or because he was not happy with the way the ban was instituted.
Despite the Agudah's comparative silence on Soloveitchik and his stances, the Jewish Observer has often criticized the Rabbinical Council of America
Rabbinical Council of America
The Rabbinical Council of America is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU...
in which he served and his more modern students, including Rabbi Norman Lamm
Norman Lamm
Norman Lamm is a major American Modern Orthodox rabbi, scholar, author and Jewish communal leader. He is presently the Chancellor of Yeshiva University....
, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Shlomo Riskin
Shlomo Riskin is the founding rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue on the Upper West Side of New York City, which he led for 12 years; founding chief rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the West Bank; dean of Manhattan Day School in New York City; and founder and dean of the Ohr Torah Stone...
and Rabbi Lawrence Kaplan.
Debate over world view
- See also Modern Orthodox Judaism: Ideological spectrum
Many of Soloveitchik's students became leaders in the Modern Orthodox community. These students tend to espouse very distinct world views.
One of the most iconoclastic yet revered is include Rabbi Prof. David Hartman
David Hartman (rabbi)
David Hartman is an American and Israeli rabbi and philosopher of contemporary Judaism, founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Israel, and a Jewish author.- Early life :...
of Jerusalem, whose support for pluralism
Religious pluralism
Religious pluralism is a loosely defined expression concerning acceptance of various religions, and is used in a number of related ways:* As the name of the worldview according to which one's religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus that at least some truths and true values...
has gained him serious backing in non-Orthodox streams and who has brought Soloveitchik's thinking to non-Orthodox. The institution he founded, the Shalom Hartman Institute
Shalom Hartman Institute
Shalom Hartman Institute is a Jewish research and education institute based in Jerusalem, Israel, that offers pluralistic Jewish thought and education to scholars, rabbis, educators, and Jewish community leaders in Israel and North America...
, is a home for serious thinkers from Orthodoxy, Conservative/Masorti, Reform and even secular scholars, and trains hundreds of Jewish community leaders annually. Rabbis Avi Weiss
Avi Weiss
Avraham Weiss is an American Modern Orthodox rabbi who heads the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in The Bronx, New York. He is an author, teacher, lecturer, and activist...
and Saul Berman
Saul Berman
Saul J. Berman is a prominent American scholar and leading Modern Orthodox rabbi.As a rabbi, scholar, and educator he has made extensive contributions to the intensification of Jewish education for Jewish women on many levels, to the role of social ethics in synagogue life, and to the...
, who represent liberal Modern Orthodox institutions such as Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School is a "Modern Open Orthodox" yeshiva founded in 1999 by Rabbi Avi Weiss.Currently located in Riverdale, New York, it seeks to "recruit, professionally train, and place rabbis" who will promote its founder's philosophy...
and Edah
Edah
Edah was a Modern Orthodox Jewish organization, generally associated with the liberal wing of Orthodox Judaism in the United States and with the Religious Zionism movement of Israel. Its headquarters are located in Manhattan, New York City....
, are somewhat further to the right of Greenberg and Hartman, but still very liberal in comparison to most Orthodox thinkers (Rabbi Weiss has classified this approach as "Open Orthodoxy").
Many students of Soloveitchik represent a centrist approach to Modern Orthodoxy (which Lamm has coined "Centrist Orthodoxy") such as Rabbis Aharon Lichtenstein
Aharon Lichtenstein
Aharon Lichtenstein is a noted Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva.Rabbi Lichtenstein was born in Paris, France, but grew up in the United States, studied in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin under Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner...
, Shlomo Riskin
Shlomo Riskin
Shlomo Riskin is the founding rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue on the Upper West Side of New York City, which he led for 12 years; founding chief rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the West Bank; dean of Manhattan Day School in New York City; and founder and dean of the Ohr Torah Stone...
, Lawrence Kaplan, and Lamm. This is the mainstream approach to Soloveitchik's thought; the Torah UMadda Journal, Tradition magazine, the Rabbinical Council of America
Rabbinical Council of America
The Rabbinical Council of America is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU...
, Efrat
Efrat
Efrat , or officially Efrata , is an Israeli settlement established in 1983 and a local council in the Judean Mountains of the West Bank. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this...
, Teaneck, Yeshiva University
Yeshiva 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...
, Bnei Akiva
Bnei Akiva
Bnei Akiva is the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world, with over 125,000 members in 37 countries. It was established in Mandate Palestine in 1929.-History:...
, the Orthodox Union
Orthodox Union
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America , more popularly known as the Orthodox Union , is one of the oldest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. It is best known for its kosher food preparation supervision service...
, and various post-high school yeshivot and seminaries in Israel (i.e. Yeshivat Har Etzion
Yeshivat Har Etzion
Yeshivat Har Etzion, ', commonly known as "Gush," is a hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, a community in Gush Etzion in the West Bank, near Jerusalem, Israel. With a student body of 484, it is one of the largest hesder yeshivas in Israel...
) are largely, if not mostly (but almost never monolithically) populated by "Centrist Orthodox" Jews.
Further to the right in the spectrum of Orthodoxy lie Rabbis Yehuda Parnes and Abba Bronspiegel, both of whom resigned from teaching positions in Yeshiva University to join right-wing alternative Lander College
Lander College
The Lander College for Men is a private, men's honors division of Touro College located in Kew Gardens Hills, New York. Its stated goal is to provide a rigorous college curriculum while maintaining a traditional Yeshiva environment...
. Some of Soloveitchik's students even identify themselves and Soloveitchik's teachings with the Haredi
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
world, such as Rabbi Moshe Meiselman
Moshe Meiselman
Rabbi Moshe Meiselman is the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Toras Moshe, a small American yeshiva in Jerusalem, a former principal of Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles, and the author of Jewish Women in Jewish Law. A student of Dr...
, Soloveitchik's nephew and 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...
of Yeshiva Toras Moshe
Yeshiva Toras Moshe
Yeshiva Toras Moshe is an English-speaking Litvish Haredi yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel. Founded in 1982, it was one of the first yeshivas established in Israel to cater to post-high school students from English-speaking countries...
in Jerusalem; Rabbi Mosheh Twersky, The Rav's grandson and a teacher at Toras Moshe; Rabbi Michel Shurkin, also a teacher at Toras Moshe; and Rabbi Chaim Ilson, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Derech Hatalmud in Jerusalem.
Top Students
Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-RothkoffAaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff
Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff is Professor of Rabbinic Literature at Yeshiva University's Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Institute in Jerusalem. He is a noted scholar, author and teacher who has taught thousands of students throughout his over 50 years of teaching. He spent four years studying under...
believes that Rabbis Chaim Ilson, Hershel Schachter
Hershel Schachter
Hershel Schachter is a rabbi and rosh yeshiva at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary , Yeshiva University, in New York City, and the son of the late Rabbi Melech Schachter, who was also a rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University...
, Aharon Lichtenstein
Aharon Lichtenstein
Aharon Lichtenstein is a noted Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva.Rabbi Lichtenstein was born in Paris, France, but grew up in the United States, studied in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin under Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner...
, Aharon Kahn, and Zvi Kanotopsky were each Soloveitchik's top student in their decade. Additionally, Rabbi Yosef Granofsky—Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Ohr David—has noted that many considered Rabbi Hershel Reichman
Hershel Reichman
Hershel Reichman is an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University.- Education :...
to be the top rabbinical student while the former attended YU. While Lichtenstein leans more towards centrist Orthodoxy, most of the rest tend to be right-leaning forces at Modern Orthodox institutions or completely Haredi. Rabbi Simcha Krauss
Simcha Krauss
Rabbi Simcha Krauss, a major figure in Centrist Orthodoxy, is known for his role in the Religious Zionists of America, but since making aliyah in 2005, he has been involved with Yeshivat Eretz HaTzvi, in the Katamon neighbourhood of Jerusalem...
has the distinction of having learned in Soloveitchik's class, despite being a student in Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner
Yitzchok Hutner
Yitzchok Hutner was an Orthodox rabbi and American rosh yeshiva.-Early years:Yitchok Hutner was born in Warsaw, Poland, to a family with both Ger Hasidic and non-Hasidic Lithuanian Jewish roots. As a child he received private instruction in Torah and Talmud...
's Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin or Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, is a Haredi Lithuanian-type yeshiva located in Brooklyn, New York. Established in 1904 as Yeshiva Tiferes Bachurim, it is the oldest yeshiva in Kings County...
.
Integration with secular society
Since his death, interpretations of Soloveitchik's beliefs have become a matter of ongoing debate, somewhat analogous to the long-standing debate about Samson Raphael HirschSamson Raphael Hirsch
Samson Raphael Hirsch was a German rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism...
. Some Haredim
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
and some on the right wing of Modern Orthodoxy believe that Hirsch only wanted Jews to combine an observant Jewish lifestyle with learning the surrounding gentile society's language, history, and science, so that a religious Jew could earn a living in the surrounding secular society. It should be noted, however, that this is not by any means a universally held opinion among right-wing Orthodox Jews (see, for example, the writings of Rabbi Shimon Schwab
Shimon Schwab
Shimon Schwab was an Orthodox rabbi and communal leader in Germany and the United States. Educated in Frankfurt am Main and in the yeshivot of Lithuania, he was rabbi in Ichenhausen, Bavaria, after immigration to the United States in Baltimore, and from 1958 until his death at Khal Adath Jeshurun...
and the biography of Rabbi Hirsch by Rabbi Victor Klugman). There exists a fringe position among scholars of Soloveitchik's philosophy that states that a similar pragmatic approach was adopted by Soloveitchik as well. On this view, Soloveitchik did not approve of Jews learning secular philosophy, music, art, literature or ethics, unless it was for either the purpose of obtaining a livelihood or outreach.
In contrast, most scholars believe that this understanding of Soloveitchik's philosophy is misguided. This issue has been discussed in many articles in Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Thought, published by the Rabbinical Council of America
Rabbinical Council of America
The Rabbinical Council of America is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU...
. In this view, both Hirsch and Soloveitchik believed that it was permissible for Jews to learn secular philosophy, music, art, literature and ethics for their own sake and even encouraged this.
Professor Yitzchak Twersky pointed out in a eulogy published in the journal Tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
in 1996 that Soloveitchik's philosophy could be paraphrased as follows: "When you know your [Jewish] Way—your point of departure and goals—then use philosophy, science and the humanities to illumine your exposition, sharpen your categories, probe the profundities and subtleties of the masorah and reveal its charm and majesty; in so doing you should be able to command respect from the alienated and communicate with some who might otherwise be hostile or indifferent to your teaching as well as to increase the sensitivity and spirituality of the committed." Rabbi Moshe Meiselman
Moshe Meiselman
Rabbi Moshe Meiselman is the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Toras Moshe, a small American yeshiva in Jerusalem, a former principal of Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles, and the author of Jewish Women in Jewish Law. A student of Dr...
, on the other hand, believes that Soloveitchik's sole purpose of allowing secular study was for purposes of outreach.
Own criticism of his students
Soloveitchik stated that although he felt that he successfully transmitted the facts and laws of Judaism to his students, he felt that he failed in transmitting the experience of living an authentic Jewish life. He stated that many of his students "act like children and experience religion like children. This is why they accept all types of fanaticism and superstition. Sometimes they are even ready to do things that border on the immoral. They lack the experiential component of religion, and simply substitute obscurantism for it....After all, I come from the ghetto. Yet I have never seen so much naïve and uncritical commitment to people and to ideas as I see in America....All extremism, fanaticism and obscurantism come from a lack of security. A person who is secure cannot be an extremist." (A Reader's Companion to Ish Ha-Halakhah: Introductory Section, David Shatz, Yeshiva University, Joseph B. Soloveitchik Institute).Revisionism
Shortly after Soloveitchik's passing, Lamm, in a eulogy for Soloveitchik delivered on April 25, 1993, urged his auditors to "guard...against any revisionism, any attempts to misinterpret the Rav's work in both worlds [the world of Torah and the world of Madda(Science)]. The Rav was not a lamdan who happened to have and use a smattering of general culture, and he was certainly not a philosopher who happened to be a talmid hakham, a Torah scholar.... We must accept him on his terms, as a highly complicated, profound, and broad-minded personality.... Certain burgeoning revisionisms may well attempt to disguise and distort the Rav's uniqueness by trivializing one or the other aspect of his rich personality and work, but they must be confronted at once." (Lawrence Kaplan Revisionism and the Rav: The Struggle for the Soul of Modern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Summer, 1999).Relations with non-Orthodox Judaism
Soloveitchik did not approve of Reform JudaismReform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
and Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
. He believed that where these denominations differed from Orthodox Judaism, the non-Orthodox groups were in significant error. He compared religious dialogue with Reform and Conservative leaders to dialogue between Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
and Karaites, considering it ridiculous. One of the major differences was in regard to the use of a mechitza
Mechitza
A mechitza in Jewish Halakha is a partition, particularly one that is used to separate men and women....
in the synagogue, a divider between the men's and women's sections. Consistent with the traditional rabbinic understanding of this issue, Soloveitchik ruled that it was forbidden to pray in a synagogue without a separation between the sexes. The effect of this was to prohibit prayer in any Reform synagogue and in many Conservative synagogues. His responsum
Responsa
Responsa comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them.-In the Roman Empire:Roman law recognised responsa prudentium, i.e...
on this question was also directed at the small number of Orthodox synagogues that were adopting mixed-sex seating. He was vociferous on this issue.
Soloveitchik believed that Reform and Conservative rabbis did not have proper training in halakha and Jewish theology, and that due to their decisions and actions they could not be considered rabbis as Orthodox Jews traditionally understood the term. He was a lifelong critic of all forms of non-Orthodox Judaism. On the other hand, in practice he often granted non-Orthodox rabbis some level of validity (see examples below).
Soloveitchik developed the idea that Jews have historically been linked together by two distinct covenants. One is the brit yi'ud, "covenant of destiny", which is the covenant by which Jews are bound together through their adherence to halakha. The second is the brit goral, "covenant of fate", the desire and willingness to be part of a people chosen by God to live a sacred mission in the world, and the fact that all those who live in this covenant share the same fate of persecution and oppression, even if they do not live by halakha. Soloveitchik held that non-Orthodox Jews were in violation of the covenant of destiny, yet they are still bound together with Orthodox Jews in the covenant of fate.
In 1954 Soloveitchik issued a responsum on working with non-Orthodox Jews, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews in the United States: Second article in a series on Responsa of Orthodox Judaism in the United States. The responsum recognized the leadership of non-Orthodox Jews in Jewish communal institutions (but not their rabbis in the Orthodox sense of the term), and concluded that participation with non-Orthodox Jews for political or welfare purposes is not only permissible, but obligatory.
The Haredi Council of Torah Sages of Agudath Yisroel countered with a ruling that such cooperation with non-Orthodox Jews was equivalent to endorsement of non-Orthodox Judaism, and thus was forbidden. In 1956 many Yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
leaders, including two rabbis from his own Yeshiva University
Yeshiva 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...
, signed and issued a proclamation forbidding any rabbinical alumni of their yeshivot from joining with Reform or Conservative rabbis in professional organizations.
Soloveitchik declined to sign the proclamation, maintaining that there were areas, particularly those relating to problems that threatened all of Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, that required co-operation regardless of affiliation. His refusal emboldened other Modern Orthodox rabbis, and the Rabbinical Council of America
Rabbinical Council of America
The Rabbinical Council of America is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU...
and Union of Orthodox Congregations then joined the Synagogue Council of America
Synagogue Council of America
The Synagogue Council of America was an organization of American Jewish synagogue associations, founded in 1926, including :*The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America *The Rabbinical Council of America...
, a group in which Orthodox, Reform and Conservative denominations worked together on common issues. (The Synagogue Council of America ceased operating in 1994.)
In the 1950s Soloveitchik and other members of the Rabbinical Council of America
Rabbinical Council of America
The Rabbinical Council of America is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU...
engaged in a series of private negotiations with the leaders of Conservative Judaism's Rabbinical Assembly
Rabbinical Assembly
The Rabbinical Assembly is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, and oversees the work of the Committee on Jewish Law and...
, especially with Rabbi Saul Lieberman
Saul Lieberman
Saul Lieberman , also known as Rabbi Shaul Lieberman or The Gra"sh , was a rabbi and a scholar of Talmud...
; their objective was to found a joint Orthodox-Conservative beth din
Beth din
A beth din, bet din, beit din or beis din is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel...
that would be a national rabbinic court for all Jews in America; it would supervise communal standards of marriage and divorce. It was to be modeled after the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, with only Orthodox judges, but with the expectation that it would be accepted by the larger Conservative movement as legitimate. Conservative rabbis in the Rabbinical Assembly
Rabbinical Assembly
The Rabbinical Assembly is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, and oversees the work of the Committee on Jewish Law and...
formed a Joint Conference on Jewish Law and devoted a year to the effort.
For a number of reasons, the project did not succeed. According to Orthodox Rabbi Bernstein, the major reason for its failure was that the Orthodox rabbis insisted that the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly expel Conservative rabbis for actions they took before the new Beit Din was formed, and the RA refused to do so (Bernstein, 1977). According to Orthodox Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, former president of the RCA, the major reason for its failure was pressure from right-wing Orthodox rabbis, who held that any cooperation between Orthodoxy and Conservatism was forbidden. In an account prepared in 1956, Rabbi Harry Halpern
Harry Halpern
Harry Halpern was an American religious and community leader, a powerful orator, a respected religious educator, and a prominent Conservative rabbi who served for almost 49 years as the rabbi of the East Midwood Jewish Center , in Brooklyn, New York.-Life and works:Halpern was born on the Lower...
of the Rabbinical Assembly's Joint Conference wrote that negotiations between the Orthodox and Conservative were completed and agreed upon, but then a new requirement was demanded by the RCA: that the RA "impose severe sanctions" upon Conservative rabbis for actions they took before the new beth din was formed. The RA "could not assent to rigorously disciplining our members at the behest of an outside group." Per Halpern, subsequent efforts were made to cooperate with the Orthodox, but a letter from eleven 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...
s was circulated declaring that Orthodox rabbis were forbidden to cooperate with Conservative rabbis (Proceedings of the CJLS of the Conservative Movement 1927–1970 Vol. II, pp. 850–852).
Until the 1950s, Jews of all denominations were generally allowed to use the same communal mikvaot
Mikvah
Mikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism...
(ritual baths) for the purposes of converting to Judaism, observing the rules of niddah
Niddah
Niddah is a Hebrew term describing a woman during menstruation, or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh ....
in regard to laws of marital purity, ritually cleansing dishes, etc. However the Orthodox movement increasingly denied the use of mikvaot to non-Orthodox rabbis for use in conversions. According to Rabbi Walter Wurzburger
Walter Wurzburger
Rabbi Walter S. Wurzburger, a leader of Modern Orthodox Judaism and student of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, was born in Munich in March 1920 and emigrated to America in 1938....
, Rav Soloveitchik counselled Orthodox rabbis against this practice, insisting that non-Orthodox have the option to use mikvaot (Wurzburger, 1994).
Zionism
Soloveitchik was accepted as the pre-eminent leader of politically conscious pro-Zionist modern Orthodox Judaism; out of respect for this, many leaders and politicians from IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
sought his advice and blessings in state affairs. He was reputedly offered the position of Chief Rabbi of Israel, such as by Prime Minister Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
, but he quietly and consistently refused this offer. Despite his open and ardent support for the modern State of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, he only visited Israel—then called Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
– once, in 1935, before the state was established. Rabbi Yosef Blau
Yosef Blau
Yosef Blau is an Orthodox rabbi. He currently serves as the Mashgiach ruchani at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He is also the president of the Religious Zionists of America.-Education:...
has pointed out that Soloveitchik's non-messianic Zionism was philosophically similar to that of Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines
Yitzchak Yaacov Reines
Yitzchak Yaacov Reines יצחק יעקב ריינס , was a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi and the founder of the Mizrachi Religious Zionist Movement.-Life:...
(see Tradition 33.2, Communications). Rabbi Moshe Meiselman
Moshe Meiselman
Rabbi Moshe Meiselman is the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Toras Moshe, a small American yeshiva in Jerusalem, a former principal of Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles, and the author of Jewish Women in Jewish Law. A student of Dr...
believes that Soloveitchik joined Mizrachi
Mizrachi (Religious Zionism)
The Mizrachi is the name of the religious Zionist organization founded in 1902 in Vilnius at a world conference of religious Zionists called by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines. Bnei Akiva, which was founded in 1929, is the youth movement associated with Mizrachi...
as part of a plan to help Zionistic Jews become more observant. As against that "pragmatic" interpretation, it should be pointed out that, in an essay entitled Kol Dodi Dofek (the voice of my beloved knocking), Soloveitchik argued that the Zionist project was a precursor of redemption.
Affiliated organizations
In his early career in America Soloveitchik joined with the traditional movements such as Agudath Israel of AmericaAgudath Israel of America
Agudath Israel of America , is a Haredi Jewish communal organization in the United States loosely affiliated with the international World Agudath Israel.-Functions:...
and the Agudat Harabanim – the Union of Orthodox Rabbis
Union of Orthodox Rabbis
The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada also known as the Agudath Harabonim , and sometimes as the UOR, was established in 1901 in the United States and is among the oldest organizations of Orthodox rabbis which could be described as having a Haredi worldview...
of North America. In fact, Soloveitchik was on the first Moetzes Chachmei HaTorah of America. However, he later removed himself from the former organizations, and instead joined with the Mizrachi Religious Zionists
Religious Zionism
Religious Zionism is an ideology that combines Zionism and Jewish religious faith...
of America (RZA) and became Chairman of the centrist Orthodox
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...
Rabbinical Council of America
Rabbinical Council of America
The Rabbinical Council of America is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU...
's (RCA) Halakhah Commission (the other two members are the time were Rabbis Hayyim Heller and Samuel Belkin
Samuel Belkin
Rabbi Samuel Belkin is best known as the second University President of Yeshiva University. A distinguished Torah scholar, he is credited with leading Yeshiva University through a period of substantial expansion .-Biography:...
).
Family and last years
During the 1950s and 1960s, until his wife's death, Soloveitchik and some of his students would spend summers near Cape CodCape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
in Onset, Massachusetts
Onset, Massachusetts
Onset is a census-designated place in the town of Wareham in Massachusetts. The population was 1,292 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Onset is located at ....
, where they would pray at Congregation Beth Israel
Congregation Beth Israel (Onset, Massachusetts)
Congregation Beth Israel is an Orthodox congregation located at 7 Locust Street in Onset, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. It is famous as the summer synagogue of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and some of his students from the 1950s until the mid-1960s, when his wife died...
.
Soloveitchik's daughters married prominent academics and Talmudic scholars: his daughter Tovah married Rabbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein
Aharon Lichtenstein
Aharon Lichtenstein is a noted Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva.Rabbi Lichtenstein was born in Paris, France, but grew up in the United States, studied in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin under Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner...
, 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...
of Yeshivat Har Etzion
Yeshivat Har Etzion
Yeshivat Har Etzion, ', commonly known as "Gush," is a hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, a community in Gush Etzion in the West Bank, near Jerusalem, Israel. With a student body of 484, it is one of the largest hesder yeshivas in Israel...
in Israel (with a PhD from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
); his daughter Atarah married the late Rabbi Dr. Isadore Twersky
Isadore Twersky
Isadore Twersky was an Orthodox rabbi and the Nathan Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at Harvard University, a chair previously held by Harry Austryn Wolfson. Twersky was an internationally recognized authority on Rabbinic literature and Jewish philosophy...
, former head of the Jewish Studies department at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(who also served as the Talner Rebbe
Rebbe
Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
). His son Rabbi Dr. Haym Soloveitchik
Haym Soloveitchik
Rabbi Dr. Haym Soloveitchik 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...
is a University Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University
Yeshiva 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...
. His siblings included Dr. Samuel Soloveitchik (1909–1967), Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik
Ahron Soloveichik
Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik; was a renowned scholar of Talmud, Halakha and a Rosh Yeshiva; known especially within circles of Orthodox Judaism.-Biography:...
(1917–2001), Mrs. Shulamith Meiselman (1912-2009), and Mrs. Anne Gerber (b. 1915). His grandchildren have maintained his heritage and also hold distinguished scholarly positions.
As he got older he suffered several bouts of serious illness (Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
preceded by Parkinsons Disease). Family members cared for his every need. He died on Hol HaMoed Pesach (18 Nisan, in 1993, at the age of ninety. He was interred next to his beloved wife, Tonya Lewit Soloveitchik, in Beth El Cemetery in the Baker Street Jewish Cemeteries
Baker Street Jewish Cemeteries
The Baker Street Jewish Cemeteries are a group of 42 Jewish cemeteries in use since the 1920s on Baker Street in the West Roxbury section of Boston...
, West Roxbury, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
.
Legacy
Soloveitchik unfailingly captured the adoration of his students. Known by all as "The Rav", he became arguably the greatest leader of Modern Orthodoxy in the twentieth century, often espousing innovative positions on educational, political, and social issues within the Orthodox world. His ordination of over 2,000 Orthodox rabbis at Yeshiva University, during forty years at its helm, attests to his power and efficacy as well as his consistency and determination.Current News
A documentary has been made about Soloveitchik by Ethan Isenberg called "Lonely Man of Faith" (www.lonelymanoffaith.com), and it is being screened across the U.S.Works by Joseph Soloveitchik
- Three letters by Soloveitchik on seating in the synagogue are contained with The Sanctity of the Synagogue, Ed. Baruch Litvin. The Spero Foundation, NY, 1959. An expanded third edition of this book is Edited by Jeanne Litvin. Ktav, Hoboken, NJ, 1987.
- Confrontation, Tradition 6:2 p5-9, 1964. Reprinted in "A Treasury of Tradition", Hebrew Publishing Co, NY, 1967.
- The Lonely Man of FaithThe Lonely Man of FaithThe Lonely Man of Faith is a philosophical essay written by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.In The Lonely Man of Faith Soloveitchik reads the first two chapters of Genesis as offering two images of Adam which are, in many ways, at odds with one another...
, Tradition, vol. 7#2, p56, 1965. This essay was published as a book by Doubleday in 1992 ISBN 978-0385-51408-8 and reprinted by Jason AronsonJason AronsonJason Aronson is an American publisher of books in the field of psychotherapy. Topics dealt with in these books include child therapy, family therapy, couple therapy, object relations therapy, play therapy, depression, eating disorders, personality disorders, substance abuse, sexual abuse, stress,...
in 1997. - Sacred and Profane, Kodesh and Chol in World Perspective, Gesher, Vol. 3#1, p5-29, 1966. This article has been reprinted with expdanded notes in Jewish Thought, Volume 3 #1, p55-82, 1993
- Shiurei Harav—A Conspectus of the Public Lectures of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Ed. Joseph Epstein. Hamevaser, Yeshiva University, 1974.
- The Community, p7-24 ;Majesty and Humility, p25-37; Catharsis, p38-54; Redemption, Prayer and Talmud Torah, p55-73; A Tribute to the Rebbetzin of Talne, p73-83 are all printed in Tradition 17:2, Spring, 1978.
- Several of Soloveitchik's responsa for the RCA Halakha commission are contained in Challenge and mission: the emergence of the English speaking Orthodox rabbinate, L. Bernstein, Shengold, NY, 1982.
- Halakhic Man Translated by L. Kaplan, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia PA,1983
- Fate and Destiny: From Holocaust to the State of Israel Ktav Publishing, Hoboken NJ 1992 and 2000.
- The Voice of My Beloved Knocketh translation by Lawrence Kaplan in Theological and Halakhic Responses on the Holocaust, Eds. Bernhard H. Rosenberg and Fred Heuman. Ktav/RCA, Hoboken, NJ, 1993
- Family Redeemed: Essays on Family Relationships, Edited by David Shatz and Joel B. Wolowelsky. Ktav, Hoboken, NJ, 2004.
- Out of the Whirlwind: Essays on Mourning, Suffering and the Human Condition, Edited by David Shatz, Joel B. Wolowelsky and Reuven Ziegler. Ktav, Hoboken, NJ, 2004.
- Worship of the Heart: Essays on Jewish Prayer, Edited by Shalom CarmyShalom CarmyShalom Carmy is an Orthodox rabbi teaching Jewish Studies and philosophy at Yeshiva University, where he is currently Chair of Bible and Jewish Philosophy at Yeshiva College. He is an affiliated scholar at Cardozo Law School of Yeshiva University...
, Ktav, Hoboken, NJ, 2004. - Emergence of Ethical Man, Edited by Michael Berger, Ktav, Hoboken, NJ, 2005.
- Community, Covenant and Commitment – Selected Letters and Communications, Edited by Nathaniel Helfgot, Ktav, Hoboken, NJ 2005.
- Festival of Freedom: Essays on Pesah and the Haggadah, Edited by Joel B. Wolowelsky and Reuven Ziegler. Ktav, Hoboken, NJ 2006.
- Kol Dodi Dofek, Translated by David Z. Gordon. Edited by Jeffrey Woolf, New York: Yeshiva University and Hoboken, NJ: Ktav 2006.
- The Lord is Righteous in All His Ways: Reflections on the Tish'ah Be'Av Kinot, Edited by Jacob J. SchachterJacob J. SchachterJacob J. Schacter is an American Orthodox rabbi.Schacter is University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University....
, Ktav, Hoboken, NJ 2006. - Days of Deliverance: Essays on Purim and Hanukkah, Edited by Eli D. Clark, Joel B. Wolowelsky, and Reuven Ziegler. Ktav, Hoboken, NJ 2006.
- Abraham's Journey: Reflections on the Life of the Founding Patriarch, Edited by David Shatz, Joel B. Wolowelsky and Reuven Ziegler. Ktav, Hoboken, NJ 2007.
- And From There You Shall Seek (U-Vikkashtem mi-Sham), Translated by Naomi Goldblum. Ktav, Hoboken, NJ 2008.
- The Koren Mesorat HaRav Kinot, Koren Publishers Jerusalem & the Orthodox Union, 2010.
- The Koren Mesorat HaRav Siddur, Koren Publishers Jerusalem & the Orthodox Union, forthcoming 2011.
Legacy of his hashkafa (worldview)
- Rabbi Norman LammNorman LammNorman Lamm is a major American Modern Orthodox rabbi, scholar, author and Jewish communal leader. He is presently the Chancellor of Yeshiva University....
, A Eulogy for the Rav, Tradition 28.1 1993 - Rabbi Walter S. Wurzburger, Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik as Posek of Post-Modern Orthodoxy, Tradition Volume 29, 1994
- Joseph Soloveitchik, article in the Encyclopaedia Judaica, Keter Publishing
- Seth FarberSeth FarberSeth Farber is a Modern Orthodox rabbi and historian in Israel, best known for his work helping Jews navigate the Israeli religious bureaucracy.Farber grew up in Riverdale, Bronx, New York, and is a graduate of New York University...
, Reproach, Recognition and Respect: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Orthodoxy's Mid-Century Attitude Toward Non-Orthodox Denominations American Jewish History, Vol. 89,#2 193–214, 2001. - Zvi Kolitz Confrontation: The Existential Thought of Rabbi J.B. SoloveitchikKtav, Hoboken, NJ, 1992
- Simcha KraussSimcha KraussRabbi Simcha Krauss, a major figure in Centrist Orthodoxy, is known for his role in the Religious Zionists of America, but since making aliyah in 2005, he has been involved with Yeshivat Eretz HaTzvi, in the Katamon neighbourhood of Jerusalem...
, The Rav on Zionism, Universalism and Feminism Tradition 34:2, 24–39, 2000 - Alan Todd Levenson, "Joseph B. Soloveitchik's 'The Halakhic Mind'; a liberal critique and appreciation", CCAR Journal 41,1 55–63, 1994
- Aharon Ziegler, Halakhic Positions of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Jason AronsonJason AronsonJason Aronson is an American publisher of books in the field of psychotherapy. Topics dealt with in these books include child therapy, family therapy, couple therapy, object relations therapy, play therapy, depression, eating disorders, personality disorders, substance abuse, sexual abuse, stress,...
Inc., 1998. - Aharon Ziegler Halakhic Positions of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Vol II Jason AronsonJason AronsonJason Aronson is an American publisher of books in the field of psychotherapy. Topics dealt with in these books include child therapy, family therapy, couple therapy, object relations therapy, play therapy, depression, eating disorders, personality disorders, substance abuse, sexual abuse, stress,...
Inc., 2001 - Aviezer Ravitsky, Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik on Human Knowledge: Between Maimonidean and Neo-Kantian Philosophy, Modern Judaism 6:2 157–188, 1986.
- David HartmanDavid Hartman (rabbi)David Hartman is an American and Israeli rabbi and philosopher of contemporary Judaism, founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Israel, and a Jewish author.- Early life :...
, Love and Terror in the God Encounter: The Theological Legacy of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Jewish Lights Publishing, 2001 - Jeffrey R. Woolf, 'In Search of the Rav,' BaDaD, 18(2007) 5–28.
Cooperation with non-Orthodox Jews
- Rabbi Norman Lamm, Seventy Faces, Moment Vol. II, No. 6 June 1986-Sivan 5746
- Rabbi Mayer E. Rabinowitz Comments to the Agunot Conference in Jerusalem, July 1998, and on the Learn@JTS website.
- Rabbi Louis Bernstein The Emergence of the English Speaking Orthodox Rabbinate, 1977, Yeshiva University
- Rabbi Emmanuel Rackman, letter in The Jewish WeekThe Jewish WeekThe Jewish Week is an independent weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. The Jewish Week covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC and has world-wide distribution.-Editorial staff:...
May 8, 1997, page 28. - Joseph Soloveitchik Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews in the United States: Second article in a series on Responsa of Orthodox Judaism in the United States, 1954
- Jack Wertheimer, Ed., Tradition Renewed: A History of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Vol. II, p. 450, 474, JTS, NY, 1997
- Proceedings of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement 1927–1970, Vol. II, Ed. David Golinkin, The Rabbinical Assembly, 1997
See also
- Jewish existentialismJewish existentialismJewish existentialism is a category of work by Jewish authors dealing with existentialist themes and concepts , and intended to answer theological questions that are important in Judaism. The existential angst of Job is an example from the Hebrew Bible of the existentialist theme...
- Maimonides SchoolMaimonides SchoolMaimonides 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...
– The school founded by Soloveitchik in Brookline [Boston] - Yeshiva UniversityYeshiva UniversityYeshiva 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...
Resources
- TheRav.Net Resources on Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt'l
- Lonely Man of Faith Symposium
- "Lonely Man of Faith" audio series from WebYeshiva.org (archived on YUTorah.org)
- The Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Institute
- Classes given by Rav Soloveitchik in MP3 format
- Lecture notes and live audio
- Partial Bibliography of works by and about Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Zt"l
- Bibliography of his writings and resources on the Web
- Maimonides high school founded by Soloveitchik in 1937
- Published volumes of Soloveitchik's Talmud classes
- The Toras Horav Foundation
- Audio Shiurim of Rav Soloveitchik at bcbm.org
- Shiurim of the Rav on Brachos
- Obituary: Jewish Observer
- Obituary: New York Times
