Moshe Soloveitchik was an 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...

. He was the second son of renowned 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 grandson of the Beis HaLevi. He married Pesya Feinstein, daughter of the renowned Rabbi of Pruzany, Rabbi Eliyahu Feinstein

Eliyahu Feinstein

Eliyahu Halevi Feinstein, also known as Reb Elye Pruzhaner, , was a leading rabbinic authority of his time.-Education:...

, and first cousins with Rabbi Moshe Feinstein

Moshe 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...

.

At the age of 31, he was appointed rabbi of the town of Raseiniai

Raseiniai

Raseiniai is a city in Lithuania. It is located on the south eastern foothills of the Samogitians highland, some north from the Kaunas–Klaipėda highway.- Grand Duchy of Lithuania :...

, a position he held for three years. In 1913, he took the position of rabbi of Khislavichi

Khislavichi

Khislavichi is an urban locality and the administrative center of Khislavichsky District of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located by the right bank of the Sozh River. Population: -History:...

. After World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he went to 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...

 in 1920, and from there he immigrated to New York in 1929, answering the call of Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel

Bernard Revel

Bernard Revel was an Orthodox rabbi and scholar. He served as the first President of Yeshiva College from 1915 until his death in 1940...

 to join the faculty 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...

 at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary , or Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, is the rabbinical seminary of Yeshiva University, located in Washington Heights, New York. It is named after Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, who died the year it was founded, 1896...

 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...

.

While Soloveichik was in New York City, his eldest son, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik was working on his PhD in philosophy at the University of Berlin, which he completed in 1931. The following year, Rabbi Yosef Dov (often referred to by his students as "The Rav" or Rav Yoshe Ber) moved to 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...

 and became head of the Jewish community there.

When Soloveichik died in 1941 at the age of 62, his son Rabbi Yosef Dov was asked to fill his father’s place.

Soloveichik’s two younger sons were 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), who also taught at RIETS, and Dr. Samuel Soloveitchik (1909–1967) who taught chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

 at Yeshiva College. He also had two daughters, Mrs. Shulamit Soloveitchik Meiselman (1912–2009) and Mrs. Anne Soloveitchik Gerber (b. 1913).

Publications

• http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=12106&pgnum=11 HaPardes, No. 14 Vol. 2 1940 May: לכבוד חג הסמיכה (Address To Rabbinic Graduates)
• http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=25186 HaNe'eman, Vol. 28 No. 53 Elul 5739 (1939): בדין רודף והבא במחתרת

External links and references

• geocities
• bartleby
• jewishvirtuallibrary
• "The Rav: The World of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik" By Rabbi Dr. Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff
  Aaron 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...
  
  (ISBN 0-88125-614-5 & ISBN 0-88125-615-3)