Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik: Man of Halacha, Man of Faith

About this book

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik was a towering twentieth-century intellectual and rabbinic figure. Scion of several generations of world-famous talmudic luminaries, he was the acknowledged leader of Modern Orthodoxy and religious Zionism, giving intellectual and religious integrity to these important movements. Rabbi Soloveitchik's position in the Jewish community is best epitomized by the fact that he was usually referred to simply as "the Rav," a rabbi's rabbi. A traditional rosh yeshiva, he headed the rabbinic program at Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. A brilliant talmudic authority, the Rav also held a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Berlin. He tried to create a symbiosis between the Torah and contemporary thought, blazing new trails in the understanding of Torah and in the application of that understanding to the modern world. In this memorial volume, some of the Rav's closest students express an appreciation of his teachings and his impact on them and their contemporaries.