Rabbi Soloveitchik

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

More Comments from Dr. Haym Soloveitchik

"My father never wrote about secular education," which he says is unfortunate, because as he says the Modern Orthodox world lacks a stated ideology. Criticizing the Modern Orthodox world for this he said, "But if you don't feel it's an essential necessity for the shaping of your personality it's difficult to be passionate about it." 1:33:02 He said that the German Orthodox didn't know Torah, but they had a plan for being a Torah Jew.

His father joined the Agudah at the request of his friend Rabbi Elizer Silver, yet "He subsequently found that the Agudah is not an answer to anything. They were opposed. That's not a position." 1:28:17

"My father was a firm believer, and others try to change it, in secular education. There's no question about that. They may try to say my father didn't really believe in it. One professor in Yale, a chemist, asked me "What about his escapade in Berlin?" I said, "Sammy, Berlin was not an escapade. If you think it's an escapade, then you are as stupid in these matters as you are smart in matters of Chemistry." 1:26:48

"Haym Soloveitchik: How Modernity Changed Our Relationship to God," 18Forty

YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8G8JtPOEF0

Sunday, February 2, 2025

The Complexity of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and the Problem of Fundamentalism

Thursday, January 16, 2025

My father was not a Zionist

"One thing, my father was not a Zionist despite what the Mizrachi may say. They have The Rav Speaks, c'v'yochel, which is a story in itself. If you are talking about Cultural Zionism, he thought it was ridiculous. The Torah was given in Chutzeh l'Aretz, the Babli was in Chutzeh l'Aretz, all the Rishonim were in Chutzeh l'Aretz. What are you talking about? If you are talking about the political framework, which existed in a shtetl, being a minority, in an alien society, obviously had to change. And you needed a state. Jews needed a state. That's a political statement. From the point of view of the need of a state that will always be open to Jews (that) was perfectly clear to him. But in terms of cultural Zionism, he thought it was beneath contempt. I can only say I was not brought up in a Zionist home. Ahavas Ha'Aretz is one thing. Zionism is something else."

Dr. Haym Soloveitchik, "Haym Soloveitchik: How Modernity Changed Our Relationship to God," 18Forty, 1:09:43-1:10:37

Youtube; 1:28:25-1:29:41

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Lectures of Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik: The Relationship between Halakhah, Aggadah, and Kabbalah

https://hakirah.org/Vol33Zelcer.pdf

Friday, November 8, 2024

Review Essay Nietzsche, Soloveitchik and Contemporary Jewish Philosophy

https://hakirah.org/vol27Goldman.pdf

Review Essay Nietzsche, Soloveitchik and Contemporary Jewish Philosophy by Daniel Rynhold and Michael J. Harris (Cambridge University Press, 2018) 316 pp

Our interest in humanity

"There are religiously committed Jews who are indifferent to the concerns of the larger non-Jewish society. They are content to reside in isolated communities with unconcern, if not actual disdain, for the Gentile world and for the problems which afflict humanity. This introversion can be explained as a reaction to the centuries-old derision and persecution which have been the Jewish historical experience and to which they were subjected with particular ferocity in modern times. Nowadays, there are particular aspects of moral perversion afflicting the general society which are repellant to Jewish sensibilities. Nevertheless, this insularity cannot be vindicated as authentic Judaism even if it can be understood and justified in particular historical periods and situations." Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Man of Faith in the Modern World, p. 73.

The Beauty of Religion

The error of modern representatives of religion is that they promise their congregants the solution to all the problems of life − an expectation which religion does not fulfill. Religion, on the contrary, deepens the problems but never intends to solve them. The grandeur of religion lies in its mysterium tremendum its magnitude and its ultimate incomprehensibility. To cite one example, we may adduce the problem of theodicy, the justification of evil in the world, that has tantalized the inquiring mind from time immemorial till this last tragic decade. The acuteness of this problem has grown for the religious person in essence and dimensions. When a minister, rabbi, or priest attempts to solve the ancient question of Job's suffering through as sermon or lecture, he does not promote religious ends, but, on the contrary, does them a disservice. The beauty of religion with its grandiose vistas reveals itself to men, not in solutions but in problems, not in harmony but in the constant conflict of diversified forces and trends.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, "Sacred and Profane", Gesher, Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 7 in Besdin, A, Reflections of the Rav, p. 224)

Ethical Values

…the religious person is given not only a duty to follow the halakha but also a value and vision. The person performing the duty seeks to realize this ideal or vision. Kant felt that the duty of consciousness expresses only a "must" without a value. He demanded a routine form of compliance, an "ought" without aiming at a value. As a soldier carries out his duty to the commanding officer, one may appreciate his service or just obey through discipline and orders. Kant's ethics are a "formal ethics", the goal is not important. For us it would be impossible to behave this way. An intelligent person must find comfort, warmth, and a sense of fulfillment in the law. We deal with ethical values, not ethical formalisms. A sense of pleasure must be gained by fulfilling a norm. The ethical act must have an end and purpose. We must become holy.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Mesorat HaRav Siddur, p. 112-3