Word: soloveitchik
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Soloveitchik, 81, is known to his devotees as "the Rav," a Hebrew term of honor that means he is "the Rabbi." (Less reverential Jews on the right wing of Orthodoxy use just his initials "J.B.") As professor of Talmud since 1941 at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in New York City, Soloveitchik has prepared nearly 1,500 men for ordination. By some estimates, this is the largest number of rabbis trained by any sage of the past millennium. The group makes up the majority of the North American Orthodox rabbis now serving in synagogues. Neither the Conservative...
...Soloveitchik has rarely granted interviews and, as a perfectionist who is constantly rethinking his ideas, has always hesitated to commit his formulations to print. But now two new publications have made this master of Halakha (traditional law) accessible to a broad U.S. audience. The first: Halakhic Man (Jewish Publication Society; 164 pages; $12.95), a translation of a major manifesto published in Hebrew in 1944. The second, just issued for the High Holy Days, is Soloveitchik on Repentance (Paulist Press; 320 pages; $11.95). Compiled by an Israeli disciple of Soloveitchik's, Pinchas Peli, Repentance is based on transcriptions...
Halakhic Man, a sweeping defense of the validity and excitement of pursuing the religiously observant life in the modern world, makes much of humanity's God-given creativity. According to Soloveitchik, "God left an area of evil and chaos in the world so that man might make it good," purposely flawing the perfection of his own material creation to leave room for the improvements that could be made by his obedient creature...
...Kippur discourses, Soloveitchik explores the nature of humanity's less exalted side: sinfulness. As the Rav sees it, the intellect plays hardly any role in the soul's move from sin toward repentance, nor is the "ethical sense" very powerful. Rather, says Soloveitchik, contrition is an "aesthetic experience" of revulsion against sin's corruption...
...Repentance book comes not from a Jewish house but a Roman Catholic one, evidence of the Rav's universality. Says Father Lawrence Boadt, an editor for Paulist Press: "We thought this would be a very effective book for Christians. Soloveitchik is one of the greatest mystical thinkers in the United States." Catholic enthusiasm for the book is also significant because in 1964, during the Second Vatican Council, Soloveitchik announced his opposition to theological discussions between Jews and Christians. Interfaith talks, he wrote in one of his rare essays, must be limited to secular topics. Though his policy encourages some...