Word: soloveitchik
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Although Joseph B. Soloveitchik is U.S. Orthodox Judaism's most illustrious philosopher, only a small scattering of his thousands of lectures have ever been published. He is a leading Zionist who has baffled his closest followers by never once visiting the state of Israel. In the U.S., he created the progressive, or "Modern," wing of Orthodoxy by synthesizing tradition and contemporary culture; but paradoxically for Soloveitchik, now that Orthodoxy is well established in the U.S.,* it tends increasingly to reject his outlook and retreat behind sectarian walls...
...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...
...Rabbi Soloveitchik, Orthodoxy's most brilliant interpreter in the U.S., in sists that Orthodoxy and modern life can go hand in hand. A pre-eminent Talmudic authority at Manhattan's Yeshiva University, Soloveitchik sees the "divine disciplines" of Orthodoxy as part of "a great romance between men and God." Halakhic Precepts, he argues, are a natural dialectic of "advancement and withdrawal" ? six days of work, one of rest; 16 days of the month when husband and wife can have intercourse, twelve when they cannot because of restrictions surrounding the menstrual period. "Detail is important," says Soloveitchik. "Ethics pays attenion...
...Soloveitchik tirelessly commutes between New York and Boston, where he supervises the enlightened Yeshiva he founded there, the Maimonides School. It is designed to give students from kindergarten through twelfth grade the best in both secular education and Jewish
...tradition. "The American Jew is integrated in American society," says Soloveitchik, "but we have another commitment too, a metaphysical commitment ? a covenant with God. We must burden the child with both commitments." Burden indeed: to accommodate the dual study load, the school day at Maimonides runs from...