Moses Maimonides: The Man and His Works (review)

If one were to conduct a survey to determine who were twentieth century American Orthodoxy's greatest figures, Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903–1993) would surely be included among the top. With no intention of engaging in hagiography, I would suggest that despite his innate shyness and modesty, Rabbi Soloveitchik rose to unparalleled prominence in part due to his possession of a rare combination of mind, heart, and tongue; he had a brilliant mind, a compassionate heart, and an unusual gift for oratory. A critical biography of "The Rav," as he was known to his students and followers, has yet to be written and probably won't be in the foreseeable future for both personal and scholarly reasons. He is, in some ways, reminiscent of Maimonides, in that there are those who know him as a Halakhic authority and know nothing of his philosophy, while others know him as a philosopher and know little or nothing of his Halakhic methodology and expertise; some view him as a traditionalist while others view him as a modernist; some view him as the greatest religious leader of the generation-if not generations-while a minority deny his greatness and view him with suspicion, if not disdain.

Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot has performed a great service to those who wish to gain further insight into Rabbi Soloveitchik's thought and character by editing this volume of his letters which span some four decades. The more than 70 letters included are subsumed under six topical sections: communal and public policy; educational issues; American Orthodoxy and the rabbinate; religious Zionism and the State of Israel; inter-religious affairs; and personal and philosophical reflections. The letters relate to a broad range of issues confronting contemporary Orthodox Jews, including: humane methods in the process of ritual slaughter; drafting rabbis into the chaplaincy; interfaith dialogue and other matters of interfaith affairs; Talmud study for women; praying in a non-Orthodox synagogue; the participation of Orthodox rabbis in intra-religious boards; communal policy for Jewish adoption agencies; a proposed prayer service for Yom Ha-atzmaut; the "Who is a Jew" issue in Israel; and many others. Each of the letters is succinctly contextualized by Helfgot and, together with his more in-depth introduction to the volume, the reader is provided with a better understanding of both the issues at hand and the letter-writer himself, Rabbi Soloveitchik.

Rabbi Soloveitchik spoke and wrote on a wide variety of topics, and did not create a unified system. Indeed, some of his students point to apparent inconsistencies and even contradictions between some of his writings in varied works. None of the alleged inconsistency is evident is this collection of letters. On the contrary; there is a consistency throughout which defies labeling as either "Haredi" or "Modern Orthodox." He was atypical. As was his approach in his philosophical and homiletical discourses, so was it in the manner in which he rendered Halakhic decisions. As his elder son-in-law, the late Prof. Isadore Twersky, put is, he did "not preach or cajole, persuade or brainwash." His rulings were, typically, not broad public ones and, when he did address a public issue, it was not always expressed as an authoritative ruling. At times, he shied away from making firm decisions on issues which were politically charged, as in the issues of Orthodox participation in interdenominational rabbinic or synagogue bodies and the suggested relocation of Stern College for Women to Yeshiva University's Washington Heights campus. Most often, his Halakhic decisions and rulings were case-specific, presented to individuals, from which broad public rulings may not have been intended and cannot be inferred because the specifics of each case may be different. Above and beyond all that, however, it was his genius in traditional Jewish learning combined with his role as a most creative religious philosopher, his overall orientation, and his conviction that the Torah is true and does not have...