Moses Maimonides: The Man and His Works (review)

Abstract

Community, Covenant and Commitment: Selected Letters and Communications, by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, edited by Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot. Jersey City, NJ: Ktav, 2005. 352 pp. $29.50. 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 Rav, as he was known to his students and followers, has yet to be written and probably wont 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 eitherHaredi or Modern Orthodox. …