Remembering the Rav

By SHALOM FREEDMAN

MEMORIES OF A GIANT
Eulogies in Memory of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Edited by Michael A. Bierman.
368 pp. Urim Publications. $25.

18 Nissan 5763 (April 20th, 2003) was the tenth Yahrtzeit (anniversary of the death) of Rabbi Josef Ber Soloveitchik. The eulogies in Memories of a Giant constitute a serious effort at understanding and honoring the major achievements of Soloveitchik (often simply called "the Rav"), the leading Orthodox Rabbi of the second half of the twentieth century. Of course, such essays constitute only a fraction of the tributes to Soloveitchik being made in the minds and hearts of the over two thousand Rabbis whose ordination he supervised, and the thousands of ordinary Jews who were in some way affected and moved by him. Nonetheless, the articulate and loving eulogies collected here offer an awesome portrait of a great leader.

In his tribute to his brother, Rabbi Aharon Soloveitchik Z"ts" l mentions the one giant who emerges from the thousand scholars of a generation. In his community of traditional Jews, Josef Ber was clearly seen as the giant of his era. The eulogies and other essays in Memories of a Giant each attempt to describe and consider some aspect of this greatness.

Many of the eulogists mention the Soloveitchik family line that included his grandfather, the Brisker, Reb Haim, who developed a whole new system of learning. They point to the Rav's connection from his mother's side with Rabbi Elya Pruzhiner, and with Reb Moshe Feinstein. They describe the incredible genius exhibited by the Rav while still a child, and how he was the faithful heir to the Brisker tradition. One of the most moving essays in the volume is the letter of recommendation written by the Rav's father Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik when the Rav offered his candidacy (which was rejected ) for Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv in 1935. In this remarkable document the father describes his son's mastery of the whole range of Rabbinic literature as well as modern philosophical and religious thought. The father, who was the early teacher of the son, is clearly overjoyed to see how far his child has surpassed him. This exuberant expression of joy and appreciation of a father for his son has few parallels even in the world of Torah learning whose first principle is passing on the tradition.

Of course, greatness in learning does not exist for its own sake. Several eulogists describe how the Rav came to what was a virtual Torah wasteland in America in the early 1930s. With the help of others like Rabbi Samuel Belkin and Aharon Kotler, Soloveitchik built a world of Torah learning in America. His dedication to the cultivation of an educational system takes on a special poignancy against the backdrop of the destruction of European Jewry and its great centers of Torah study.

The Rav's conviction that the Halakhah (Jewish law) has the answers for contemporary problems startled a Jewish world which was in many ways retreating from its fundamental spiritual legacy. The Rav encouraged religious Jews to be doctors and teachers, to be productively involved in their society. This flowed from a fundamental article of his philosophy: the idea that humans were put on this planet to master the earth and transform it for the better.

While a pious scholar committed to the teaching and learning of Torah, the Rav also encouraged Jews to engage in secular learning. He himself was the supreme example of one who entered secular fields and emerged with his traditional Torah-based perspective strengthened and enhanced.

As a religious philosopher his powerful rereadings of the traditional texts gave the religious world a new and coherent philosophical exposition of its own position. His contributions to modern Orthodox thought are manifold: the concept of the two Adams, one of technological worldly mastery and the other of religious faith; the image of the lonely man of faith; and perhaps above all the concept of "Halakhic man"–these have become central elements in the vocabulary of modern Orthodoxy.

Thousands of religious Jews who traveled from all over the world to learn Torah from him discovered a complexity and depth greater than anything they had been exposed to by other teachers. Time and again the students of the Rav in this volume stress his intellectual integrity and honesty; a number of examples are given in these eulogies of his willingness to correct himself and to apologize when he discovered some mistake in his reasoning.

The Rav stands above all as the great Jewish teacher of his generation. Memories of a Giant is an important contribution to the work and memory of one of God's great servants in our generation.