1903 CE–1993 CE · ACH · New York
R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903–1993), universally known as 'the Rav,' was the towering intellectual and halachic leader of American Modern Orthodoxy for more than fifty years. Born in Pruzhana into the Brisker dynasty, educated at the University of Berlin (PhD in philosophy, 1932), he emigrated to Boston in 1932 and founded the Maimonides School.
From 1941 until shortly before his death, he served as Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) — where he personally ordained nearly 2,000 rabbis. His unique synthesis of Brisker Talmudic analysis with European philosophical training produced writings (Halakhic Man, The Lonely Man of Faith, And From There You Shall Seek) that defined Modern Orthodoxy's intellectual self-understanding.
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Rabbi Yosef Ber Soloveitchik was born on February 27, 1903, in Pruzhany, Belarus, to Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik and Peshka Feinstein, continuing the fabled Brisk dynasty of talmudic scholars.
Boston, MA · 1944
Foundational philosophical essay (originally 1944) portraying the halachic personality as a creative cognitive type, distinct from both the homo religiosus and the cognitive man of science.
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Boston, MA · 1965
Essay (1965) on the existential tension between Adam I (the majestic, dignity-seeking human) and Adam II (the redeemed, covenantal human) — read widely in Modern Orthodox and general religious circles.
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Boston, MA · 1983
Two-volume collection of his halachic discourses in classical Brisker style, delivered in memory of his father R. Moshe Soloveichik.
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Boston, MA · 1979
Adapted addresses on the festivals, prayer, and the religious life, compiled by his student R. Abraham Besdin.
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