Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik (1903 – 1993) was a Torah scholar, Rosh Yeshiva, philosopher, and teacher. Reverentially and affectionately known simply as “The Rav,” he was the son and grandson of mythic Torah scholars who forged his own way as a profoundly unique thinker and philosopher.

At the core of this complex man is a simple teacher of Talmud, a melamed; He taught at and helmed RIETS for more than forty years, over which time he raised multiple entire generations of teachers and students of Torah to love and learn the words of God with more depth, sophistication, and humor. 

What made the Rav famous throughout the world is his strikingly profound writings. In Halakhic Man, the Rav reflects on the relationship between the life of Judaism and the law of Judaism. It’s tempting to think about Halacha, Jewish law, as solely a guidebook to the practice of mitzvot and good deeds. With clarity and some oversized German words, the Rav paints a picture of Jewish law as a guidebook that leads us from what to do to an orientation of how to be as a Jew. Rav Soloveitchik understands the details of Halacha to point us on how to live a deeply divine life in a deeply human world.

In The Lonely Man of Faith, Rav Soloveitchik gives us a deeply human portrayal of what it means to be a person of faith in contemporary life. The Lonely Man of Faith is a much-needed meditation on the relationship between loneliness and faith, one that has helped many find in their feelings of alone-ness a way towards greater depth, meaning, and life. We rarely think of the loneliness of the righteous; The Rav welcomes us into this solitude, and sanctifies our own loneliness alongside his. 

For anyone who seeks a path for their footsteps in modern life, and a way to find God and depth in their own solitude, this great soul shines a light on the road.

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Learn more:

- For Torah works by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and his many students check out Yeshiva University's publishing house at rietspress.org