Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ( Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveychik; February 27, 1903 – April 9, 1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher. He was a scion of the Lithuanian Jewish Soloveitchik rabbinic dynasty.

As a rosh yeshiva of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) at Yeshiva University in New York City, The Rav, as he was known, ordained close to 2,000 rabbis over the course of almost half a century. Some Rabbinic literature, such as sefer Shiurei Ha-Grid, refers to him as Ha-Grid (), an acronym for "The Gaon Rabbi Yosef Dov".

He is regarded as a seminal figure by Modern Orthodox Judaism and served as a guide and role-model for tens of thousands of Jews, both as a Talmudic scholar and as a religious leader.

Heritage Joseph Ber Soloveitchik was born on February 27, 1903, in Pruzhany, Imperial Russia (later Poland, now Belarus). He came from a rabbinical dynasty dating back some 200 years: His paternal grandfather was Chaim Soloveitchik, and his great-grandfather and namesake was Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, the Beis HaLevi. His great-great-grandfather was Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (The Netziv), and his great-great-great-great grandfather was Chaim Volozhin. His father, Moshe Soloveichik (note different spelling of last name), preceded him as head of the RIETS rabbinical school at Yeshiva University. On his maternal line, Soloveitchik was a grandson of Eliyahu Feinstein and his wife Guta Feinstein, née Davidovitch, who, in turn, was a descendant of a long line of Kapulyan rabbis, and of the Tosafot Yom Tov, the Shelah, the Maharshal, and Rashi. Rabbi Soloveitchik's mother, Pesha, was a first cousin of Rav Moshe Feinstein.

Early years, education, and immigration Soloveitchik was educated in the traditional manner at a Talmud Torah, an elementary yeshiva, and by private tutors, as his parents realized his great mental prowess. According to a curriculum vitae written and signed in his own hand, in 1922, he graduated from the liberal arts "Gymnasium" in Dubno. In 1924, he entered the Free Polish University in Warsaw, where he spent three terms, studying political science. In 1926, he came to Berlin, Germany, and entered the Friedrich Wilhelm University. He passed the examination for supplementary subjects at the German Institute for Studies by Foreigners and was then given full matriculation at the university. He studied philosophy, economics, and Hebrew subjects, simultaneously maintaining a rigorous schedule of intensive Talmud study.

According to the CV, among his "highly honored" teachers in university, bearing the title "Geheimrat" (literally: Privy Counselor), were Heinrich Maier and Max Dessoir, along with Eugen Mittwoch and Ludwig Bernhard. He studied the work of European philosophers, and was a life-long student of neo-Kantian thought. He wrote his PhD thesis on the epistemology and metaphysics of the German philosopher Hermann Cohen.

Contrary to most biographies, which erroneously state that in 1931, he received his degree, he actually passed his oral doctor's examination on July 24, 1930, but graduated with a doctorate only on December 19, 1932, as he had requested an extension to allow him to expand his thesis. Documents exist to support this assertion, located by Marc B. Shapiro in the University of Berlin archives.

In 1931, he married Tonya Lewit (1904–1967), who had earned a PhD in education from Jena University. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski officiated at their wedding in Vilna.

During his years in Berlin, Soloveitchik became a close disciple of Chaim Heller, who had established an institute for advanced Jewish studies from an Orthodox worldview in the city. He also made the acquaintance of other young scholars pursuing a similar path to his own. One such figure was Yitzchak Hutner, who would become the rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, also in Brooklyn, New York. Both of them developed a system of thought that bridged the Eastern European way of traditional scholarship with the new forces of modernity in the Western World. Among the other personalities with whom he came into contact were the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Alexander Altmann, Yehiel Yaakov Weinberg, rector of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary, and Yeshayahu Leibowitz.

Boston In 1932, Soloveitchik emigrated to America and settled in Boston, where he referred to himself as "The Soloveitchik of Boston." That year, he opened a yeshiva known as Heichal Rabbeinu Chaim HaLevi or the Boston Yeshivah. Initially, it mainly served lay people and their children, but starting in 1939, it was augmented by advanced students and staff who had fled the outbreak of World War II in Europe.The Boston Torah Party

Soloveitchik pioneered the Maimonides School, one of the first Hebrew day schools in Boston in 1937.An American Orthodox Dreamer: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Boston's Maimonides School, by Seth Farber, University Press of New England, 2003 When the school's high school was founded in the late 1940s, he instituted a number of innovations in the curriculum, including teaching Talmud to boys and girls studying in classes together. He involved himself in all manner of religious issues in the Boston area. He was at times both a rabbinical supervisor of kosher slaughtering—shechita—and an educator, gladly accepting invitations to lecture in Jewish and religious philosophy at prestigious New England colleges and universities. Soloveitchik was also the head of Boston's Council of Orthodox Synagogues (also called the Vaad Ha'ir). His son-in-law, Isadore Twersky, was an internationally renowned expert on the writings of Maimonides, and succeeded Harry Austryn Wolfson to the Nathan Littauer Chair of Jewish History and Literature at Harvard University.

New York Soloveitchik succeeded his father, Moses (Moshe) Soloveichik, as the head of the RIETS rabbinical school at Yeshiva University (YU) in 1941. He taught there until 1986, when illness kept him from continuing, and was considered the top Rosh Yeshiva—never, however, a formally recognized position at YU—from the time he began teaching there until his death in 1993. He was the first occupant of the Leib Merkin Distinguished Professorial Chair in Talmud and Jewish Philosophy at RIETS.

He ordained over 2,000 rabbis, many of whom are among the leaders of Orthodox Judaism and the Jewish people today. In addition, he gave public lectures that were attended by thousands from throughout the greater Jewish community, as well as regular classes at other New York institutions.

Soloveitchik advocated more intensive textual Torah study for Jewish women at the Stern College for Women, giving the first class in Talmud inaugurated at Stern College. He attracted and inspired many young men and women to become spiritual leaders and educators in Jewish communities worldwide. They, in turn, went out with the education of Yeshiva University to head synagogues, schools, and communities, where they continue to influence many Jews to remain—or become—committed to Orthodoxy and observance.

Philosophy and major works

Torah Umadda synthesis During his tenure at Yeshiva University, in addition to his Talmudic lectures, Soloveitchik deepened the system of "synthesis" whereby the best of religious Torah scholarship would be combined with the best secular scholarship in Western civilization. This later became known as the Torah Umadda – "Torah and secular wisdom" philosophy- the motto of Yeshiva University.

However, Rav Ahron Soloveichik disputes this claim, saying: "That the Rav had a positive attitude toward worldly wisdom is beyond question. The same positive attitude towards worldly wisdom was expressed by all the Gedolei Yisrael from Rav Saadia Gaon up to the Gaon of Vilna. A talmid of the G'ra says in the translation of the Euclidean geometry that the G'ra had said 'Ka'asher yechsar lo I'Adam yad achat b'Chochmat haolam kein yechseru lo meah yados baTorah.' If a person is deficient in worldly wisdom he will inescapably be deficient in one hundred measures in Torah wisdom. However, there is a great divergence between having a positive attitude towards worldly wisdom and being committed to mada. Being committed to mada implies a belief that mada is an ikar in life. My brother did not consider mada as an ikar in Yahadut. As a matter of fact my brother never in his lectures mentioned the expression Torah Umada; nor did he ever mention in his essays Ish Hahalacha and Ish Emunah. If anyone who has a positive attitude towards worldly wisdom tries to synthesize Torah with philosophy then Rav Saadiah Gaon, the Chovat Halevavot and the Rambam and the Gaon of Vilna were also attempting to synthesize the Torah with philosophy. Obviously such an allegation would reflect chutzpah and foolish nonsense." He argues that the Rav used his worldly knowledge to enhance his Torah and his teaching, but did not agree that Mada was Ikar that must be synthesized with Torah. (See below "Debate over world view" under "Other views and controversy" for more on this issue.)

Through public lectures, writings, and Soloveitchik's policy decisions for the Modern Orthodox world, he strengthened the intellectual and ideological framework of Modern Orthodoxy.

In his major non-Talmudic publications, which altered the landscape of Jewish philosophy and Jewish theology, Soloveitchik stresses the normative and intellectual centrality of the halakhic corpus. He authored a number of essays and books offering a unique synthesis of neo-Kantian existentialism and Jewish thought, the most well-known being The Lonely Man of Faith which deals with issues such as the willingness to stand alone in the face of monumental challenges, and Halakhic Man. A less known essay, though not less important, is "The Halakhic Mind – An essay on Jewish tradition and modern thought," written in 1944 and published only 40 years later, without any change, as the author himself stresses.

The Lonely Man of Faith

In The Lonely Man of Faith, Soloveitchik reads the first two chapters of Genesis as a contrast in the nature of the human being and identifies two human types: Adam I, or "majestic man," who employs his creative faculties in order to master his environment; and Adam II, or "covenantal man," who surrenders himself in submission to his Master. Soloveitchik describes how the man of faith integrates both of these aspects.

In the first chapter, Adam I is created together with Eve, and they are given the mandate to subdue nature, master the cosmos, and transform the world "into a domain for their power and sovereignty." Adam I is majestic man who approaches the world and relationships—even with the divine—in functional, pragmatic terms. Adam I, created in the image of God, fulfills this apparently "secular" mandate by conquering the universe, imposing his knowledge, technology, and cultural institutions upon the world. The human community depicted in Genesis 1 is a utilitarian one, where man and woman join together, like the male and female of other animals, to further the ends of their species.

In chapter two of Genesis, Adam II, on the other hand represents the lonely man of faith – bringing a "redemptive interpretation to the meaning of existence." Adam II does not subdue the garden, but rather tills it and preserves it. This type of human being is introduced by the words, "It is not good for man to be alone" – and through his sacrifice (of a metaphoric rib), he gains companionship and the relief of his existential loneliness – this covenantal community requires the participation of the Divine.

Halakhic Man