“We’ve been studying about one of the foremost thinkers of the 20th century, Rav Joseph Soloveitchik. He has distinguished himself in two distinct areas, in halachic/law formulation, Analysis, and the way he approaches any sugya/passage in Talmud is one as radically different than anybody prior to what he has actually done. When one studies his halachic/law formulations, you see how unique he is. And what’s interesting is that he takes every set of halachot/laws and conceptualizes them, puts them into a framework and he shows how all of these halachot are all integrated into one conceptual unit itself. So one can spend endless hours studying his halachic/law formulation, how he understands talmudic sugyot/passages. And how he takes for example the Rambam/Maimonides and sees whether there is a contradiction of the Rambam/Maimonides with other rishonim, and how he analyzes conceptually each of these halachic/law issues. Every issue that he approaches is done with a certain kind of methodological systematic, very rigid analysis. Meaning, you define your halacha/law, you classify it, and you conceptualize it. And unless you have actually seen him do this, it’s hard to describe.”(0:00-1:19)
“However, what I find more fascinating, although people will of course emphasize this aspect is his philosophical formulations. Because he wasn’t simply an ivory tower scholar, rather he understood the needs of the people themselves. As opposed to some great poskim/decider of law, who simply stay in their bet midrash/study hall and they will elaborate and elucidate in the small bubble of halacha/law and are speaking to 15,20, or 30 people, kind of not fully aware (of the following). Whether it’s Conservative or Reform Jews, ecumenism, medical issues, all the issues philosophical issues that are combating the Jewish people. The Holocaust, the issues of evil, the meaning of prayer, how philosophically meaningful is halacha and Judaism are, he deals with all of those questions as well. It’s rare to find a man of this stature, so fully halachically of course committed, yet so in tune the halachic/law formulations and analysis, as well as seeing the broader picture of what the nation of Israel needs. Another words, what’s leadership all about.” (1:20-2:30)
*As always, please listen to the class in full to understand the context and depth of the quotes above. In addition, you may want to take notes and get used to using the pause button to capture the details and references he uses. And a dictionary for any word he uses that you may not be familiar with. The above is only 2.3 minutes of quotes.
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