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"Luke Ford reports all of the 'juicy' quotes, and has been doing it for years." (Marc B. Shapiro)
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- William K. Wimsatt Jr.: The Judge of Evidence
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- Love is Love
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Category Archives: R. J. B. Soloveitchik
Meir Soloveitchik Could be a Real Thinker
David N. Myers and Pini Dunner, “A Haredi Attack on Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik: A Battle over the Brisker Legacy.” Jewish Quarterly Review 105, no. 1 (2015) This is Myers co-authoring with Pini Dunner, who is a complicated figure inside … Continue reading
Orthodox Judaism’s Leading Apologists
From age eight to eleven, living at Avondale College in Australia, I had to read thirty to forty pages of Christian apologetics every day but the Sabbath and then type a one-page summary to show my father I had understood … Continue reading
Decoding James Kugel
Per Alliance Theory: Bible scholar James Kugel’s core move was to master two alliances that normally distrust each other. He was raised Orthodox and trained deeply in traditional modes of reading Tanakh and Midrash. He knows the inside language. He … Continue reading
Decoding The Hubbub Over Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Written with AI: The hubbub surrounding Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, often referred to simply as the Rav, stems from his unique position at the intersection of two prestige hierarchies: the Brisker dynasty of Talmudic analysis and the European tradition of … Continue reading
Decoding Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
Written with AI: Rabbi Joseph Telushkin is a norm translator and moral ambassador rather than a boundary enforcer or institutional governor. Telushkin’s power does not come from controlling entry, legitimacy, or halachic process. It comes from shaping how Jews explain … Continue reading
Why Do Intellectuals Love R. JB Soloveitchik?
Intellectuals love Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik because he provides a high-status “handshake” between the world of the Lithuanian yeshiva and the world of Continental philosophy. In the lens of Alliance Theory, Soloveitchik represents a rare “dual-loyalty” figure who successfully maintained … Continue reading
Rabbis Thirsting For Honor
I grew up a Seventh-Day Adventist. I was a preacher’s kid. I knew dozens of clergy. Almost all of them said they felt a divine call to become a pastor. By contrast, I don’t know any rabbis who felt a … Continue reading
Should We Look To Rabbis For Temporal And Political Guidance?
Jonathan Baker writes: This is a set of summaries of a series of six lectures on the teachings of Harav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik zt”l by Rabbi Aaron Rothkoff-Rakeffet at Lincoln Square Synagogue from 7 June to 12 July 1993. … Continue reading
What’s The Difference Between A Torah Scholar And A Gadol?
In a lecture on rabbinic biographies for Torah in Motion, Orthodox rabbi and history professor Marc B. Shapiro says: “In the haredi world [ultra-Orthodoxy], [Rav J.B. Soloveitchik] is recognized as a Torah scholar but not as a gadol [great rabbi]. … Continue reading
The Last Of The Pure Sephardic Poskim
In a 2008 lecture for Torah in Motion on Rabbi Ben Zion Uzziel (former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel), history professor Marc B. Shapiro says: He’s one of the last of the few Sephardic poskim (deciders of Jewish law). The … Continue reading