Halakhic Man

Citation preview

HA L A K HIC

M A N

HALAKHIC MAN

RabbiJoseph B. Soloveitchik

Translatedfrom the Hebrew by L Aw R E N c E

KAPLAN

THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF A MERICA

Philadelphia

Copyright© 1983 by TheJewish Publication Society of America First English edition All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Originally published in Hebrew under the title "Ish ha-halakhah" in Talpiot I, nos. 3-4 (New York, 1944) Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Soloveitchik, Joseph Dov. Halakhic man. Translation of: Ish ha-halakhah, galui ye-nistar. Includes bibliographical references. 1.Jewish way of life. 2.Judaism. 3. Jewish law­ Philosophy. I. Title. 1983 83-291 296.7 BM723.S6613 ISBN o-8276--0222-7 Designed by A

D R I A N N E O N D E R D O N K D U D D E N

Contents Translator's Preface vii

PART ONE

HALAKHIC MAN His World View and His Life 1 PART TWO

HALAKHIC MAN His Creative Capacity 99

Notes

139

R

Translators Preface

ABBI Joseph B. Soloveitchik's essay /sh ha-halakhah-Ha­ lakhic Man-is a unique, almost unclassifiable work. Its pages include a brilliant exposition of Mitnaggedism, of Lithua­ nian religiosity with its emphasis on Talmudism; a profound excursion into religious psychology and phenomenology; a pioneering attempt at a philosophy of Halakhah; a stringent critique of mysticism and romantic religion in general; as well as anecdotal family history-all held together by the force of the author's highly personal vision. Perhaps the best description of Halakhic Man is that of Eugene Borowitz, who termed it a "Mitnagged phenomenology of awesome proportions." Existentialist motifs are also not lacking. Then again, the work, with its sprinkling of late­ nineteenth and early-twentieth-century liberal, apologetic mo­ tifs, may, in part, be seen as a halakhic, neo-Kantian cum exis­ tential version of Leo Baeck's great essay, "Romantic Religion." Indeed, there is more than a little resemblance between Baeck's images of classical and romantic religion and R.* Soloveitchik's portraits of halakhic man and homo religiosus. Nor should the clearly anti-Christian thrust of both essays be overlooked. *In the manner of talmudic and rabbinic designation, "R." denotes "Rabbi."

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PREFACE

The wide-ranging nature of Halakhic Man calls forth, nay requires, the full deployment of R. Soloveitchik's vast erudi" tion. From a discussion of a biblical or talmudic passage he may smoothly and almost imperceptibly move to an analysis of modern scientific method, then turn to an exposition of Aris­ totelian or Maimonidean philosophy, buttressed by appropri­ ate modern historical scholarship, follow up with references to modern secular and religious phenomenology and existential­ ism, and cap the discussion with an acute resolution of a knotty halakhic issue, citing appropriate medieval and modern rab­ binic scholarship. Heidegger, Kant, Hermann Cohen, Scheler, Barth, Cassirer, Einstein, Planck, and Niebuhr rub elbows with the Gaon of Vilna, R. Shneur Zalman of Lyady, R. Hayyim Volozhin, R. Isaac of Karlin, R. Joseph Babad, R. Lipele of Mir, R. Isaac Blaser, R. Naphtali Zevi Yehudah Berlin, R. Hayyim Heller, and the membe{s of R. Soloveitchik's own distinguished rabbinic family: his grandfathers, R. Hayyim Soloveitchik and R. Elijah of Pruzhan; his uncles, R. Menahem Krakowski and R. Meir Berlin (Bar-Ilan); and his father, R. Moses Soloveitchik. Above this colorful and varied throng hovers Maimonides, both the Maimonides (or, perhaps better, the Rambam) of the Mishneh Torah and the Maimonides of the Guide of the Perplexed, together with his "armor-bearers," medieval and modern, alJ,aronim and practitioners of Judische Wissenschaft.

This rich substance finds its appropriate echo in the essay's allusive and complex literary style. R. Soloveitchik, in a bril­ liant, virtuoso manner, has drawn upon the full resources of the Hebrew language, in all of its layers and transformations, from biblical to modern times. Skillfully interwoven into the texture of the essay are biblical and talmudic phrases, mid­ rashic allusions and halakhic terms, plays on Maimonidean statements, and images from Bialik's poems. Moreover, R. Solo­ veitchik has varied the tone of his writing in accordance with the variations in substance. Certainly the terse, exceptionally

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PREFACE

concise and compact, almost elliptic and telegraphic style R. Soloveitchik deems appropriate for a halakhic analysis of the laws of mourning of the high priest differs from the more expansive and dramatic, but still sober and restrained, style he adopts for an analysis of the methodology of modern science or of the personality of cognitive man. And the shift in tone will be more radical when R. Soloveitchik moves from rigorous and abstract analysis, be it halakhic or philosophic, phenomeno­ logical or religious, to rapturous poetic outbursts, delicate descriptions of nature, or revealing personal family history. Here we encounter a densely metaphorical, highly charged, and elaborately wrought prose, almost romantic in its luxuri­ ance and passion. In sum, both in terms of substance and style, Halakhic Man is a formidable work, so formidable, indeed, that when first asked to translate the essay, I, not unnaturally, hesitated. And, indeed, had not R. Soloveitchik, generously and graciously, consented to review the translation, my initial hesitation might have proved decisive. I am deeply grateful to him both for affording me so much of his own valuable time and for the many stylistic infelicities and substantive errors from which he saved me. Naturally in ali those instances where I have either misrepresented or failed to convey R. Soloveitchik's meaning, where I have muffled a nuance or missed an allusion, where, above all, I have not succeeded in capturing his unique literary voice, the fault remains my own. I do trust, however, that at least some measure of both R. Soloveitchik's voice and his vision has made its way across the inadequate medium of translation.

/sh ha-halakhah, in its original language, has been issued in

three different editions. It first appeared in 1944 in thejournal Talpiot (vol. 1, nos. 3-4, pp. 65 1-735). Subsequently, the essay was published in the volumes Be-sod ha-yalJ,id ve-ha-yalJ,ad, ed. Pinhas Peli (Jerusalem: Orot, 1976) and /sh ha-halakhah-galuyi ve-nistar (Jerusalem: World Zionist Organization, 1979). Al-

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PREFACE

though I consulted all three versions, which except for minor mpdifications are ....Identical, the present translation is based on the edition of the World Zionist Organization. My rendering aims to be a faithful reflection of the original Hebrew text. However, in the course of the effort I undertook some minor, but, I trust, useful adjustments. It became evident that R. Soloveitchik, in some instances, cited texts from memory, with occasional inexactitudes. In such cases I corrected both the citations and the references, translating the original text. Second, though R. Soloveitchik provides the sources for many of his citations, not all such references are given. Thus, I have offered the sources for all biblical citations which the author omitted entirely, as well as for all the talmudic, midrashic, philosophic, and other citations whose sources were left un­ noted. These additional sources, in the case of biblical quota­ tions, appear in parentheses; the�ther sources in brackets. I have also followed standard referencing procedure and have given full bibliographical information for all sources, where these seemed insufficiently noted. These additions, too, are indicated by brackets, as are elaborations, where I thought this might be helpful, of terms, concepts, and allusions. Finally, in order to make the notes more comprehensible to the nonspe­ cialist I paraphrastically expanded the author's highly com­ pressed halakhic argumentation, oftentimes, indeed, interpo­ lating explanatory material. This, too, is indicated by brackets. Translations of biblical texts, it should be remarked, follow the Holy Scriptures issued by The Jewish Publication Society of America (1917); in some few instances, however, the JPS ren­ dition has not been observed, where the context of the passage required a different translation, or to reflect a particular in­ terpretation. For translations of talmudic and midrashic pas­ sages I consulted the Soncino versions of the Talmud and Midrash Rabbah, and for translations of passages from Mai­ monides's Mishneh Torah, the various translations of the Yale Judaica Series. My translations, however, generally differ from

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PREFACE

these renditions, sometimes slightly, sometimes radically. All quotations from Maimonides's Guide of the Perpkxed are from the translation by Shlomo Pines (Chicago University Press, 1963). It now remains only to thank a few people: Moshe Lichten­ stein for his hospitality and thoughtfulness; Mrs. Louis Granitch for her efficient typing of the manuscript; my colleague, Pro­ fessor Eugene Orenstein, for his help in translating the ex­ cerpt from Peretz in note 1 14; Professor Isadore Twersky, son-in-law of R. Soloveitchik, for overseeing the entire project, setting down the general guidelines, and providing me with always helpful advice; Maier Deshell for his editorial skill and, even more important, for his patience, tact, and friendship; my wife, Feige, for giving me the crucial initial encouragement that enabled me to overcome my original, very real, hesita­ tions; and above all, my own teacher, the halakhic man, par excellence, of our generation, R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. I have already thanked him for the time and effort and, indeed, profound intellectual energy and creativity he expended in reviewing my translation. I wish only to add that I am proud both to have been his student and to have been given the opportunity of introducing Halakhic Man, his first great essay and a modern intellectual, spiritual, and religious classic, to an English-reading audience. LAWR ENC E KA PLAN

At that moment the ima.ge of his father came to him and appeared before him in the window. -SOTAH 36b

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ALAKHIC man 1 reflects two opposing selves; two dis­ parate images are embodied within his soul and spirit. On the one hand he is as far removed from homo re­ ligi,osus as east is from west and is identical, in many respects, to prosaic, �?gnitive ma-=°-i on the other hand he is a ��n of G�� possessor of an ontological approach that is devoted to Goel and of a world view saturated with the radiance of the Divine Presence. For this reason it is difficult to analyze halakhic man's religious consciousness by applying the terms and traits that descriptive psychology and modern philosophy of reli­ gion have used to characterize the religious personality. The image that halakhic man presents is singular, even strange. He is of a type that is unfamiliar to students of reli­ gion. But if, in the light of modern philosophy, homo religi,osus in general has come to be regarded as an antithetical being, fraught with contradictions, who wrestles with his conscious­ ness and struggles with the tribulations of the dualism of affirmation and negation, approbation and denigration, how much more so is this true of halakhic man? In some respects he is a homo religi,osus, in other respects a cognitive man. But taken as a whole he is uniquely different from both of them. Halakhic man is an anti-nomic type for a dual reason: ( 1) he bears within the deep recesses of his personality the soul of homo r�ligi,o�us, that soul which, as was stated above, suffers from the pangs of self-contradiction and self-negation; (2) at the same time halakhic man's personality also embraces the

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HALAKHIC MAN

soul of cognitive man, and this soul contradicts all of the des_ires and strivings of the religious soul. However, these .. ?P.Posing force�.-�hich struggle together in the religious consciousness of halakhic man ar.e not of.�_de.s_t�c�ve or disjunctive nature. Halakhic man is not some illegitimate, unstable hybrid. On the contrary, out of the contradictions and antinomies there emerges a radiant, h?ly per�onality whose soul has been purified in the furnace of struggle and oppositi�n and re­ deemed in the fires of the torments of spiritual disharmony to a degree unmatched by the universal homo religiosus. The deep split of the soul prior to its being united may, at times, raise a man to a rank of perfection, which for sheer brilliance and beauty is unequaled by any level attained by the simple, whole personality who has never been t_ried__byJJ!�- pangs of spiritual dis