SOLOVEITCHIK, JOSEPH BAER. Joseph Solo-veitchik (1903–1993) was the most widely influential Orthodox Jewish theologian of the twentieth century and one of Orthodox Judaism's key American religious leaders. Alone among the handful of major Jewish theologians of that period, Orthodox or otherwise, he combined extraordinary erudition in the vast corpus of Talmudic literature with broad and deep knowledge of Western philosophy and theology. This gave him an unparalleled opportunity to interpret the world of Jewish law, rabbinic scholars, and scholarship—so central to Judaism throughout its history—to outsiders, at the same time giving him the ability to interpret to insiders the sophisticated elements of modern theology and religious life.

Life and Era

Soloveitchik was born in Pruzhan, Poland, on February 27, 1903 to one of the most prominent rabbinic families in eastern Europe. Reversing family tradition, he left home and rabbinical studies in 1925 to enroll at the...