The Last Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik and Talmudic Tradition [Hardcover]

Joseph Soloveitchik (19031993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, philosopher, and theologian. In this new work, William Kolbrener takes on Soloveitchiks controversial legacy and shows how he was torn between the traditionalist demands of his European ancestors and the trajectory of his own radical and often pluralist philosophy. A portrait of this self-professed lonely man of faith reveals him to be a reluctant modern who responds to the catastrophic trauma of personal and historical loss by underwriting an idiosyncratic, highly conservative conception of law that is distinct from his Talmudic predecessors, and also paves the way for a return to tradition that hinges on the ethical embrace of multiplicity. As Kolbrener melds these contradictions, he presents Soloveitchik as a good deal more complicated and conflicted than others have suggested. The Last Rabbi affords new perspective on the thought of this major Jewish philosopher and his ideas on the nature of religious authority, knowledge, and pluralism.

Abbreviations of Works
Preface
Introduction: The Making of Joseph Soloveitchik and the Unmaking of Talmudic Tradition
Part I: Talmudic Tradition: Mourning
1. Hermeneutics of Rabbinic Mourning
2. Pluralism, Rabbinic Poetry and Dispute
Part II: Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik: Melancholy
Interlude: Primal Scene in Pruzhna
3. Love, Repentance, Sublimation
4. Joseph Soloveitchik, A Melancholy Modern
5. Beyond the Law: Repentance and Gendered Memory
6. From Interpretive Conquest to Antithetic Ethics
Conclusion: The Last Rabbi and Talmudic Irony
Notes
Index

This revolutionary work offers a powerful lens through which to read the writings of the pioneering 20th-Century talmudist and Jewish philosopher, Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, the driving force behind American modern Orthodoxy&Kolbreners work musters a dazzling panoply of Jewish and general sources to re-examine the life and works of the most influelÓ.