About the Book
A National Jewish Book Award Winner
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September 2023
Halakhic Man is the classic work of modern Jewish and religious thought by the twentieth century’s preeminent Orthodox Jewish theologian and talmudic scholar, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. It is a profound excursion into religious psychology and phenomenology, a pioneering attempt at a philosophy of halakhah, and a stringent critique of mysticism and romantic religion. This 40th anniversary edition features this new scholarly apparatus:
- A translator’s preface tracing the book’s reception and evolving influence
- A translator’s introduction shedding light on the heart of Soloveitchik’s argument
- A list of errata to the original text
- Translator’s annotations explaining Soloveitchik’s references and underlying teachings
- A glossary of key terms
- A bibliography of works cited in this edition
- Two indexes: an index of biblical and rabbinic sources and an index of names and subjects incorporating the edition’s full content.
This title is a JPS classic! View the full list here.
Awards
National Jewish Book Award Winner
Praise
“The best single introduction to Jewish religious thought in print.”—Theology Today
“A signal contribution to the development of Jewish thought in this era, Halakhic Man shows Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik at his most brilliant, interacting with modern thought, synthesizing some of its insights with the tradition, and illuminating and turning traditional statements into profound analyses of the human condition. Among the great contributions to this new edition are an important preface by Lawrence J. Kaplan on the reception history of this essay and an introduction articulating his mature presentation of Soloveitchik’s thought—which may well be the finest exposition of his thinking thus far. Reading Soloveitchik through this augmented edition will lead to a well-deserved increased influence of his ideas in the field of religious thought, even beyond Judaism.”—Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg, author of For the Sake of Heaven and Earth
“We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Lawrence J. Kaplan for his brilliant and luminous introduction and exceptionally helpful annotations and glossary to the 40th anniversary edition of the magnificent work he wonderfully translated by one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century.”—Moshe Halbertal, professor in the Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University
“Kaplan has done a tremendous service to the Rav’s legacy in making one of his most important works much more understandable to those who… not only want to feel the gravitational pull of the Rav’s thought, but to actually understand those thoughts as well.”—Jewish Link
“…a major contribution for readers without prior philosophical experience who are undertaking the task of reading Halakhic Man.”—The Jewish Press
“Kaplan provides a compelling interpretation of the book, showing how the relationship between ‘worldliness’ and ‘otherworldliness’ is, as Soloveitchik says, the ‘central antinomy’ of Halakhic Man—it is the contradiction which permeates the book’s entire unified-if-convoluted structure. While the book’s lay audience has presumably always been able to glean many key ideas from the book, Kaplan’s preface shows how even Soloveitchik’s original readers often missed the essay’s central theme, and his interpretation will help many see the forest in the trees.”—The Lehrhaus
