Foreward [to Majesty and Humility]

Abstract

One such leader and teacher was Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, the Rav. In his lifetime, Rabbi Soloveitchik was well-known and highly respected for his original mind and charismatic personality, his intimate knowledge of and appreciation for the totality of Jewish tradition while enjoying mastery over the philosophical contributions of Western culture, his intense fealty to the mesorah combined with a real openness to the best in the world around him, his spellbinding oratorical skills and charming sense of humor, his radical intellectual honesty and demanding search for truth, his dazzling intellect and total lack of pretense, his extraordinary power of self-revelation and deepseated sense of privacy, the courage of his convictions to blaze his own trail, to do what he felt was right even when it was not easy, and his amazing ability to present our tradition, unadulterated and uncompromised, in a way that profoundly resonated with the modern American mind. He was an extraordinary teacher, a master pedagogue, who challenged and excited young and old alike. But Rabbi Soloveitchik is no longer with us. His physical presence has passed on and the world that he was is gone. But new worlds remain to be created; new generations, including our own, need to be nurtured and educated. And, for us to be successful at this task, to face the challenges of our times, to inspire the members of our generation and those yet unborn to thrive in the joy of Jewish living and learning, we need to understand his teachings and appreciate their relevance to us. What needs to endure for the future is the substance of his ideas, the compelling nature of his teachings, and the content of his Torah. (from Conclusion)