Torah and Western Thought: Intellectual Portraits of Orthodoxy and Modernity

by Meir Y. Soloveichik (Editor), Stuart W. Halpern (Editor), Shlomo Zuckier (Editor)

Even as the twentieth century will be remembered for the West’s loss of faith, Jewish Orthodoxy experienced in that very time a golden age of leaders and teachers who sought to bridge the world of Torah and that of the West. Some of these Torah figures were deeply impacted by an academic field, such as philosophy or lit¬erature. Others developed a Torah-based perspective on develop¬ments within the West, such as the rise of Zionism, democracy, or biotechnology. Still others reflected on the very nature of religious knowledge. The Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva Uni¬versity invited twenty-first century thinkers to paint intellectual portraits of these luminaries, illustrating how each figure bridged the worlds of Torah and the West in a unique way. The essays are meant to inspire Orthodox Jews and all intellectually engaged in¬dividuals of faith to learn from the lives of these luminaries, and to have the courage to bridge these worlds as well. Great thinkers examined in this volume include Rabbi Yehuda Amital, Rabbi Yitzchak Herzog, Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits, Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook, Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, Prof. Nechama Leibowitz, Rabbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein, Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Rabbi Dr. Isadore Twersky. With essays by contemporary scholars Rabbi Shalom Carmy, Rabbi Dr. Carmi Horowitz, Dr. Alan Jotkowitz, Dr. Yehudah Mirsky, Dr. Daniel Rynhold, Rabbi Dr. David Shatz, Rabbi Dr. Meir Y. Soloveichik, Yael Unterman, Rabbi Dr. Itamar Warhaftig, Rabbi Reuven Ziegler, and Rabbi Shlomo Zuckier.

Genres: Judaism, History, Jewish

469 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 12, 2016

Reviews

[Amir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super interesting -- collection of the greatest thinkers in modern Orthodox thinking -- from Rav Kook and Soloveichik to Lichtenstein and Twersky (and a few people who aren't related to each other too). For anyone who wants to understand their biographies as well as how their ideas have moved the movement, I recommend. It's nicely compiled into individual essays, so you can also just chunk it at opportune times. Certainly not recommended for the casual or totally uneducated reader though.

[ari poyurs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully informative

I absolutely loved this book and I really found it helpful in terms of giving me perspective on the depth and breadth of what is out there in terms of contemporary, Orthodox Judaism.

[Yehudit Epstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

[John Minster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dense and insightful discussions of some of the most important modern Jewish thinkers

[The Jewish Book Council]

Review by Jonathan Fass for the Jewish Book Council.