About The Rav
Biography
Film
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Documentary Film: Lonely Man of Faith
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Rav Soloveitchik Returns, Saturday Night Event Draws Large Crowd (Elliot Kaminetzky, YU Commentator)
NY Premiere Screening of Lonely Man of Faith Draws Capacity Crowd (YU News)
Facebook Page
NY Times Article
ABC News Now
Arrange a screening in the US by contacting Matt Stein
Arrange a screening in Israel by contacting Go2Films
Books
 The Rav |
 An American Orthodox Dreamer |
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| The Soloveitchik Heritage | Davening with the Rav, Rabbi Mendi Gopin |
(Hebrew) Nefesh HaRav, by Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Reishis
Yerushalayim,
Hebrew Translation of Yiddish Sections of MeiPeninei Rabbienu (Rav Hershel Schachter, www.torahweb.org)
Articles
Encyclopaedia Judaica (
Great
Leaders of Our People (Orthodox
Mail Jewish List Serve Biography
Re-writing the Biography of Rav Soloveitchik (Manfred R. Lehman)
YU Commentator Series
A Special Zechut: Serving as the Rav's Shamosh (Rabbi Yosef
Adler)
Ma'aseh Rav ~ V'dok (Daniel Greer)
Memories of Kindness (Dr. Rivkah Teitz Blau)
My First Year in the Rav's Shiur
On Translating Ish ha-Halakhah with the Rav (Dr. Lawrence Kaplan)
The Impact of the Rav's Presence on Yeshiva (Rabbi Yosef Blau)
The Lonely Man
The Rav and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel (Rabbi Charles Weinberg)
The Rav and the High Holidays
The Rav as an Aging Giant (1983-1985) (Rabbi Howard Jachter)
The Rav at Revel - The Rav at RIETS (Rabbi Robert Blau)
The Rav: In and Out of the Classroom
The Rav: My Rebbe
Yosef Eynenu va'Ani Ana Ani Ba: A Bostonian Memoir (Rabbi Jeffrey R. Woolf)
Hespedim (Eulogies)/Reflections
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| Memories of a Giant | Man of Halacha, Man of Faith, edited by Menachem Genack |
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| Mentor of Generations, edited by Zev Eleff |
A Eulogy for the Rav (Rabbi Norman Lamm)
Mail-Jewish on the Rav: The Hespedim
Maran HaRav Zt'l (Chavrusa)
New York Times (by Ari Goldman)
Encounters
Video of Rabbi Sholem B. Kowalsky Discussing a Meeting Between the Rav and the Lubavitcher Rebbe
Miscellaneous
Letter from Moshe Soloveitchik zt'l
On the Importance of the Rav (Menachem Genack, Edah discussion board)
The impact the Rav had was so profound. But you know when I think of it, I was always awestruck all the years I was in his shiur [class]. I'm saying from the moment I first saw the Rav, it was never diminished, not even for a moment, even in death. His genius was just so incomparable in every respect, in breadth and depth, and his eloquence. I was always awestruck by his genius, by such a seminal mind. But I loved him for his integrity, for the sanctity of his soul, for his sense of purpose and always, always that sense of mission. And therefore as we remember him today on the Rav zichron lebracha's [may his memory be for a blessing] third yerzheit we should always remember him and know that God sent him with a mission and we survive and generations untold will survive in terms of their commitment to Torah and mitzvos because he was always driven by this mission. This enormously gifted man, of such tremendous purpose and integrity, such extraordinary qualities, a man of such historic dimensions, we are all in his debt and are his beneficiaries. (Transcipt of comments by R. Menachem Genack on the Rav's third yirtzheit)
When the Rav was hospitalized in Boston, R. Wurzburger saw a Catholic doctor leaving his room saying "thank you Rabbi, thank you." The Rav told R. Wurzburger that the man was a Catholic who had lost his faith, but in discussions, the Rav had convinced him he would be a better doctor if he returned to his religion. (R. Walter Wurzburger, posted by Eitan Fiorino <fiorino@aecom.yu.edu>, Wed, 12 May 93. Vol. 7 #40. )
Toward the end of his tenure at YU, one of us would sleep in the Rav's apartment. The Rav would always wake up early, but I remember once waking up around three o'clock in the morning and realizing that the Rav was not in his bed. He was sitting in his chair in the living room. I asked him what was wrong. Apparently, that afternoon, some individuals had asked him a halachic question. He told them to return the next day for the answer. The Rav said that he knew what the halachah was but that it would be heartbreaking for them. Therefore, he could not sleep. (Rabbi Kenneth Brander, "The Rav as a Personal Rebbe," YU Commentator)
Age nineteen.
There were more religious students on campus, and I was introduced
to the shiurim (lectures) of Rav Yosef Be’er Soloveitchik, zt”l, yet
another revelation! The Rav was a brilliant rabbi, a true master of
Talmud with a doctorate in secular philosophy from the
Aside from his personal accomplishments and his familial success, the Rav during his lifetime was well-respected by all of the major American rabbanim. One Sunday, when I was in my fifties, I returned to Boston to attend the Rav's special Tishah B'Av shiur at the Maimonides School. When I entered the building, I was shocked. There were Satmar hassidim waiting to her the Rav deliver his shiur. I knew a few of them and asked what they were doing there. They answered that they simply wanted to hear what the Rav had to say on Kadshim. I asked them how they found out about the Rav. They answered that the Satmar Rav himself had sent them to hear the Rav. I didn't hesitate; the next morning I went to see the Satmar Rav to ask about this. He responded: "What's the matter with you! Who in the whole world knows Kadshim like Rav Yoshe Ber?" (Rav Henoch Cohen, Mentor of Generations, p. 6)