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Wayward Children?

JL;DR SUMMARY Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's influence on modern Orthodox Judaism is undeniable, yet his intellectual legacy, particularly his approach of integrating Torah with secular knowledge (Torah u'Madda), remains contested. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Orthodox JudaismModern OrthodoxInterfaith DialogueHalakhaJoseph B. SoloveitchikJonathan SacksPost Holocaust TheologyDavid HartmanIrving GreenbergTorah U'madda

Places mentioned

Alabama, United States
"The University of Alabama Press 322 pp., $29.95"
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
"and settled in Boston, where he cofounded the Maimonides School with his wife in 1937."
Warsaw, Mazovia, Poland
"Soloveitchik studied at universities in Warsaw and Berlin and completed a doctoral dissertation in 1932 on Hermann Cohens neo-Kantian theory of knowledge."
Berlin, Germany
"Soloveitchik studied at universities in Warsaw and Berlin and completed a doctoral dissertation in 1932 on Hermann Cohens neo-Kantian theory of knowledge."
Brooklyn, New York, United States
"Greenberg studied with Soloveitchik during his PhD studies in American history at Harvard after he had already been ordained at the Novardok Yeshiva in Brooklyn."
Massachusetts, United States
"at a basketball game held annually at Brandeis Universitys gym between the nondenominational Gann Academy and the Modern Orthodox Maimonides School"
New York City, New York, United States
"From 1941 to 1985, he was the leading rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University, where he ordained thousands of rabbis."
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
"under Bernard Williams at Cambridge before eventually earning a PhD at Kings College."
London, England, United Kingdom
"but he went on to study at Jews College and Etz Chaim Yeshiva in London and studied analytic philosophy (a very different tradition than the one in which Soloveitchik trained) under Bernard Williams at Cambridge before eventually earning a PhD at Kings College."
Bromsgrove, England, United Kingdom
"Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks at a Jewish Cubs & Scouts camp in Bromsgrove, England 1998."
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Cairo Item ID 71995
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Retrieved 2026-01-06 05:31:02 UTC
Curated 2026-01-06 08:31:22 UTC