Studies Exploring the Influence of Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik on Culture, Education and Jewish Thought
An International Conference Commemorating the Centenary of his Birth

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, December 29–31, 2003
The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

Monday, December 29, 2003

9:30-10:00 – Opening Session
Dr. Shimshon Zelniker, Greetings
Dr. Avinoam Rosenak, Opening Remarks

10:00-12:00 – Theoretical and Philosophical Studies
Chair: Rabbi Prof. Naftali Rothenberg
Dr. Hanoch Ben Pazi, Psychoanalytical Aspects of Soloveitchik’s Philosophical Inquiries (Hebrew)
Dr. Moshe Meir, Rabbi Soloveitchik as a Mediator between Orthodoxy and Hermann Cohen’s Thought (Hebrew)
Prof. Reinier Munk, Joseph B. Soloveitchik on Hermann Cohen
Dr. Daniel Rynhold, Letting the Facts Get in the Way of a Good Thesis: Rabbi Soloveitchik’s Philosophical Methodology

12:15-13:45 – Education: Between Particularism and Universality
Chair: Tova Ilan
Prof. Michael Rosenak, Contemporary Jewish Education: Six Foci of Deliberation (Hebrew)
Rabbi Dr. Daniel Tropper, The Impact of a Great Personality in the Absence of a Personality Cult (Hebrew)
Dr. Jonathan Cohen, Soloveitchik and Berkovits: Conceptions of History in Modern Orthodoxy (Hebrew)

14:30-16:00 – The Concept of History and its Educational Implications
Chair: Prof. Hannah Kasher
Dr. Elie Holzer, A Critical Discussion of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s Hermeneutical Theory
(Hebrew)
Jason Kalman, Job at the Crossroads: The Place of Soloveitchik’s Kol Dodi Dofek within the Exegetical History of the Book of Job
Dr. Jeffrey R. Woolf, History, Historical Awareness and Halakha in the Philosophy of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik (Hebrew)

16:15-18:15 – Panel Debate: Inherent Tensions in Modern Orthodoxy
Chair: Rabbi Prof. Naftali Rothenberg
Participants: Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, Rabbi Prof. Carmi Horowitz, Rabbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein, Prof. Aviezer Ravitzky

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

09:00-11:00 – Aggada and Midrash: Social and Political Repercussions
Chair: Dafna Schreiber
Dr. Yoel Finkelman, Ta'amei HaMitzvot in Contemporary Orthodox Discourse: Between Rabbi Soloveitchik and Popular Religion (Hebrew)
Dr. Israel Rozenson, Soloveitchik’s Perception of Aggada: The Philosophical, Hermeneutical, Politico-Cultural Repercussions (Hebrew)
Dr. Yehoyada Amir, Rabbi Soloveitchik as a Cultural Agent and a Religious Leader: A Critical Review of The Lonely Man of Faith and Kol Dodi Dofek (Hebrew)
Dr. Kalman Neuman, “Modern Orthodoxy” or “Religious Zionism”: on the Acceptance of Rabbinic Authority (Hebrew)

11:15-13:15 – Human Rights and the Status of Women
Chair: Dr.Yehoyada Amir
Blu Greenberg, Rabbi Soloveitchik and the New Values for Women
Chana Kehat, Gender Relations and Gender Equality in Rabbi Soloveitchik’s Thought
(Hebrew)
Prof. Steven Wilf, Rabbi Soloveitchik and the Lawyers
Dr. Sarit Bensimhon-Peleg, The Responsibility for the Other: J.B. Soloveitchik and Universal Human Rights (Hebrew)

13:45-15:45 – Social and Cultural Influences
Chair: Dr. Shmuel Wygoda
Prof. Chaim I. Waxman, Thought, Socio-culture and Structure: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik as the Leader of Modern Orthodoxy in the U.S. (Hebrew)
Rabbi Dr. Shaul Farber, The Boston Career of Rabbi Soloveitchik (Hebrew)
Prof. Jeffrey S. Gurock, The State of Twentieth-Century American Orthodoxy before Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Prof. Mervin F. Verbit, The Changing Cultural Context of Contemporary Orthodoxy

16:00-18:00 – Rabbi Soloveitchik and the World of Erudition
Chair: Dr. Avinoam Rosenak
Dr. Aviad Hacohen, The Legal Methodology of Rabbi Soloveitchik: What’s New? (Hebrew)
Dr. Menachem Kovacs, Rabbi Soloveitchik as the Melamed
Rabbi Dr. Avraham Walfish, Brisk at the Crossroads: Between Text and Concept (Hebrew)
Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Pick, Rabbi Soloveitchik and the Academic Study of Talmud and its Implications

18:15-20:15 – Panel Debate: Modernity and the Halakha
Chair: Dr. Avinoam Rosenak
Participants: Prof. Izhak Englard, Rabbi Prof. David Hartman, Rabbi Yuval Sherlo

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

09:30-11:00 – Education and Halakha
Chair: Dr. Uzi Rebhun
Prof. Michael Zvi Nehoray– Rabbi Soloveitchik on the Limits of Human Freedom (Hebrew)
Dr. Moshe Sokolow, Developing a Tefillah Curriculum based upon the Writings of Rabbi Soloveitchik (Hebrew)
Dr. Dvir Abramovich, Rabbi Soloveitchik’s Social and Educational Influence in Australia

11:15-12:45 – Between Judaism and Christianity
Chair: Rabbi Prof. Naftali Rothenberg
Prof. Reuven Kimelman, Soloveitchik and Heschel: Two Jewish Alternative Views on Jewish-Christian Dialogue
Dr. Christian M. Rutishauser, Is Soloveitchik’s Conception of Halakhic Existence Open to a Jewish-Christian Encounter?
Dr. Eugene Korn, Rabbi Soloveitchik and Theological Dialogue in Light of Contemporary Christian Theologies

13: 30-15:00 – The Various Streams of the Jewish Thought with reference to the Writings of Rabbi Soloveitchik
Chair: Dr. Kimmy Caplan
Prof. Lawrence Kaplan, Rabbi Soloveitchik’s Lonely Man of Faith in Contemporary Modern Orthodox Thought
Prof. Hannah Kasher, Soloveitchik’s Writings and the Israeli Reader (Hebrew)

15:15-17:15 – Inter and Outer Evolutions according to Soloveitchik’s Doctrine
Chair: Prof. Rachel Elior
Dr. Joseph Turner, The Relevance of Philosophical Discussion to Non-Orthodox Jewish Thought in Rabbi Soloveitchik’s Halakhic Mind (Hebrew)
Prof. Alan Brill, Triumph without Battle: The Dialectic Approach to Culture of Brunner and Barth in the Thought of Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik
Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Strikovsky, Translation of the Discourse of Faith into Contemporary Modern Language (Hebrew)
Rabbi Reuven Ziegler, Personal Revelation in Philosophical Discourse: New Insights from Rabbi Soloveitchik's Archives

17:30-19:00 – Final Session
Chair: Dr. Avinoam Rosenak
Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, Three Doors Rabbi Soloveitchik Opened But Did Not Walk Through: The Future of Modern Orthodoxy
Dr. Tovah Lichtenstein, The Rav from a Distance: Retrospective Reflections (Hebrew)