The Lonely Man of Faith

Rating:
Summary: interesting . . .
Review: and not totally incomprehensible - don't let other reviewers' comments scare you off (though I do think if I reread this book in a few years when I know more, I would get more out of it). Solovetchik asserts that each of us has two halves- the "majestic" half that seeks to conquer the universe, and the half that seeks spirituality through contemplation. He further asserts that people of faith are "lonely" in two ways: (1) though they wish to focus on contemplation, they must also spend time in the material world to be completely fulfilled; (2) in our culture in particular, even religion tends to be oriented towards "majestic" considerations (that is, utilitarian goals) rather than passive contemplation of and obedience to our Creator.

Rating:
Summary: A Spiritual Journey
Review: The subject of a class titled "A Spiritual Journey" taught by our Rabbi, this small book has engendered the deapest spiritual discussions-yet on an intellectual level-which one can imagine. However, be prepared! If you expect to get the most out of this book, you will need a very comprehensive dictionary.

While any serious reader will probably find Soloveitchik's insights helpful, it has to be said that if you don't have a solid, working knowledge of the Hebrew language and its development, together with a thorough knowledge of the Jewish religious traditions, you will miss much. Therefore, study with a Rabbi, as well as with others, is highly recommended to extract the full benefits from this book.

But is it worth it? Absolutely! You will want to read this book over and over again, something which will be easy to do because every sentence of this small volume packs hours of thought provoking insight into its discussion of the two stories of The Creation.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: This is a great and incomparable book, essential, vital, existential, without exasperating mystical/kabbalistic assumptions of any kind, and therefore highly recommended, as well as highly recommendable. Being for some obscure reason already out-of-stock at Amazon, it took me over three months to get it from another US bookseller, for a relatively decent price that is, and while the delivery deadline was being postponed a few times, I finally got my hands on it. It was well worth the wait. This book is truly a humble and decent goldmine, sincere, honest, full of rational cogitations and nuggets of faith. It just astounds me to see the vast panoply of silly cosmic/cosmetic/comic religious literature that is hanging out there in mid-space between haven and hearth, to find out that a book of this quality is either already out-of-print or out-of-stock, or both...

Once in a while, we get a man from the calibre of the Rav. He was one of the rare religious authors that did not attempt to brainwash you (Judaism is Truth, bla bla bla...) or throw dogmatic statements in your face (such and such Eminent person once said that, bla bla bla...), but will instead attempt to bring a rational argument on the table in order for a clear reasoning to emerge and finally see the light. He is also one of the few religious authors that never took his audience for complete morons, or even only half-idiots. His writings are and will always remain a treat and a real pleasure to read and ponder upon. Sadly enough, his decency and modesty allowed him to write only two or three books, which finally all wound up being emulated, extended, diluted, copied, vulgarised, etc. The Lonely Man of Faith was one of them, and Halakhic Man was another one. Both remain highly indispensable, and if you're in your right mind, you shouldn't miss out on either one of them. Anyway, if you are interested in the writings and the sayings of the Rav, and have read this review up to here, then there's really no need for me to detail the contents of this book (personal redemption versus public reputation), or to make a hazardous pseudo-political statement about the profits of so-called trans-faith breeding and/or various cross-religion experiences and/or existentialist biblical philosophy... bla bla bla... In the end, children, just like sheep, have just one thing in common: they are being lead... sometimes they are being lead to great men, sometimes they are being lead to great books, and sometimes they are being lead to both... just allow yourself to be lead, and maybe you will one day realize that most of your problems finally end where they have actually just started, i.e. either in your own mind, or in other people's minds...

Let me nevertheless state that Rav Joseph Soloveitchik was one of the rare Jewish authors that did not get entangled and enslaved to a mystic view of the rudimentary cosmic elements of this world, but was able to order elements appropriately according to sound textual exegesis, i.e. he did not order his mental faculties according to some view of worldly elements (as most mystics and Gnostics end up doing) or some specific scholastic teachings (as most hungry students and kababalists end up doing, before most wound up as either agnostics or crazies, or both), but rather he ordered the rudimentary elements of this world according to his (excellent) mental faculties (first things first), and based upon his own (deep and profound) comprehension of sacred texts.

Rav Joseph Soloveitchik was everything but an ignoramus, and the Lonely Man Of Faith (ten chapters) deserves actually not five, but ten stars... Every single word is pondered, and there is not a single superfluous sentence... This book is and remains highly recommended, and I doubt that there ever will be a more elaborate non-dogmatic comprehensive text on the subject of the first and second Adam.