Halakhic Man

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903–1993) was one of the twentieth century’s outstanding talmudists and Jewish thinkers. Drawing on a vast reservoir of Jewish and general knowledge, he brought Jewish thought and law to bear on the interpretation and assessment of the modern experience and inspired generations of students. Soloveitchik’s first major published work, Ish ha-Halakhah (Halakhic Man), is widely acknowledged as a classic in modern Jewish thought. Lawrence J. Kaplan is an associate professor of Jewish studies at McGill University. He is best known for his studies of Soloveitchik and for his translation from the Hebrew of Soloveitchik’s classic Ish ha-Halakhah (Halakhic Man), lauded by scholars as the gold standard for Soloveitchik translations.

"A major contribution for readers without prior philosophical experience who are undertaking the task of reading Halakhic Man."-Jewish Press "Kaplan has done a tremendous service to the Rav's legacy in making one of his most important works much more understandable to those who . . . not only want to feel the gravitational pull of the Rav's thought, but to actually understand those thoughts as well."-Jewish Link “A signal contribution to the development of Jewish thought in this era, Halakhic Man shows Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik at his most brilliant, interacting with modern thought, synthesizing some of its insights with the tradition, and illuminating and turning traditional statements into profound analyses of the human condition. Among the great contributions to this new edition are an important preface by Lawrence J. Kaplan on the reception history of this essay and an introduction articulating his mature presentation of Soloveitchik’s thought-which may well be the finest exposition of his thinking thus far. Reading Soloveitchik through this augmented edition will lead to a well-deserved increased influence of his ideas in the field of religious thought, even beyond Judaism.”-Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg, author of For the Sake of Heaven and Earth “We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Lawrence J. Kaplan for his brilliant and luminous introduction and exceptionally helpful annotations and glossary to the 40th anniversary edition of the magnificent work he wonderfully translated by one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century.”-Moshe Halbertal, professor in the Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University

• Translator’s Preface 40th Anniversary Edition Translator’s Acknowledgments 40th Anniversary Edition Translator’s Introduction 40th Anniversary Edition Halakhic Man     Original Preface and Text List of Errata to Original EditionTranslator’s Annotations 40th Anniversary Edition Translator’s Glossary 40th Anniversary Edition Translator’s Bibliography 40th Anniversary Edition Index of Sources 40th Anniversary Edition Index of Names and Subjects 40th Anniversary Edition