Rabbi Haym Soloveitchik was born in Boston in 1937. He is the son of Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik (1903-1993), the «Rob,» who served as director of the rabbinical seminary at Yeshivah University for over 50 years, during which time he ordained over 2,000 Modern Orthodox rabbis. Haym is currently a research professor at that university, specializing in Jewish history and literature.

In his essay, «Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy,» Haym Soloveitchik distinguishes between the traditional practice of Judaism learned by imitation and the textual practice learned from books. He argues that, in Europe, before the Holocaust, Judaism was learned at home, much as one’s native language was learned: by observing and imitating what one’s elders did, especially parents and grandparents. Parents celebrated Passover the same way they saw their grandparents celebrating it. They learned the «recipe» for how to hold a Seder from watching their elders do it, and they understood that it wasn’t an exact science, that it had to be adapted to each particular situation. Of course, there was a «recipe book» that was read and studied, but the way to pray, eat, drink, dress, have sex, work, and even rest—in general, the way of life—wasn’t learned by studying a manual, but was absorbed at home, on the street, in the synagogue, and at school.

But now, how to hold a Passover Seder is learned from a manual that is becoming more and more detailed. The «mother tongue» is now learned by studying grammar books, not by listening to our mother speak. And this was a complete change. It even turns out that our mother no longer speaks her own language correctly, compared to the grammar manual. Manuals now dictate how to do everything, including how to live. Religious texts prevailed over traditional Jewish practice. The tragedy of the Holocaust, with the loss of the continuity of Jewish life, was the turning point in this process that imposed the practice of textual Judaism over the practice of traditional Judaism. The change was brought about by works such as the Mishnah Brurah of the Chofetz Chaim, which its author wrote based on an enormous amount of rabbinic literature, but not on references to daily practice.

Those most affected by this rupture were the Haredim themselves, the ultra-Orthodox Jews. Especially those who have just become observant, when they weren’t before, the «chozer vetshuvah,» because they practice a Judaism that they didn’t experience at home and had to learn from a manual. For example, Haym Soloveitchik explains it this way: «Today’s kosher kitchen, with its rigid separation between milk and meat, with its two sets of dishes, two sinks, two draining boards, two shelves, two sets of dishcloths and tablecloths, even two cupboards, has no basis in Halacha, much less in the way our parents made it. The simple fact is that traditional Jewish cooking, passed down from mother to daughter for generations, is now unrecognizable and has been immensely amplified beyond halachic requirements.» We’re moving from a home-made Judaism to one based solely on a printed text.

By: Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Haym Soloveichik: “Rupture and reconstruction: the transformation of contemporary orthodoxy”