Work and Material Creation in the Teaching of R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik

Abstract

Rabbi Joseph Ber Halevi Soloveitchik (1903–1993), one of the most prominent religious Zionist rabbis as well as the leader of Modern Jewish Orthodoxy in the U.S., presented a theologically consistent approach to the issue of work and material production, to which he ascribed a religious value. His leading principle in his consideration of work and material production emerged from the Halakhic dictum, “You shall walk in His ways,” a commandment that demands that human beings follow the ways of God, emulating His actions and His attributes. In Rabbi Soiloveitchik’s view, just as God worked to fashion the world of matter, so must man work, take action, and create.