Rabbi Soloveitchik: Would the Rav Approve of the Soloveitchik Siddur?

Monday, July 7, 2025

Would the Rav Approve of the Soloveitchik Siddur? - Leherhaus Yaakov Jaffe

Yaakov Jaffe

Editor’s Note: This is Part II of a two-part series on using ideological preferences for choosing non-ideological texts. The previous article considered generally the criteria for choosing Humashim and Siddurim. This article analyzes the Soloveitchik Siddur in light of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s Hashkafah.
In my previous article, I discussed the dangers of choosing and producing ritual texts with the express purpose of aligning them to our ideology. My primary concerns were twofold. First, intentionally crafting and forming these texts with an eye to meet a particular ideological agenda carries a grave risk that we might sacrifice the focus on prayer or Torah study, instead distracted by the ideological battles of the day. Second, we are all painfully aware of the nuance and range of views and approaches within Modern Orthodoxy, so in all likelihood any text that might be produced would speak for one group of Modern Orthodox Jews, not for all.
Thus, my preference would be to switch back to ideologically neutral Siddurim. Literal translations, minimal commentaries, simple instructions. This enables the individual at prayer to read his or her own ideology into the blank slate of the ancient words, instead of turning to an ideological view overlaid on those ancient words.
I turn now to one particular Siddur, crafted for the Modern Orthodox community and ideological viewpoint, which clearly highlights these two problems. This Siddur is a trustworthy beacon for Modern Orthodox theology—but it is precisely this fealty to theory and philosophy which can distract from prayer. And as I become more attuned to the precise theology of the Siddur, I notice more and more of a fault line between this Siddur and the conventional approach to prayer in contemporary Modern Orthodoxy and the precise theology of prayer of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, and so I wonder whether the creation of a new Modern Orthodox Siddur will ever meet my personal needs, or will always just reflect another nuanced instantiation of our movement, but not my own.
This analysis focuses on the Koren Masoret Ha-Rav Siddur, edited by Arnold Lustiger and published by Koren in 2011. It reflects upon both this Siddur’s role within the controversy over approaches to prayer and prayer texts, and its relationship to the approach to prayer propounded by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, the Rav zt”l.

Would the Rav Approve of the Soloveitchik Siddur?

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Our interest in humanity

"There are religiously committed Jews who are indifferent to the concerns of the larger non-Jewish society. They are content to reside in isolated communities with unconcern, if not actual disdain, for the Gentile world and for the problems which afflict humanity. This introversion can be explained as a reaction to the centuries-old derision and persecution which have been the Jewish historical experience and to which they were subjected with particular ferocity in modern times. Nowadays, there are particular aspects of moral perversion afflicting the general society which are repellant to Jewish sensibilities. Nevertheless, this insularity cannot be vindicated as authentic Judaism even if it can be understood and justified in particular historical periods and situations." Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Man of Faith in the Modern World, p. 73.

The Beauty of Religion

The error of modern representatives of religion is that they promise their congregants the solution to all the problems of life − an expectation which religion does not fulfill. Religion, on the contrary, deepens the problems but never intends to solve them. The grandeur of religion lies in its mysterium tremendum its magnitude and its ultimate incomprehensibility. To cite one example, we may adduce the problem of theodicy, the justification of evil in the world, that has tantalized the inquiring mind from time immemorial till this last tragic decade. The acuteness of this problem has grown for the religious person in essence and dimensions. When a minister, rabbi, or priest attempts to solve the ancient question of Job's suffering through as sermon or lecture, he does not promote religious ends, but, on the contrary, does them a disservice. The beauty of religion with its grandiose vistas reveals itself to men, not in solutions but in problems, not in harmony but in the constant conflict of diversified forces and trends.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, "Sacred and Profane", Gesher, Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 7 in Besdin, A, Reflections of the Rav, p. 224)

Ethical Values

…the religious person is given not only a duty to follow the halakha but also a value and vision. The person performing the duty seeks to realize this ideal or vision. Kant felt that the duty of consciousness expresses only a "must" without a value. He demanded a routine form of compliance, an "ought" without aiming at a value. As a soldier carries out his duty to the commanding officer, one may appreciate his service or just obey through discipline and orders. Kant's ethics are a "formal ethics", the goal is not important. For us it would be impossible to behave this way. An intelligent person must find comfort, warmth, and a sense of fulfillment in the law. We deal with ethical values, not ethical formalisms. A sense of pleasure must be gained by fulfilling a norm. The ethical act must have an end and purpose. We must become holy.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Mesorat HaRav Siddur, p. 112-3