Nietzsche’s influence on Rav Soloveitchik

THE 19TH-CENTURY German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, is best known for announcing the “death of God”. He also shattered our moral certainties and encouraged the “free spirit” who “hates all habituation and rules” — hardly someone you would expect to meet in a yeshivah. Yet, as this book shows, Nietzsche exerted a profound influence on Rabbi Joseph B Soloveitchik, one of the leading Orthodox thinkers of the 20th century.

So what did Soloveitchik see in Nietzsche? Rynhold and Harris answer this question by taking us on a journey deep into the centre of these personalities, brilliantly clarifying many aspects of Nietzsche’s thought, while taking in other Jewish thinkers along the way, such as Maimonides and Rav Kook.

In short, Rabbi Soloveitchik shared with Nietzsche a belief in creativity, a sense of the heroic and an affirmation of this life. Soloveitchik declared: “It is this world which constitutes the stage for the halachah.” Fear of punishment or the expectation of reward are not positive motivators. Nietzsche and Soloveitchik both also sought to cultivate the elite and cared less for the masses, Soloveitchik remarking that no process of democratisation can alter the fact that “the brilliant mind accomplishes more, the dull — less”.

Soloveitchik, like Nietzsche, also distrusted the use of human emotion as a barometer for moral action. Kindness (chesed) involves not just pity but “the opening up of a personal, unique, closed-in existence”. Repentance (teshuvah) is not about guilt over the past but embracing the future — “Sin is the generating force, the springboard which pushes [us] higher and higher”.

Soloveitchik was able to draw on traditional sources that reflected these sympathies but pushed against Nietzsche when his views were clearly beyond the pale. Jewish tradition is not infinitely malleable.

This is an academic work, but its relevance reaches beyond the academy. Through Rynhold’s and Harris’ intellectual archaeology and forensic analysis we come to understand how tradition absorbs external philosophies, even those critical of religion, and uses them to sweep aside the debris and to refresh itself.