Editing Joseph Dov Soloveitchik (Boston) (section)

== Biography ==
Born in Pruzhan, Poland, on 12 Adar 5663. In his youth, he grew up in the town of Chaslavich, which had a large Chabad Chassidic community. There he studied with the melamed Rabbi Baruch Yaakov Rizberg-Pavzner, and as a result, he frequently studied the Tanya with Chabad Chassidim. At age 22, he began studying at the University of Berlin. According to his own testimony preserved in his personal file in Berlin, he had previously studied at the University of Warsaw. At Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, he studied philosophy, mathematics, physics, and psychology (according to his brother-in-law Prof. Henry Lisman). However, he primarily studied philosophy, focusing on Neo-Kantianism, and in 1932 received his doctorate, which he wrote on the philosophy of the German-Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen.

At the University of Berlin, he had the privilege of meeting the Rebbe, who studied with him at the same university. For one year, he also studied at the Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin, where he was introduced to the "Torah im Derech Eretz" (Torah with worldly conduct) approach of German Jewry.

The Gaon Rabbi Avraham Shapira, author of "Dvar Avraham," testified about Rabbi Soloveitchik that he "rules over the sea of Talmud to its deepest depths... and the halacha follows him in every place." Rabbi Soloveitchik's father, Rabbi Moshe, testified that "my master, father, and teacher... (Rabbi Chaim of Brisk) prophesied about him that he was destined for greatness, as during his lifetime he saw a booklet of his Torah insights, and his amazement then cannot be described, and he said that it is the Torah of truth... he knows the entire Torah from beginning to end with deep and clear knowledge..."

In 5691 (1931), he married Tonya Lewitt, and in 5692 (1932), he immigrated to the United States. After the passing of his father, Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik, on 3 Shevat 5701 (1941), he inherited his position as the head of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, despite opposition from some quarters, but with the support of the Previous Rebbe (Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn). Rabbi Soloveitchik delivered lectures for over forty years at this yeshiva and also served as a professor of Jewish thought. He became a spiritual leader for many Jews in the United States, and many of America's rabbis were his students.