The Beginning
(Genesis 1:1–2; Hebrews 11:1–3)

1. 1-bit Loneliness By Joseph Horak Mac Os Catalina
2. 1-bit Loneliness By Joseph Horak Mac Os 8

1. The Story of the Bible — view — Genesis — view — Exodus — view —.
2. Soloveitchik, the rabbi known as 'The Rav' by his followers worldwide, was a leading authority on the meaning of Jewish law and prominent force in building bridges between traditional Orthodox Judaism and the modern world.
3. Create beautiful school newsletters, updates, and announcements. Smore makes it easy to stay connected. But don’t just take it from us.

(Horak et al., 2003; Nava et al., 2009). The 26 species belonging to the The 26 species belonging to the genus Hyalomma Koch, 1844 are widespread in Palearctic. Covers: MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Windows NT, and Novell Netware. OS: General Holland, R. Microprocessors and their Operating Systems: A Comprehensive Guide to 8-, 16- and 32-Bit Hardware, Assembly Language and Computer Architecture.

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2He was with God in the beginning.3Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.4In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.5The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcomea it.

The Witness of John

6There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John.7He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe.8He himself was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

9The true Light who gives light to every man was coming into the world.10He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.11He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.12But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—13children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.

The Word Became Flesh
(Psalm 84:1–12)

14The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.b We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Sonc from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’”

16From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.18No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God andd is at the Father’s side,e has made Him known.

The Mission of John the Baptist
(Isaiah 40:1–5; Matthew 3:1–12; Mark 1:1–8; Luke 3:1–20)

19And this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”20He did not refuse to confess, but openly declared, “I am not the Christ.”

21“Then who are you?” they inquired. “Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

22So they said to him, “Who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

23John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“I am a voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”f

24Then the Pharisees who had been sent25asked him, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26“I baptize withg water,” John replied, “but among you stands One you do not know.27He is the One who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

28All this happened at Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Jesus the Lamb of God
(Matthew 3:13–17; Mark 1:9–11; Luke 3:21–22)

29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!30This is He of whom I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’31I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”

32Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and resting on Him.33I myself did not know Him, but the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’34I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.h”

The First Disciples
(Matthew 4:18–22; Mark 1:16–20; Luke 5:1–11)

35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.36When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”37And when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

1-bit Loneliness By Joseph Horak Mac Os Catalina

38Jesus turned and saw them following. “What do you want?” He asked.

They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?”

39“Come and see,” He replied. So they went and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him. It was about the tenth hour.i

40Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s testimony and followed Jesus.41He first found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated as Christ).

42Andrew brought him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated as Peter).

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

43The next day Jesus decided to set out for Galilee. Finding Philip, He told him, “Follow Me.”44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter.

1-bit Loneliness By Joseph Horak Mac Os 8

45Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

46“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”

48“How do You know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”

49“Rabbi,” Nathanael answered, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

50Jesus said to him, “Do you believe just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”51Then He declared, “Truly, truly, I tell you, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”j

It was the summer of 2014, and I was pursuing my Masters’ degree in Jewish Education and Administration at the Azrieli Graduate School of Yeshiva University. The institution’s hybrid nature intrigued me, and I developed a keen desire to understand its underpinnings and history.

Late one night, as I sat hunched over a pile of books in the Gottesman library engaged in some fascinating research, a rare photograph caught my eye.

The photograph, taken in 1974, portrayed Rabbi Dr. Samuel Belkin, erstwhile president of Yeshiva University, standing together with Hacham Ovadia Yosef (former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel), and Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. The thought struck me that although I was highly knowledgeable about the life and legacy of Hacham Ovadia Yosef, I knew nothing at all about Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. This notion perturbed me, and I felt driven to learn more. When I read his famous philosophical essay, The Lonely Man of Faith, I knew I had found an influencer who would impact my life.

Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik

Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903-1993), known as “The Rav” by his followers, was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher. He dealt extensively with the meaning of Jewish law, and notably helped mediate between traditional Orthodox Judaism and the modern world. Rabbi Soloveitchik founded the Maimonides School in Boston where he resided, and for many years made the commute to New York City to teach at Yeshiva University. He was Rosh Yeshiva of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University.

The Lonely Man of Faith

In The Lonely Man of Faith, first published as an essay in Tradition magazine in 1965, Rabbi Soloveitchik investigates the essential loneliness of the person of faith in our narcissistic, materially oriented, utilitarian society.

In this thought-provoking work, the rabbi investigates the dual nature of man through an in-depth analysis of the apparent contradictions in the portrayals of Adam in each of the two creation stories presented in the Book of Genesis. In the first Genesis account, Adam I is commanded to dominate the earth. In the second account, Adam II is placed in the Garden of Eden in a close relationship to God. Adam I is described as a technologically sophisticated, utilitarian secular figure, while Adam the II is represented as a more spiritual creature in touch with the Divine.

According to Rabbi Soloveitchik, this textual disparity represents the fundamental paradox integral to the human condition. Man is driven simultaneously by two conflicting urges: his desire to dominate the world and fulfill his practical needs on the one hand, and a quest for meaning which requires complete submissiveness to God, on the other. Faith is lonely because it cannot be fully understood by the secularly-oriented aspect of the human psyche intent on controlling the environment. So the human being both craves faith and evades it.

As the essay unfolds, the rabbi delves into an ever-deepening analysis of the internal experience of those who seek both creative, domination-inspired engagement with the world, and redemptive closeness with God. With characteristic brilliance, he delineates the person of faith’s lifelong struggle to navigate between the spiritual and the material, the religious and the scientific, the covenantal and the majestic.

What made Rabbi Soloveitchik lonely?

A close reading of this work reveals its author as a man torn between two conflicting aspects of the human condition. Within his life, Rabbi Soloveitchik stood out as “a man of faith” in touch with the human need for submissive faith in God, even as he proactively engaged with the modern world intent on shedding this component of its existence. The rabbi writes in his memoir, “I am lonely because, in my humble, inadequate way, I am a man of faith for whom to be means to believe…. Apparently, in this role as a man of faith, I must experience a sense of loneliness which is of a compound nature.” [1]

The rabbi’s loneliness stemmed from the inability of the secular society he inhabited to come to terms with the notion of faith so fundamental to his existence. However, the way I see it, the rabbi’s loneliness was more than just the outcome of his experience of faith, but also a necessary prerequisite for him to reach ever deeper levels in this faith. In my evaluation, man can only truly connect to God from a place of aloneness, from a place of connection to one’s self, a silent place devoid of extraneous distractions. Thus, even the solitude so profoundly experienced by Rabbi Soloveitchik was dual in nature: it functioned both as a means of furthering his connection to God, and as an inevitable outcome of each level of connection he achieved.

My perspective on the loneliness-creativity connection

The nucleus of the word “loneliness” is “alone,” and it is only by silencing the voices external to oneself, that man can connect to his own inner core. As I suggested above, this state of aloneness is a prerequisite for the human being to develop his personal relationship with God, achieve true faith, and find fulfillment in his capacity as the spiritually-oriented Adam II. But there is even more to loneliness than this. This loneliness is necessary as well in order for a person’s creativity and unique style of expression and interaction to begin to blossom, allowing him to find fulfillment even in his role as the creative Adam I. Thus, the loneliness intrinsic to the life of the man of faith, is actually a gift that enables him to find fulfillment on every level.

Loneliness stems from the awareness of our own unique individuality. In the words of Rabbi Soloveitchik, “‘to be,’ by definition, ‘means to be the only one, singular and different, and consequently lonely.” But this loneliness, grim as it might seem to us sometimes, is what enables us to live our lives most profoundly: remaining true to ourselves even while interacting with the community, and humbly relying on God – the true source of creativity – even while engaged in “majestic” pursuits.

On some level or another, each one of us is “a lonely man of faith.” The role of loneliness in our lives is to mobilize us into finding our truest selves, seeking the solace of God, and wielding our unique form of creativity to fulfill the Godly mandate of conquering nature. Every person experiences this gift of loneliness in his own unique way.

Personally, this idea resonates with me strongly, as it is the sense of loneliness I experience in my quest to preserve the heritage of Sephardic Jewry that powers my creative drive to research, write and produce. Although I have many colleagues who are active in this realm as well, and equally as passionate as I to keep the Sephardic heritage alive, I feel utterly alone in the sense of urgency I ascribe to this mission. My awareness that the future of our community is contingent upon a solid understanding of our history and roots is what fuels my deep concern for the next generation. As today turns into tomorrow and the present morphs into the future, my sense of urgency deepens. And so does my sense of loneliness.

But it is precisely this feeling that propels me to reach out to God for assistance, and to reach inward in discovery of my deepest wellsprings of creativity.

—

[1] Lonely Man of Faith, Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Crown Publishing Group, page 4-5.

Edited by Brocha Speyer