Th, },arnal ,fJ.wish Th,aght and Philosophy, Vol. 9, pp.

107-126 © 1999
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'The Intellect is the Bond Between

Us and Him': Joseph B. Soloveitchik
on Divine Names and Communion
with God through the Intellect
Reinier Munk
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

The purpose of philosophy is to kn(}UJthe Creator,

for He is the real God ( ... )
but the fruit of philosophy and the result of it is
to imitate His acts accordingto one's ability. 1

The present essay is an analysis of some of the main features

in the thought of Joseph B. Soloveitchik as articulated in
"U-viqqashtem mi-sham".2 The essay will bring into focus, first
of all, Soloveitchik's interpretation of the divine names '1 am
that 1 am' and the tetragrammaton. Secondly, the essay will
examine Soloveitchik's statement that communion with God is
achieved through the intellect.

1 Joseph ibn Tsaddiq, Sefer ha-'olam ha-qatan (ed. Horovitz. Breslau, 1903)
68, cf. ibidem, xiii, note 55. See also: I. Heinemann, Die Lehre von der
Zweckbestimmung des Menschen im griechisch-romischen Altertum und im judischen
Mittelalter (Breslau, 1926) 58.
2 Joseph B. Soloveitchik, "U-viqqashtem mi-sham", in: idem, Ish ha-
halakha. Galuy we-nistar (Jerusalem, 1979) 115-235. The title of the essay is a
quotation from Dem. 4, 29: "And from there Thou shalt seek". All translations
of "U-viqqashtem mi-sham" are my own.

107
108 Reinier Munk

Soloveitchik's discussion of the divine names '1 am that I am' and

the tetragrammaton is articulated in the context of his exposition of
the doubly dual nature of the relationship between God and man.
According to this exposition, man, on the one hand, is in search of
God and, on the other, hides from Him at the moment the divine
reveals Himself. And God, for His part, both reveals Himself to
man and conceals Himself from him; He is in search of man, the
apple of His eye, and yet there are times in which He "wraps
Himself in a cloud and withdraws in the hidden places of eternity."3
The duality in man's relationship with the divine is related ro
what Soloveitchik calls two types of consciousness, "natural" and
"revelational".4 Man's "natural consciousness" is described by
Soloveitchik in various ways which do not seem entirely coherent.
Man's natural consciousness is characterized, first of all, by the
endeavour to direct the multiplicity of reality and its contingent
nature to a first being that is unconditioned and exists of necessity.
To illustrate this endeavour, Soloveitchik refers to the first rule in
Maimonides' Mishne Tora, Hilchot Yes ode ha-Tora 1, 1. There it
is stated that the first principle of wisdom is the acknowledge-
ment of a first being whose existence is the precondition for the
existence of all that exists. A second way in which Soloveitchik
describes this type of consciousness is by the endeavour of man
to find "the concealed reason" that will enlighten the core of
reality. Both endeavours are considered by Soloveitchik to be
attempts to know the divine through knowing reality. And thirdly
and finally, there is the awareness in man's natural conscious-
ness of the enigmatic nature of reality, as the core of reality
transcends the abilities of cognition.5 The epistemological trans-
cendence of reality is interpreted by Soloveitchik as a hint

3 "U-viqqashtem mi-sham" 137, 145-146 et passim. Cf. Franz Rosenzweig,

"Das neue Denken", Gesammelte Schriften III, hrsg. von R. und A. Mayer (Dordrecht,
1984) 139-161, esp. 150. See also page 7, below, on God's singularity.
4 "U-viqqashtem mi-sham" 148.
5 "U-viqqashtem mi-sham" 132-133, note 7; 140. Cf. Soloveitchik's
doctoral thesis (published under the name Josef Solowiejczyk), Vas reine Venken
und die Seinskonstituierung bei Hermann Cohen (Berlin, 1932) 87 et passim.