Before Hashem You Shall Be Purified : Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on the Days of Awe

Rabbi Soloveitchik, one of the greatest Halakhic minds of the twentieth century, has left a remarkable legacy of public lectures. Among the most popular of venues for these lectures was the Kinus Teshuvah, where the Rav would weave halakhah and homiletics so compellingly that the line between them blurred and often disappeared entirely. Presented in Yiddish, these discourses (teshuvah derashot) combined halakhic depth with emotional power, leaving an enduring imprint on all who attended.

From 1962 through 1980, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt"l annually presented a two- to- three hour lecture in Yiddish at the Kinus Teshuvah (Repentance Convocation) sponsored by the Rabbinical Council of America. These lectures (derashot) were delivered between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur on the topic of repentance and the Days of Awe.Many of the earlier derashot presented through 1972 were summarized by Rabbi Pinchas Peli inhis classic work Al Hateshuvah, later translated into English as On Repentance. This long-awaited volume is a summary of the derashot delivered from 1973 through 1980.

Dr. Arnold Lustiger has organized the teshuvah derashot topically, from the pre-Rosh Hashanah Selihot prayers through the Yom Kippur Avodah and concluding Neilah services. He has included Biblical, Talmudic and Midrashic sources. He provides cross-references, with citations from Pelis On Repentance as well as from Rabbi Soloveitchiks written works that address and amplify important themes in these lectures in different and often greater detail.

With the publication of this book, an audience anxious to see more of Rabbi Soloveitchiks thoughts in print can once again appreciate use of the definite article when his students and followers refer to him simply as "the Rav".