The Views of Rabbi Moses Feinstein, Rabbi Abraham Joshua ...

I and Adam II is also found in Soloveitchik‘s ―Lonely Man of Faith,‖ which was,
interestingly, delivered before an interfaith crowd at St. John‘s Catholic Seminary in
Brighton, Massachusetts and in which Adam I and Adam II are portrayed as
―embodying…two conflicting types of people,‖ 171 paralleling the different portrayals of
Adam in the two creation stories in the Book of Genesis. Adam I is characterized by
―superficial[ity] [and] pragmati[sm]‖ 172 while being ―a man of the world, conqueror of
diseases…builder of bridges…[and] ‗majestic,‘‖ 173 while Adam II is characterized by
―profund[ity] [and] purposive[ness]‖ 174 while being ―a man of the spirit, nurturer of
prayer…builder of true community...[and] ‗covenantal.‘‖ 175
Soloveitchik also employs
Jacob-Esau imagery in analyzing Jewish-Christian relations, in consonance with a strong
textual tradition ―from the Talmud through medieval literature‖ 176 asserting that ―Esau
and Edom represent the Gentiles, either Greeks or Romans, and other Christians.‖ 177
Soloveitchik‘s conception of an ―assertive Jacob,‖ 178 however, is diametrically opposed
to the traditional midrashic rendering ―of an obsequious Jacob before Esau,‖ 179 all the
more ironic given the traditional Catholic theological identification of Jews as Esau and
Catholics as Jacob. Such features have led some to conclude that one of the intended
audiences of the ―philosophic excursus‖ 180 of ―Confrontation‖ was, in fact, the Christian
community. If the Christian community was, in fact, the intended audience, Soloveitchik
171 Goldberg 101
172 Goldberg 101
173 Goldberg 101
174 Goldberg 101
175 Goldberg 101
176 Roth 214
177 Roth 214
178 Kimelman 8
179 Kimelman 8
180 Korn 308
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