And From There You Shall Seek is the tenth posthumous volume in the MeOtzar HoRav series. It is a translation of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s Hebrew essay, U‑Vikkashtem mi-Sham. Drafted in the 1940’s, this powerful and wide-ranging work was published in Hebrew only in 1978. This is not at all unusual since the Rov was always reviewing and refining everything he wrote and said. Drawing its title from Deuteronomy 4:29 — “And from there you shall seek the Lord your God, and you shall find Him if you search for Him with all of your heart and all of your soul”— and framed by the suggestive metaphors of the Song of Songs, the essay charts the individual’s search for God, a quest which culminates in the stage of devekut, cleaving to Him. Like much of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s writing, this essay sheds light on the Rov’s personal struggle for communion with God.
The Rov felt, ultimately, like a stranger. His genius was such that the loneliness attendant upon it could not be avoided, a fact which caused him no end of emotional anguish, yet gave us the gift of his phenomenal, creative originality. He was both destined and condemned to greatness and its consequences. This sense of loneliness, isolation, and differentness had a number of different sources, all of which reinforced each other. One of them was emotional and began quite early in his life. The Rov poignantly describes his early experiences of fear of the world, of social detachment, his feelings of being mocked and rejected and friendless. The only friend he had was Maimonides and, as he grew older, all the other giants of the Talmudic tradition whom he encountered in his learning. The Rov identifies this as more than imagination and fantasy but as a profound experience.