The question of how to justify our practices is central in both general and Jewish philosophy. In this book Daniel Rynhold critiques abstract approaches to justifying Jewish practice from the history of Jewish philosophy. Instead, he suggests a more practical model for justifying practices that he terms the Priority of Practice approach, illustrating thereby how Jewish philosophy can make a genuine contribution to general philosophical debates.

Presents Soloveitchik's philosophy as a conceptual response to Nietzsche's critique of religion that brings Nietzsche's life-affirming sensibility to halakhic Judaism.