Mdf, rabbi yoshe ber vacillated between shitos, ranging from yeshiva thought, to modernity. He never gave tochacha to his community either, which was a major reason for him not being accepted by the gedolei hador (as heard from rav belsky, regarding the tochacha part). Those two things together make me think that he didn’t consider himself a rov or manhig capable of dispensing torah wisdom, though intellectually he was more than capable. He kept changing his mind about things because he wasn’t comitted to a mesorah fully, and was trying to figure things out on his own.
This is my impression of rabbi yoshe ber based on the talmidim of his that I’ve known and read of.
I aget the feeling that he spoke one way with people like rav michel shurin, rav abba bronspigel, rav moshe meiselman, and rav aharon kahn…and another way with norman lamm and his sort. There were two parts to him that did not exist harmoniously; on the one hand, he was a scion of the brisker dynasty, and on the other, he was a PHd who knew like 10 languages and could write academically in all of them. I think a modern talmid brought out the academic, non traditional side of him, and a yeshiva man spoke to his deeply rooted Torah background. I think this frustration can be found in the title of his book “lonely man of faith”. He was a deep believer in Hashem and Torah, and I’m sure he cared about the mitzvos as well. But he also had a yatzer hora, and it succeeded in getting him into secular philosophies. He also had a wife who influenced him greatly as well. Rav simcha sheps was a rosh yeshiva in Torah Vodaas. He was also a talmid of the brisker rov, and probably the first in America to bring that mahalach to American bochurim (besides rav Moshe Soloveitchik, rabbi yoshe ber and his brother rabbi aharon). Once, a bochur said in shiur that “JB says the same sevara!”. Rav sheps kept a cup of orange juice on his desk at all times, should his blood sugar get too low, as he was diabetic. He suddenly threw the orange juice at the bochur, screaming “vi redst du oif a talmid chacham!?!”. After shiur one bochur who had a lot of guts asked the rosh yeshiva why he defended rabbi yoshe ber so much, as he’s not “fun unzerer”. Rav sheps answered him that rabbi yoshe ber was indeed a greater lamdan than rav aharon kotler, but we don’t follow him because he has been influenced greatly by his wife. Being big in learning means that we need to not disrespect him. It doesn’t mean we should refrain from calling out some of his false opinions. I never refer to him by insulting names such as JB, but i do not believe for a minute that he was from the gedolei hador to whom i must be machnia and mekabel kenisinasam misinai.