Rabbi Dovid Kaplan | |
---|---|
Personal | |
Born | Dovid Kaplan Chicago, Illinois |
Religion | Judaism |
Spouse | Tammy |
Alma mater | Northeastern Illinois University |
Position | Senior lecturer |
Yeshiva | Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem |
Began | 1987 |
Other | Mashgiach ruchani , Yeshivas Bais Yisroel, Jerusalem |
Residence | Jerusalem |
Dovid Kaplan is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, kiruv educator, author, and speaker. He is known for his inspirational and humorous storytelling both in his international speaking engagements and in his Impact! series of books.
Kaplan was born in Chicago. [1] He is the grandson of Rabbi Hertzl Kaplan [2] and great-nephew of Rabbi Mendel Kaplan, rosh yeshivas at the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois. Kaplan graduated from Fasman Yeshiva High School (the Skokie Yeshiva) in 1976, and attended Northeastern Illinois University. [1] He received rabbinical ordination in Israel. [1]
Kaplan initially embarked on a business career as co-owner of a kosher restaurant in the Chicago area. [3] In 1987 he switched tracks and became a teacher of Talmud at Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem, [4] [5] where he currently serves as senior lecturer. [1] He is also a mashgiach ruchani at Yeshivas Bais Yisroel in Neve Yaakov, Jerusalem. [6]
Kaplan launched his writing career with a 64-page "guidebook" for entry-level Talmud students titled The Ohr Somayach Gemara Companion (2000). [4] In 2003 he compiled a humorous collection of short stories from his work with baalei teshuva at Ohr Somayach titled The Kiruv Files. [4] [7] Kaplan saw the book as a tool for baalei teshuva to know "what they should do and, more importantly, what they shouldn't do". [4]
Kaplan began writing a parenting column for Hamodia magazine in the 2000s and collected many of his popular columns into the books Polishing Diamonds: Bringing out the sparkle in our children (2005) and Perfecting Diamonds: Bringing out the sparkle in our children (2008). [4] Since 2006, he has published six titles in the Impact! series of inspirational short stories. Twenty-six of his stories were adapted for children in the 2009 book Impact! for Kids by Leah Subar. [8] He is also active as an international lecturer on Jewish education, parenting, and other subjects. [9] In a 2011 interview, he said he had "about 2,500 stories on file" to use in speeches. [10]
Kaplan and his wife, Tammy, [11] and their family reside in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Jerusalem. [4] He is a Kohen. [12]
Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (1843–1926) was a rabbi and prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe in the early 20th century. He was a kohen, and is therefore often referred to as Meir Simcha ha-Kohen. He is known for his writings on Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, which he titled Ohr Somayach, as well as his novellae on the Torah, titled Meshech Chochma.
Hamodia is a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in Jerusalem. A daily English-language edition is also published in the United States, and weekly English-language editions in England and Israel. A weekly edition for French-speaking readers debuted in 2008. The newspaper's slogan is "The Newspaper of Torah Jewry". It comes with two magazines, Inyan and Prime. Haaretz, the newspaper of Israel's secular left, describes Hamodia as one of the "most powerful" newspapers in the Haredi community.
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Ohr Somayach is a yeshiva based in Jerusalem founded in 1970 catering mostly to young Jewish men, usually of college age, who are already interested in learning about Judaism. It is known as a "baal teshuva" yeshiva since it caters to Jews with little or no background in Judaism, but with an interest in studying the classic texts such as the Talmud and responsa. Students are recruited either locally or from other countries where the yeshiva has established branches, such as in the United States, Canada, South Africa, United Kingdom, Australia, Ukraine and Russia.
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The Association for Jewish Outreach Programs,, also known by its abbreviation AJOP, is an Orthodox Jewish network which was established to unite and enhance the Jewish educational work of rabbis, rebbetzens, lay people, and volunteers who work in a variety of settings and seek to improve and promote Jewish Orthodox outreach work with ba'alei teshuvah guiding Jews to live according to Orthodox Jewish values. AJOP was the first major Jewish Orthodox organization of its kind that was not affiliated with the Chabad Hasidic movement.
Orthodox Jewish outreach, often referred to as Kiruv or Qiruv, is the collective work or movement of Orthodox Judaism that reaches out to non-observant Jews to encourage belief in God and life according to Jewish law. The process of a Jew becoming more observant of Orthodox Judaism is called teshuva making the "returnee" a baal teshuva. Orthodox Jewish outreach has worked to enhance the rise of the baal teshuva movement.
The baal teshuva movement is a description of the return of secular Jews to religious Judaism. The term baal teshuva is from the Talmud, literally meaning "master of repentance". The term is used to refer to a worldwide phenomenon among the Jewish people.
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Dov Schwartzman, also called Berel Schwartzman, was a Russian-born American Haredi Jewish rabbi, educator, Talmudic scholar, and rosh yeshiva (dean) of Bais Hatalmud, which he founded in the Sanhedria Murhevet neighborhood of Jerusalem and led for over 40 years. He also founded and led the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia together with Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky, and co-founded the first yeshiva in Israel for baalei teshuva. He taught tens of thousands of students, many of whom received semicha from him.
Chona Menachem Mendel (Mendel) Weinbach was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, educator, author, and speaker. As the co-founder and dean of Ohr Somayach Institutions, a Jerusalem-based yeshiva for newly-observant Jewish men, he was considered one of the fathers of the modern-day baal teshuva movement.
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Reuven Elbaz is a Sephardi Haredi rabbi, rosh yeshiva, and a leader of the baal teshuva movement among Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews in Israel. He is the founder and head of the Ohr Hachaim network of institutions, which operates educational, humanitarian, prison, and drug rehabilitation programs in 350 branches across Israel. He is also the founder and dean of Yeshivat Ohr Hachaim in Jerusalem, which enrolls more than 500 students. He is a senior member of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah of the Shas political party.
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