Jeffrey Saks (born March 25, 1969) is a Modern Orthodox rabbi, educator, writer and editor. Saks has published widely on Jewish thought, education, and literature. [1] Born into a secular Jewish family and raised in suburban New Jersey, Saks became interested in religious observance in high school through the influence of a local rabbi and the NCSY youth movement. [2]
Upon graduating from public school he enrolled at Yeshiva University in New York, spending his sophomore year studying abroad at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Israel. He completed a B.A. in political science and continued for an M.A. at Yeshiva's Bernard Revel Graduate School, studying medieval Jewish history under Prof. David Berger. While at Revel he was part of the student leadership instrumental in rescuing the graduate school from threatened closure in 1992. [3] He completed his Rabbinic ordination at Yeshiva in 1994.
In the United States Saks spent two years on the faculty of the Yeshiva University High School for Girls ("Central"), in Queens, NY, teaching A.P. Jewish history, Talmud, and Bible in 1992–94. He also occupied various leadership positions in the NCSY youth movement, serving as the director of its Israel Summer Kollel (1992–96). [4]
In 1994 he left the United States and answered the call of Rabbi Chaim Brovender and Shlomo Riskin to serve as the administrator of Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Israel.
In 1997 he was awarded a two-year fellowship at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership in Jerusalem, where he pursued research in the philosophy of Jewish education, remaining as an adjunct faculty of the Mandel Foundation's Visions of Jewish Education Project. Saks has taught classes in Jewish thought and the works of Shai Agnon since around 2017 at the American Seminary for girls, Amudim. [5] He is a consulting editor for digital platform The Lehrhaus [6] and editorial board member of the Tel Aviv Review of Books. [7] He was formerly on the teaching faculties of Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalayim, Machon Gold, and currently teaches at Midreshet Amudim. [8] Jeffrey Saks lives in Efrat, Israel, with his wife Ilana Goldstein Saks and their four children.
In 1999, with Rabbi Chaim Brovender, Saks created ATID – The Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions in Jewish Education, a center for training Modern Orthodox educators in Israel and the United States and research institute. (“Atid” is Hebrew for future.) In 2007 ATID launched WebYeshiva.org, the world's first fully interactive online yeshiva with students from the entire world. [9]
Saks is considered one of the leading experts in the world on the writing of Hebrew literature's only Nobel laureate, S.Y. Agnon, and serves as the Director of Research at the Agnon House in Jerusalem. [10] Between 2013 and 2019 he was the Series Editor of the S.Y. Agnon Library at the Toby Press, publishing a 15-volume series of Agnon's writings in annotated English translation. [11] 8 The series was singled out for praise in reviews in The New Yorker [12] and The New York Review of Books, where literary critic Robert Alter wrote, “Jeffrey Saks has undertaken a heroic task in assembling the Agnon Library.” [13]
In January 2019 Saks was named the sixth editor in chief of Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought, published by the Rabbinical Council of America. [14] Tradition was founded in 1958 by Rabbi Norman Lamm as the leading journal of intellectual Orthodox thought, and Saks has aimed to create a greater digital presence for the journal in addition to its quarterly print issues.
Aharon Lichtenstein was an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva who was an authority in Jewish law (Halakha).
Shlomo Riskin is an Orthodox rabbi, and the founding rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue on the Upper West Side of New York City, which he led for 20 years; founding chief rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the Israeli-occupied West Bank; former dean of Manhattan Day School in New York City; and founder and Chancellor of the Ohr Torah Stone Institutions, a network of high schools, colleges, and graduate Programs in the United States and Israel.
Chaim Brovender is an Israeli Modern Orthodox and Religious Zionist rabbi.
Yeshivat Torat Yosef - Hamivtar is a men's yeshiva located in Efrat in the West Bank. The Roshei Yeshiva are Rabbi Yonatan Rosensweig and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin. The institution is primarily focused on post college-aged students and is part of the Ohr Torah Stone educational institutions founded by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and Rabbi Chaim Brovender.
Avigdor Nebenzahl is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and Posek. He is the senior rosh yeshiva at Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh, a faculty member at Yeshivat HaKotel, and rabbi of the Ramban Synagogue. Nebenzahl, previously, served as rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem, before the post was handed over to his son Chizkiyahu Nebenzahl.
HaRav Mordechai Yitzchak HaLevi Willig is an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan. He is often known to his students as the Ramu, which is the transliteration of the acronym of the Hebrew letters Reish, Mem, and Vav, which spell out the first letters of Rav Willig's title and name.
Zvi Sobolofsky is a rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University in New York City.
Midreshet Lindenbaum, originally named Michlelet Bruria, is a midrasha in Talpiot, Jerusalem. It counts among its alumnae many of the teachers at Matan, Nishmat, Pardes and other women's and co-ed yeshivas in Israel and abroad.
Rav Tzvi Berkowitz is an Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and Maggid Shiur (lecturer) at Yeshivas Ner Yisroel, Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, and teaches the highest-level Talmud shiur.
David Samson is an Orthodox rabbi and one of the leading English-speaking Torah scholars in the Religious Zionist movement in Israel, and an educational entrepreneur. Rabbi Samson has written six books, most of which are on the teachings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook and Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook.
WebYeshiva.org is a pioneering online yeshiva and midrasha. It is unique in that its classes are presented live, and are fully interactive, replicating the structure of a traditional shiur. Its offering extends through Semicha . It was founded in November 2007 by Rabbi Chaim Brovender and is directed by Rabbi Jeffrey Saks. WebYeshiva is a project of the Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions (ATID). It is headquartered on HaNassi St., in Jerusalem, near the President's House.
Shalom Berger is an Orthodox Jewish scholar and educational activist.
Rabbi Shimon Gershon Rosenberg,, known by the acronym הרב שג"ר HaRav Shagar, was a Torah scholar and a religious postmodern thinker. His thought was characterized by Neo-Hasidism and postmodernism. In 1996 he established, together with Rabbi Yair Dreifuss, Yeshivat Siach Yitzchak, in Jerusalem. The yeshiva later moved to Givat HaDagan in Efrat and HaRav Shagar remained the head of the establishment until his death.
David Fink is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and expert in halacha and Jewish medical ethics.
Yeshivat Maharat is a Jewish educational institution in The Bronx, New York, which was the first Open Orthodox yeshiva in North America to ordain women. The word Maharat is a Hebrew acronym for phrase manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit, denoting a female "leader of Jewish law spirituality and Torah". Semikha and the title of Maharat are awarded to graduates after a 3- or 4-year-long program composed of intensive studies of Jewish law, Talmud, Torah, Jewish thought, leadership training, and pastoral counseling. The ordination functions as a credentialed pathway for women in the Jewish community to serve as clergy members.
Yeshivas Itri is an Orthodox yeshiva in southeast Jerusalem. Founded in 1968 by Rabbi Mordechai Elefant, the yeshiva has several branches in Israel and the United States, and spawned several educational programs for Diaspora Jews.
Ohr Torah Stone (OTS) is an international Modern Orthodox movement that aims to develop Jewish life, learning, and leadership. The organization is led by Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander. In 1983 OTS was founded by Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Riskin. As of 2020 OTS included 27 educational institutions under its auspices.
Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys is an Orthodox Jewish high school in Woodmere, New York.
David Bashevkin is an American Orthodox rabbi, writer, adjunct professor, and podcast host. He serves as Director of Education at NCSY, an Orthodox Union youth group.
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