Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law with the modern world.
Joseph Ber Soloveitchik was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher. He was a scion of the Lithuanian Jewish Soloveitchik rabbinic dynasty.
Norman Lamm was an American Modern Orthodox rabbi, scholar, academic administrator, author, and Jewish community leader. He was the Chancellor of Yeshiva University until he announced his retirement on July 1, 2013.
The Soloveitchik dynasty of rabbinic scholars and their students originated the Brisker method of Talmudic study, which is embraced by their followers in the Brisk yeshivas. It is so called because of the Soloveitchiks' origin in the town of Brisk, or Brest-Litovsk, located in what is now Belarus. Many of the first Soloveitchik rabbis were the official rabbis of Brisk, and each in turn was known as "the Brisker Rov". Today, Brisk refers to several yeshivas in Israel and the United States founded by members of the Soloveitchik family, including: ‘Brisk Proper’(Now run by R’ Abraham Yehousua Soloveitchik),R’ Dovid’s, Tomo(Toras Moshe), and others.
Aharon Lichtenstein was an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva who was an authority in Jewish law (Halakha).
Hershel Reichman is an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University.
Isadore Twersky was an Orthodox rabbi and Hasidic Rebbe, and university professor who held the position as Nathan Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at Harvard University, a chair previously held by Harry Austryn Wolfson. Twersky was an internationally recognized authority on Rabbinic literature and Jewish philosophy. He was especially known as an international expert in the writings and influence of the 12th-century Jewish legalist and philosopher Maimonides, and Abraham ben David, the Rabad of Posquieres.
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary is the rabbinical seminary of Yeshiva University (YU). It is located along Amsterdam Avenue in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
Judah David Bleich is an authority on Jewish law and ethics, including Jewish medical ethics. He is a professor of Talmud at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University, as well as head of its postgraduate institute for the study of Talmudic jurisprudence and family law. At Yeshiva University, he holds the Herbert and Florence Tenzer Chair in Jewish Law and Ethics. He also teaches at Cardozo Law School. He is married to Dr. Judith Bleich, a historian of 19th-century European Jewry.
Hershel Schachter is an American Orthodox rabbi, posek and rosh yeshiva (dean) at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), part of Yeshiva University (YU) in New York City.
Howard (Chaim) Jachter is an American Orthodox rabbi, Dayan, educator, and author. He sits on the Beth Din of Elizabeth, New Jersey as a Dayan and Get administrator. Noted as an expert on the laws of Jewish divorce, he also chairs the Agunah Prevention and Resolution Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America. Rabbi Jachter is also the consulting rabbi for over 60 Eruvs across the United States. He serves as the Rabbi of Sha'arei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck, and is a faculty member at the Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC). Author of sixteen books and over one thousand online and journal articles, he writes and lectures extensively on contemporary topics in Jewish law and thought. He has five children.
Michael Rosensweig is a Rosh Yeshiva at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University and the Rosh Kollel of the Beren Kollel Elyon.
Moshe Meiselman is an American-born Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean) of Yeshiva Toras Moshe in Jerusalem, which he established in 1982. He also founded and served as principal of Yeshiva University of Los Angeles (YULA) from 1977 to 1982. He is a descendant of the Lithuanian Jewish Soloveitchik rabbinic dynasty.
Zvi Sobolofsky is a rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University in New York City.
Shlomo Polachek known as "the Meitscheter Illui" was born in Sinichinitz, near Meitchet, Grodna. He was an important Talmudic scholar and one of the earliest roshei yeshiva in America.
Orthodox Roundtable was a Modern Orthodox rabbinic think tank that functioned from 1988 until 1994. Originally conceived by a group of orthodox rabbis and laypersons in the New York area, the goal of the Roundtable was to promote halakhic discussion of pressing contemporary issues, and to suggest solidly grounded responses to those problems. The solutions offered were meant to reflect authentic, valid halakhic responses that would reflect the spectrum of the Modern Orthodox community. In this sense, the group would provide a counterbalance to the already palpable 'shift to the right' that appeared to characterize orthodox Jewish legal authorities and thinking. From 1990 until 1992, the group was officially part of the Rabbinical Council of America, whose president, Rabbi Marc Angel, was a founding member of the group.
In Jewish law, a posek is a legal scholar who determines the application of halakha, the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities are inconclusive, or in those situations where no clear halakhic precedent exists.
Yerucham Gorelick was a distinguished Rosh yeshiva in the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) for forty years (1943–1983).
Gerald Blidstein was professor emeritus of Jewish philosophy at Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He was the Israel Prize laureate in Jewish philosophy (2006) and had been a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences since 2007.
