Agudath Israel of America is an American organization that represents Haredi Orthodox Jews. It is loosely affiliated with the international World Agudath Israel. Agudah seeks to meet the needs of the Haredi community, advocates for its religious and civil rights, and services its constituents through charitable, educational, and social service projects across North America.
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, Israel has had two chief rabbis, one Ashkenazi and one Sephardi.
World Agudath Israel, usually known as the Aguda, was established in the early twentieth century as the political arm of Ashkenazi Torah Judaism. It succeeded Agudas Shlumei Emunei Yisroel in 1912. Its base of support was located in Eastern Europe before the Second World War but, due to the revival of the Hasidic movement, it included Orthodox Jews throughout Europe. Prior to World War II and the Holocaust, Agudath Israel operated a number of Jewish educational institutions throughout Europe. After the war, it has continued to operate such institutions in the United States as Agudath Israel of America, and in Israel. Agudath Israel is guided by its Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah in Israel and the USA.
Belz is a Hasidic dynasty founded in the town of Belz in Western Ukraine, near the Polish border, historically the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The group was founded in the early 19th century by Rabbi Shalom Rokeach, also known as the Sar Shalom, and led by his son, Rabbi Yehoshua Rokeach, and grandson, Rabbi Yissachar Dov, and great-grandson, Rabbi Aharon, before the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. While Aharon managed to escape Europe, together with his brother Rabbi Mordechai Rokeach, most of the Belz Hasidim were murdered in the Holocaust. Aharon re-established the Hasidic community in Israel following World War II. As of the 2020s, Belz has sizable communities in Israel, Western Europe, and the Anglosphere.
Avraham Shapira was a prominent rabbi in the Religious Zionist world. He served as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1983 to 1993. Shapira was the head of the Rabbinical court of Jerusalem, and both a member and the head of the Supreme Rabbinic Court. He was the rosh yeshiva of Mercaz haRav in Jerusalem, a position he held after Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook died in 1982.
Yaakov Choueka, better known by his stage name Yaakov Shwekey, is an Orthodox Jewish recording artist and musical entertainer. He is of Egyptian and Syrian Sephardic heritage from his father's side; and Ashkenazi from his mother‘s side.
Moshe Yehoshua Yehuda Leib Diskin (1818–1898), also known as the Maharil Diskin, was a leading rabbi, Talmudist, and Biblical commentator. He served as a rabbi in Łomża, Mezritch, Kovno, Shklov, Brisk, and, finally, Jerusalem, after moving to Eretz Yisrael in 1878. He opened what today is known as the Diskin Orphan Home in 1881.
Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman, also Shtainman or Steinman, was a Haredi rabbi in Bnei Brak, Israel. Following the death of Yosef Shalom Elyashiv in 2012, he was widely regarded as the Gadol HaDor, the leader of the non-Hasidic Lithuanian Haredi Jewish world. Along with several other rabbis, Shteinman is credited with reviving and expanding the appeal of European-style yeshivas in Israel.
Gateshead Talmudical College, popularly known as Gateshead Yeshiva, is located in the Bensham area of Gateshead in North East England. It is the largest yeshiva in Europe and considered to be one of the most prestigious advanced yeshivas in the Orthodox world. The student body currently numbers approx. 350. Although students are mainly British, there are European, American, Canadians as well as some from South America, Australia and South Africa. Most students are Litvish, but up to a third are Chasidic.
Gadol or godol is used by religious Jews to refer to the most revered rabbis of the generation.
Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch is the central educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. It was founded in 1943 by the sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, who served as president, and appointed his son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who would later become the seventh Rebbe, as its chairman and director. After the death of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson succeeded him as president. Today, Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Krinsky serves as chairman and, until his death in 2024, Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky A"H served as vice-chairman.
Mishpacha- Jewish Family Weekly is a Haredi weekly magazine package produced by The Mishpacha Group in both English and Hebrew.
Nachlaot is a cluster of 32 courtyard neighborhoods in central Jerusalem surrounding the Mahane Yehuda Market. It is known for its narrow, winding lanes, old-style housing, hidden courtyards and many small synagogues.
Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld (1925–1990) was an influential figure in the world of Orthodox Judaism who established a Yeshiva and Jewish community in the New York City area. He influenced tens of thousands of students and was a key figure in the US-based Baal Teshuva movement which brought a massive wave of secular Jews back to Orthodox Judaism throughout the seventies and eighties. The Orthodox Union's tribute lionized him as "one of the founders of the Baal Tshuva movement."
Ami Magazine is an international news magazine that caters to the Orthodox Jewish community. It is published weekly in New York and Israel. The magazine was launched in November 2010 by Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter and his wife Rechy Frankfurter.
André Ungar was a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor, doctor of philosophy, liturgist, social activist, and rabbi who lived in England, South Africa and the United States. He was a rabbi at Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley in Westwood and later Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey for 44 years.
The history of the Jews of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland.
Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft was a rabbi who was Rosh Hashochtim of Poland before the Holocaust. After the Holocaust he was Chief Rabbi of Hanover and Lower Saxony. After emigrating to the United States he was a Rav Hamachshir and was described as the "foremost authority on shechita".
The history of the Jews in Botswana is relatively modern and centered in the city of Gaborone. Most Jews in Botswana are Israelis and South Africans.
The history of the Jews in Lesotho is connected to the much larger Jewish community of the surrounding country of South Africa. The Jewish community is small.
