Nathaniel Helfgot

Last updated
Rabbi
Nathaniel Helfgot
Personal
Religion Judaism
Children4
Alma mater Yeshivat Har Etzion
PositionRabbi
SynagogueCongregation Netivot Shalom
Semikhah Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Nathaniel Helfgot (born December, 1963) is an American rabbi. He leads Congregation Netivot Shalom of Teaneck, New Jersey, and served as president of the International Rabbinic Fellowship.

Contents

Early life

Helfgot studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion for two years and later attended Yeshiva University, the Azrieli Graduate School, and the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, where he obtained his semikhah (rabbinical ordination). [1]

Career

Helfgot is the rabbi of Congregation Netivot Shalom, an Orthodox congregation in Teaneck, New Jersey. [2] He served as president of the International Rabbinic Fellowship. [3]

Helfgot has taught at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, the Frisch School, the Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School, and the Torah Academy of Bergen County, currently teaching at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and SAR High School, where he is also a department chair. [4] He has served or continues to serve on the steering committee of the Orthodox Forum, as the plenum of the Orthodox Caucus, and on the board of the Association of Modern Orthodox Day Schools. [5]

Helfgot has published articles in various journals such as Tradition , Tehumin , Jewish Action , Ten-Daat, Beit Yitzchak, Megadim , Alon Shvut, Or HaMizrach, The Orthodox Forum Series, The Jewish Week , The Jewish Standard , and Hamevaser. [6]

In July 2010, as a response to the December 2009 panel held at Yeshiva University under the title "Being Gay in the Modern Orthodox World", Helfgot published an online "Statement of Principles on the Place of Jews with a Homosexual Orientation in Our Community" which garnered hundreds of signatures. [7]

In February 2019, a three quarters majority of the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County's (RCBC) board voted, after meeting twice, to amend its bylaws in order to remove Helfgot and Netivot Shalom from its affiliation over his hiring of a female rabbinic intern from Yeshivat Maharat. Helfgot, who was present at both meetings and addressed the council, issued a statement both praising the RCBC as an institution and expressing his "disagreement and disappointment" with its decision. [2] The RCBC and Helfgot have since come to an agreement, with him and his synagogue remaining members in good standing with the organization.

Personal life

Helfgot is married to Rachel Brenner. [8] They have four children.

Published works

Related Research Articles

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph B. Soloveitchik</span> American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin</span> Yeshiva school in the United States

Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin or Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin is an American Haredi Lithuanian-type boys' and men's yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aharon Lichtenstein</span> Rabbi & Rosh Yeshiva

Aharon Lichtenstein was an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva who was an authority in Jewish law (Halakha).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yehuda Amital</span> Israeli rabbi and politician

Yehuda Amital was an Orthodox rabbi, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion, and a member of the Israeli cabinet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torah Academy of Bergen County</span> Yeshiva high school in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States

Torah Academy of Bergen County is a four-year yeshiva high school located in Teaneck, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The school utilizes a split-schedule day offering both Jewish studies and college preparatory secular courses. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yaaqov Medan</span>

Yaaqov Medan is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi, co-Rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion, a respected leader in the Religious-Zionist community, and a lecturer in Tanakh, Gemara, and Jewish philosophy.

Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School (YCT) is a Modern Orthodox yeshiva, founded in 1999 by Rabbi Avi Weiss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avi Weiss</span>

Avraham Haim Yosef (Avi) haCohen Weiss is an American Open Orthodox ordained rabbi, author, teacher, lecturer, and activist who led the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in The Bronx, New York until 2015. He is the founder of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah for men and Yeshivat Maharat for women, rabbinical seminaries that are tied to Open Orthodoxy, a breakaway movement that Weiss originated, which is to the left of Modern Orthodox Judaism and to the right of Conservative Judaism. He is co-founder of the International Rabbinic Fellowship, a rabbinical association that is a liberal alternative to the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America, and founder of the grassroots organization Coalition for Jewish Concerns – Amcha.

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.

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.

Open Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish religious movement with increased emphasis on intellectual openness and a more expansive role for women. The term was coined in 1997 by Avi Weiss, who views halakha as permitting more flexibility than the normal practices of Orthodox Judaism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mordechai Willig</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeshivat Har Etzion</span> Hesder Yeshiva located in Israel.

Yeshivat Har Etzion, commonly known in English as "Gush" and in Hebrew as "Yeshivat HaGush", is a hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, an Israeli settlement in Gush Etzion. It is considered one of the leading institutions of advanced Torah study in the world and with a student body of roughly 480, it is one of the largest hesder yeshivot in the West Bank.

Rabbi Hayyim Angel is an American rabbi, academic, author and editor who is the National Scholar of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.

Dov Linzer is the President and Rabbinic Head of the Modern Orthodox Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in Riverdale, New York. He is a teacher, lecturer, podcaster, and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Fridman (rabbi)</span>

Rabbi Daniel Fridman שליט"א is an Orthodox Jew who is the S'gan (Deputy) Rosh Yeshiva of TABC and the Rabbi of the Jewish Center of Teaneck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elliot Schrier</span>

Elliot Schrier is an American Modern Orthodox Rabbi. He is the current Mara d'asra of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, New Jersey.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Depression in the Orthodox Community: An Interview With Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot". www.vosizneias.com. 27 February 2009. Retrieved 2017-10-29.
  2. 1 2 Yudelson, Larry (February 12, 2019) "In NJ, Orthodox Rabbis Vote to Bar a Colleague for Training Female Clergy", The Times of Israel. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  3. "IRF Leadership |". internationalrabbinicfellowship.org. Retrieved 2017-10-27.
  4. "Directory - TEMPLATE: New Client Site (Custom)". www.saracademy.org. Retrieved 2017-10-27.
  5. Helfgot, Nathaniel. "Dimensions" (PDF).
  6. "Ask the Rabbi - Netivot Shalom". www.netivotshalomnj.org. Retrieved 2017-10-29.
  7. Eleff, Zev (2016). Modern Orthodox Judaism: A Documentary History. Jewish Publication Society. p. 415.
  8. Schwartz, Bracha (May 4, 2017) "Teaneck Students Place in Top Ten at Chidon HaTanach in Jerusalem", Jewish Link NJ. Retrieved August 27, 2019.