Haredi Judaism is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted halakha and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are usually referred to as ultra-Orthodox in English; a term considered pejorative by many of its adherents, who prefer the terms strictly Orthodox or Haredi. Haredim regard themselves as the most authentic custodians of Jewish religious law and tradition which, in their opinion, is binding and unchangeable. They consider all other expressions of Judaism, including Modern Orthodoxy, as deviations from God's laws, although other movements of Judaism would disagree.
A kollel is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning sedarim (sessions); unlike most yeshivot, the student body of a kollel typically consists mostly of married men. A kollel generally pays a regular monthly stipend to its members.
Yitzchak Hutner, also known as Isaac Hutner, was an American Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean).
Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz was a leader of American Orthodox Judaism and founder of institutions including Torah U'Mesorah, an outreach and educational organization. In 1921 he became principal of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, an early Brooklyn-based yeshiva founded in 1918. He subsequently added a high school and postgraduate program to the yeshiva. His policies were often informed by the Orthodox philosophical movement Torah im Derech Eretz.
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.
Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013. As the spiritual head of the United Synagogue, the largest synagogue body in the United Kingdom, he was the Chief Rabbi of those Orthodox synagogues but was not recognized as the religious authority for the Haredi Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations or for the progressive movements such as Masorti, Reform, and Liberal Judaism. As Chief Rabbi, he formally carried the title of Av Beit Din (head) of the London Beth Din. At the time of his death, he was the Emeritus Chief Rabbi.
Jewish views on evolution includes a continuum of views about the theory of evolution, experimental evolution, the origin of life, the age of the universe, and theistic evolution. Today, many Jewish people accept the theory of evolution and do not see it as incompatible with traditional Judaism, reflecting the emphasis of prominent rabbis such as the Vilna Gaon and Maimonides on the ethical rather than factual significance of scripture.
Natan Slifkin, popularly known as the "Zoo Rabbi," is a British-born Israeli Modern Orthodox community rabbi and the director of the Biblical Museum of Natural History in Beit Shemesh, Israel. Slifkin is best known for his interests in zoology, Judaism's relationship to evolution, Jewish and biblical history, and his writing on these topics.
The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada (UOR), often called by its Hebrew name, Agudath Harabonim or (in Ashkenazi Hebrew) Agudas Harabonim ("union of rabbis"), was established in 1901 in the United States and is the oldest organization of Orthodox rabbis in the United States. It had been for many years the principal group for such rabbis, though in recent years it has lost much of its former membership and influence.
Gil Ofer Student is the former Book Editor of the Orthodox Union's Jewish Action magazine, former Managing Editor of OU Press, and an Orthodox Jewish blogger who writes about the interface between different facets of Judaism, specifically Orthodox Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism. He is an ordained non-pulpit serving Orthodox rabbi who serves as a member of the Editorial Committee of the Orthodox Union's Jewish Action magazine and the Director of the Halacha Commission of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. He is currently serving on his third term as a member of the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America.
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School (YCT) is a Modern Orthodox yeshiva, previously self-described as Open Orthodox, founded in 1999 by Rabbi Avi Weiss.
Midrash Shmuel is a Haredi yeshiva catering to English-speaking students, located in the Sha'arei Hesed neighborhood in West Jerusalem. It was founded in 1993 by Rabbi Binyomin Moskovits, and was named after his mentor, Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky.
The reaction of Jewish leaders and organizations to intelligent design has been primarily concerned with responding to proposals to include intelligent design in public school curricula as a rival scientific hypothesis to modern evolutionary theory.
Rabbi Aharon Feldman is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean) of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, Maryland. He has held this position since 2001. He is also a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah.
Congregation Shomrei Emunah is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in the Greenspring neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Rabbi Binyamin Marwick is the synagogue's rabbi.
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.
Shmuel Yaakov Weinberg, known as Yaakov Weinberg was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, Talmudist, and rosh yeshiva (dean) of Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, Maryland, one of the major American non-Hasidic yeshivas. Weinberg was also a rabbinical advisor and board member in Haredi and Orthodox institutions such as Torah Umesorah, Agudath Israel of America and the Association for Jewish Outreach Programs.
Joseph Dweck is an American rabbi and hazzan, who serves as Senior Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community of the United Kingdom.
Yosef Mizrachi is a Haredi rabbi and public speaker. Considered by many to be a leading Orthodox Jewish outreach rabbi, Mizrachi's outspokenness on certain issues has led to his widespread denunciation and characterization as misguided by leading Orthodox Jewish authorities.
