- Moshe Feinstein
Moshe Feinstein (1895 - 1986) was a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi and scholar, who was world renowned for his expertise in halakha and was the "de facto" supreme rabbinic authority for Orthodox Jewry of North America. In the Orthodox world, it is universal to refer to him simply as "Reb Moshe."
- Saadia Gaon
Sa'adiah ben Yosef Gaon, ("Sa`īd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi"); was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the geonic period. Saadia is known for his works on Hebrew linguistics, Halakha, and Jewish philosophy. In his philosophical work "Emunot v'Dayot" is represented the first systematic attempt to integrate Jewish theology with components of Greek philosophy. Saadia was also very active in opposition to Karaism, in defense of rabbinic Judaism.
- Ovadia Yosef
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is a Haredi rabbi, Talmudic scholar, a recognized authority in Halakha ("Jewish law"). He is the former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel and the current spiritual leader of the Shas political party in the Knesset (Israel's parliament). Rabbi Yosef is a major figure in Haredi Judaism who is revered by his followers.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was considered by many to be one of the most significant Jewish theologians of the 20th century. Heschel was a descendant of preeminent rabbinic families of Europe, both on his father's (Moshe Mordechai Heschel, who died of influenza in 1916) and mother's (Reizel Perlow Heschel) side, and a descendant of Rebbe Avrohom Yehoshua Heshl of Apt and other dynasties. He was the youngest of six children including his siblings: Sarah, Dvora Miriam, …
- David Golinkin
David Golinkin is a rabbi, author and President and Rector of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Israel. He is a major halachic authority in the Masorti movement (Conservative Judaism in Israel.) Golinkin is a Conservative rabbi, and a member of the Rabbinical Assembly. He is the editor or author of eighteen books, and over 150 responsa, articles, sermons and books. He is a professor of Jewish law at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, …
- Judah Hanasi
Rabbi Judah haNasi, (Hebrew, יהודה הנשיא, "Judah the Prince" also referred to as "Rabbeinu HaKadosh" (Our holy rabbi), and "Rebbi" ([My] rabbi or teacher)) was a key leader of the Jewish community of Judea toward the end of the 2nd century CE, during its occupation by the Roman Empire. He is best known in Judaism as the chief "editor" or "redactor" of the Mishnah, …
- Isaac Alfasi
Sefer ha-Halachot extracts all the pertinent legal decisions from the three Talmudic orders Moed, Nashim and Nezikin as well as the tractates of "Berachot" and "Chulin" - 24 tractates in all. Alfasi transcribed the Talmud's halakhic conclusions verbatim, without the surrounding deliberations; he also excludes all Aggadic (non-legal, homiletic) matter as well as discussion of the halakha practicable only in Land of Israel.
- Louis Finkelstein
Rabbi Louis Finkelstein was a Talmud scholar and expert in Jewish law. He taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the first American seminary of Conservative Judaism. He was awarded a doctorate from Columbia in 1918, became a rabbi in 1919, and after many years as professor of theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary he was appointed Chancellor in 1951. He authored a number of books, including "Tradition in the Making, …
- Isaac Klein
Isaac Klein (1905-1979).Rabbi Isaac Klein was born in Hungary in 1905, and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1921. After earning a BA from City College in New York in 1931, As he was nearing ordination at the Yeshiva's REITS he transferred to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he was ordained in 1934. Rabbi Klein subsequently earned a PhD from Harvard.
- Ben Ish Chai
Yosef Chaim (Hebrew: יוסף חיים מבגדאד) was a leading "Hakham" (Sephardic Rabbi), authority on Jewish law (Halakha) and Kabbalist. He is best known as author of the work of Halakha Ben Ish Chai ("Son of Man (who) Lives"), by which title he is also known.
- Shammai
Shammai (50 BCE-30 CE) was a Jewish scholar of the 1st century, and an important figure in Judaism's core work of rabbinic literature, the Mishnah. Shammai was the most eminent contemporary and the halachic opponent of Hillel, and is almost invariably mentioned along with him. Shammai's school of thought became known as the House of Shammai, and Hillel's was known as the House of Hillel ("Beit Hillel").
- Semicha
Semicha ("leaning [of the hands]"), also "semichut" ("ordination"), or "semicha lerabbanut" ("rabbinical ordination") is derived from a Hebrew word which means to "rely on" or "to be authorized". It generally refers to the ordination of a rabbi within Judaism. In this sense it is the "transmission" of rabbinic authority to give advice or judgment in Jewish law.
- Elliot N. Dorff
Elliot N. Dorff (born 24 June 1943) is a Conservative rabbi, a professor of Jewish theology at the American Jewish University (formerly the University of Judaism) in California (where he is also Rector), author, and a bio-ethicist. Dorff is an expert in the philosophy of Conservative Judaism, Bioethics, and acknowledged within the Conservative community as an expert decisor of Jewish law. Dorff was ordained as a rabbi from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1970.
- Moses Isserles
Moses Isserles (or Moshe Isserlis, was a Rabbi and Talmudist, renowned for his fundamental work of "Halakha" (Jewish law), entitled "HaMapah" (lit. "the tablecloth"), a commentary on - and component of - the "Shulkhan Arukh" (lit. "the set table"). He is also well known for "Darkhei Moshe", a commentary on the "Tur". Moses Isserles is also "the ReMA" (or "the RAMA") רמ״א, …
- Joel Roth
Joel Roth is a prominent American rabbi in the Rabbinical Assembly, which is the rabbinical body of Conservative Judaism. He is a former member and chair of the assembly's "Committee on Jewish Law and Standards" (CJLS) which deals with questions of Jewish law and tradition, and serves as the Louis Finkelstein Professor of Talmud and Jewish Law at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) of America, in NYC, where he formerly served as dean of the Rabbinical School.
- Jacob ben Asher
Jacob ben Asher, in Hebrew "Ya'akov ben Asher", (1270-ca 1340) was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the "Baal ha-Turim" ("Master of the Turim (Pillars)"), after his main work in halakha (Jewish law), the Arba'ah Turim. He was the third son of the Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel (known as the "Rosh"), a German-born Rabbi who moved to Spain.
- Shlomo Goren
Shlomo Goren (1917-1994), was a former Orthodox Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. Goren, born "Gorenchik", was born in Zambrow, Poland and immigrated to British administered Palestine with his family in 1925. He served in the Israel Defense Forces during three wars, wrote several award-winning books on Jewish law, and was appointed Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv in 1968. Rabbi Goren served as Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973- 1983, …
- J. David Bleich
Rabbi Dr. J. (Judah) David Bleich (born 1936) is an authority on Jewish law and ethics and bioethics. He is a professor of Talmud (Rosh Yeshiva) 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.
- Shlomo Carlebach
Shlomo Carlebach (January 14 1925 - October 20, 1994) was a Jewish religious teacher, composer, and singer who was known as "The Singing Rabbi" during his lifetime. Although his roots lay in traditional Orthodox yeshivot, he branched out to create his own movement combining Hasidic-style warmth and personal interaction, public concerts, and song-filled synagogue services. At various times he lived in Manhattan, New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Moshav Me'or Modi'im, …
- Tarfon
Rabbi Tarfon or Tarphon,, a member of the third generation of the Mishnah sages, who lived in the period between the destruction of the Temple (70 C.E.) and the fall of Bethar (135 C.E.). He is said to have lived in Yavneh, although it is evident that he lived also in Lydda. He was of priestly lineage, and he expressly stated that he officiated in the Temple in Jerusalem. As a priest, he would demand the heave-offering even after the Temple had fallen, …
- Menachem Elon
Menachem Elon (born 1923), an Israeli jurist, who served as a justice on the Israeli Supreme Court (1977-1993) and its Deputy President (1988-1993). Elon's family immigrated to the land of Israel in 1935 from Germany due to the rise of Nazism. He studied Halakha (traditional Jewish law) in the Hebron Yeshiva. He received his law degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he was appointed to teach and as a professor.
- Yisrael Meir Kagan
Yisrael Meir (HaCohen) Kagan (Dzyatlava, February 6, 1838 - Radun, September 15, 1933) also known popularly as The Chofetz Chaim was an influential Eastern European rabbi, Halakhist, Kabbalist, and ethicist whose works continue to be widely influential in Jewish life.
- Eliezer Waldenberg
Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg (December 10 1915 -November 21 2006) was known as the Tzitz Eliezer after his monumental halachic treatise "Tzitz Eliezer" that covers a wide breadth of halacha, including medical halacha, as well as more common halachic issues from Shabbat to kashrut. He was born in Jerusalem in 1915 and died there on November 21, 2006.
- David Novak
David Novak is a scholar of Jewish philosophy, law (Halakha) and ethics. He has rabbinical ordination and has trained with Catholic moral theologians. Trained at Georgetown University, Novak has taught at the University of Virginia and currently teaches at the University of Toronto. Novak has contributed to Jewish ethics by advocating a Jewish social ethics drawn from both the natural law tradition and Halakha.
- Shlomo Ganzfried
Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried was a Haredi Orthodox rabbi and posek best known as author of the work of Halakha (Jewish law), the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, by which title he is also known.
- Tamar Ross
Tamar Ross is a professor of Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University. She has scholarly expertise in the thought of Abraham Isaac Kook, the modern Musar movement and the ideology of Mitnaggedism, and Judaism and gender. She is the author of books and articles on Jewish ethics and theology, contemporary issues in traditional Jewish thought, philosophy of halakha, and Orthodox Jewish feminism.
- Yoel Sirkis
Bayit Chadash, Rabbi Sirkis's best known work, is a major commentary on the "Arba'ah Turim" of Jacob ben Asher. The work presents and elucidates the fundamental principles of the Torah as recorded in the Mishnah, the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, and the chief codes. Rabbi Sirkis also wrote: *"Hagahot haBach" (Glosses of the Bach) - suggestions for textual emendations in the Talmud and Rashi, …
- Mordechai Breuer
Mordechai Breuer experts. He produced two editions of the Tanakh with text and formatting based on those of the Aleppo Codex (including a reconstruction of its missing parts). Breuer's method is the basis of the modern edition of the Tanakh known as Keter Yerushalayim (כתר ירושלים "The Jerusalem Crown"), printed in Jerusalem in 2000, referred to in English as the Jerusalem Codex.
- Yechiel Michel Epstein
Yechiel Michel Epstein (1829-1907), often called "the "Aruch ha-Shulchan" (after his main work, Aruch HaShulchan), was a Rabbi and "posek" (authority in Jewish law) in Lithuania. His surname is often preceded by "ha-Levi", as he descended from a family of Levites.
- Halafta
Halafta was a rabbi who lived in Sepphoris in the Galilee during the late first and early second century CE. He was the father of Jose ben Halafta, and one of the latter's teachers of halakha. One of Jose's sons was named Halafta after his grandfather, but he died at a young age.
- Yissocher Frand
Rabbi Yissocher Frand is an American orthodox rabbi and author. He is a "rosh yeshiva" (senior lecturer) at Ner Yisrael "yeshiva" in Baltimore, MD. Raised in Seattle, Washington he is the brother of Erwin Frand, he attended Ner Yisrael as a student and progressed to become a "maggid shiur" (lecturer). He is currently well known within the Orthodox Jewish community as a skilled orator, and has given hundreds of invited lectures over the past decades.
- Menachem Mendel Schneersohn
Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (1789-09-09 - 1866-03-17 OS) also known as the "Tzemach Tzedek" was an Orthodox rabbi and the third Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement.
- Yaakov Chaim Sofer
Yaakov Chaim Sofer (Hebrew: יעקב חיים סופר) was an Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist and posek ("decisor of Torah law"). Sofer is author of the work of "halakha" ("Jewish law") titled "Kaf hachaim", by which title he is also known.
- Moses Ben Jacob Of Coucy
Moses ben Jacob of Coucy was a French Tosafist and authority on Halakha (Jewish law). He is best known as author of one of the earliest codifications of Halakha, the "Sefer Mitzvot Gadol".
- Chaim Kanievsky
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky is a Haredi rabbi and posek ("decisor of Jewish law") living in Bnei Brak, Israel. He is the author of several works of Jewish law, such as "Derech Emunoh" ("The Path of Faith"), on agricultural laws and "Shoneh Halachos" (a systematic presentation of the popular work Mishnah Berurah). His Halakhic rulings regarding prayer are recorded in "Ishei Yisroel". He is the son of Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky ("the Steipler"), …
- Shalom Sharabi
Sar Shalom Sharabi (the Rashash). Also known as Ribbi Shalom Mizraḥi deyedi`a Sharabi. (Shar'ab, Yemen 1720 - Jerusalem 1777 (10 "shevat" 5537)) was a Yemenite Jewish Rabbi who was a master of Kabbalah, as well as Torah and Talmud. He is primarily known as a Kabbalist, but his rulings on Halakha (Jewish law) were and still are considered to have high authority, particularly among Yemenite Jews, but to some extent among Jews world wide.
- Israel Bruna
Israel Bruna (1400 - 1480) was a German rabbi and "Posek" (decisor on Jewish Law). He is also known as Mahari Bruna, the Hebrew acronym for "Our Teacher, the Rabbi, Israel Bruna". Rabbi Bruna is best known as one of the primary Ashkenazi authorities quoted by Moses Isserles in the "Shulkhan Arukh".
- Joel B. Wolowelsky
Dr. Joel B. Wolowelsky is Dean of the Faculty at the Yeshivah of Flatbush high school, and an author on topics pertaining to the role of women in Judaism and halakhic medical ethics. He is the Associate Editor of "Tradition, the Journal of Jewish Thought" and of the "Toras HoRav Foundation", which is bringing to print the unpublished works of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. He currently teaches mathematics and ethics at the Yeshivah of Flatbush high school.
- Moses ben Jacob Cordovero
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero or Moshe Cordevero (Hebrew: משה קורדובירו) known by the acronym the Ramak (רמ"ק), was one of the most prominent scholars of early modern Kabbalah. He belonged to a circle of Jewish mystical thinkers in 16th-century Safed. His birthplace is unknown, but the name Cordovero indicates that his family originated in Córdoba, …
- Yechezkel Landau
Yechezkel ben Yehuda Landau was an influential authority in halakha (Jewish law). He is best known for the work "Nodah bi-Yehudah" (נודע ביהודה), by which title he is also known.