- Avi Shafran
Rabbi Avi Shafran is a Haredi rabbi who serves as the Director of Public Affairs for Agudath Israel of America, an organization established to meet the needs and viewpoint of many Haredi Jews in the United States. Shafran is widely known in the Jewish world as a writer and lecturer. He is the author of a weekly column that is syndicated in the Jewish press in the United States and other anglophone countries, as well as in English language publications in Israel. - Nosson Scherman
Rabbi Nosson Scherman is an American Haredi Orthodox rabbi best known as the general editor for ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications. He studied in Beth Medrash Elyon in Spring Valley, New York. He joined ArtScroll in 1976 and has contributed translations and commentaries for ArtScroll's Stone Chumash, the ArtScroll Siddurim and Machzorim, and the Stone Tanach. He served as general editor of the 73-volume translation Schottenstein edition of the Talmud from 1990 until 2005. - Berel Wein
Rabbi Berel Wein,the founder and director of The Destiny Foundation since 1996, has, for over 25 years, been identified with the popularization of Jewish history through world-wide lectures, his more than 1,000 audiotapes, books, seminars, educational tours and, most recently, dramatic and documentary films. Rabbi Wein is a graduate of the Hebrew Theological College and Roosevelt College in Chicago. - Jackie Mason
Jackie Mason (born Yacov Moshe Maza on June 9, 1928, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin) is an American stand-up comedian. His "politically incorrect" routines and opinionated observations on Jewish and American life have often provoked controversy. Mason graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from City College of New York and (at the age of 25) was ordained as a rabbi in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Three years later he resigned the post to become a comedian. - Abraham J. Twerski
Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski is a well known American Hasidic Rabbi of Chernobiler descent and psychiatrist. His professional specialty is in substance abuse, and he founded the Gateway Rehabilitation Center, Pittsburgh. He is a son of the late Hornosteipler Rebbe of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He writes extensively on Judaism and self-help topics, including a book with Snoopy cartoons, drawn by Charles Schultz to explain human interaction and behavior. - Michael Lerner
Michael Lerner is a rabbi, political activist, and the editor of "Tikkun", a prominent progressive Jewish and interfaith magazine based in Berkeley, California. - Shmuley Boteach
Shmuley Boteach (born November 19, 1966) Los Angeles, California, USA is an American Orthodox rabbi, radio and television host, and author. - Shlomo Riskin
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin (born 1940) is the American founder of the Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City, the Rabbi of the Israeli city of Efrat, and Founder and Dean of the Ohr Torah Stone Institutions, a network of High Schools, Colleges, and Graduate Programs in both the United States and Israel. He belongs to Modern Orthodox Judaism. - Yossi Klein Halevi
Yossi Klein Halevi (1953-present) is an author, journalist and researcher of Israeli culture and society. Halevi was born and raised in New York in a Jewish family. He completed a BA in Jewish Studies in Brooklyn College in 1978, and completed his MA in Journalism in Northwestern University. In 1982, he moved to Israel, together with his wife Sarah (nee Lynn Rintoul). In 1985, the documentary film "Kaddish", produced by Steve Brand, … - Jonathan Sacks
Rabbi Sir Jonathan Henry Sacks (born 1948, London) is the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom's main body of Orthodox synagogues. His official title is "Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth". As well as the spiritual head of the United Synagogue, the largest synagogue body in the UK, he is the Chief Rabbi of most orthodox synagogues, … - Meir Kahane
Rabbi Meir David Kahane (also known by the pseudonyms Michael King, David Sinai and Hayim Yerushalmi, 1 August 1932 – 5 November 1990) was an American-Israeli Orthodox rabbi, author, political activist, and a former member of the Israeli Knesset. Kahane was known in the United States and Israel for his strong political and nationalist views, … - 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, … - Aryeh Kaplan
Aryeh Kaplan was a noted American Orthodox rabbi and author, who had a background in both physics and Judaism. He is widely viewed as a prolific and original teacher; his work ranged from studies of the Torah, Talmud and works of mysticism to outreach and philosophy. - Marvin Hier
Rabbi Marvin Hier (b. 1939 in New York) is the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, its Museum of Tolerance and of Moriah, the Center's film division. Hier's parents came from Poland; his father worked as a lamp polisher after arriving in New York in 1917. In 1977, following a visit to Holocaust sites in Europe, Rabbi Hier came to Los Angeles to create the Simon Wiesenthal Center. - Daniel Lapin
Daniel Lapin (born 1950?) is a political commentator and American Orthodox rabbi living in Mercer Island, Washington, and the founder of Toward Tradition (a conservative Jewish-Christian organization). He also once headed the Pacific Jewish Center in Venice, Los Angeles, California,(as well as the Commonwealth Loan Company and the Cascadia Business Institute). Lapin is co-chair of the conservative American Alliance of Jews and Christians. - Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as The Rebbe, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh (and to date, final) "Rebbe" (spiritual leader) of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch "Rebbe," Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (known as the "Tzemach Tzedek"), his namesake. In 1950, upon the passing of his predecessor, father-in-law, … - Solomon Schechter
Solomon Schechter (1847-1915) was a Romanian Jewish rabbi, academic scholar, and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of the American Conservative Jewish movement. - Hanoch Teller
Rabbi Hanoch Teller is a world-renowned lecturer. - 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. - Rabbi Shergill
Rabbi Shergill (born 1975) is an Indian musician famous for his debut album "Rabbi" and the chart-topper song of 2005, "Bulla Ki Jana". His music has been described variously as rock, Sufiana, and "semi-Sufi semi-folksy kind of music with a lot of Western arragements." Rabbi himself has been called "Punjabi music's true urban balladeer". Rabbi's father was a Sikh preacher. His mother is a college principal and a Punjabi poetess. - Arthur Waskow
Arthur Ocean Waskow, born Arthur I. Waskow, (born 1933 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American author, political activist, and rabbi associated with the Jewish Renewal movement. - Vilna Gaon
The Vilna Gaon (April 23, 1720 - October 9, 1797) was a prominent rabbi, Talmud scholar, and Kabbalist. Born Elijah (Eliyahu) ben Shlomo Zalman, he is commonly referred to in Hebrew as "ha'Gaon ha'Chasid mi'Vilna", meaning "the saintly genius from Vilna", or in similar forms (Gaon of Vilna, Gaon mi Vilno, or Vilna Gaon), and as "the Gra" (a Hebrew acronym of "Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu"). - 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." - Leo Baeck
Leo Baeck was an 20th century German-Polish-Jewish Rabbi, scholar, and a leader of Progressive Judaism. Baeck was born in Lissa (then in the Posen province of Germany, now in Poland) and began his education near Breslau at the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary in 1894. He also studied philosophy in Berlin with Wilhelm Dilthey, served as a rabbi in Oppeln, Düsseldorf, and Berlin, … - David Rosen
Chief Rabbi David Rosen is the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland(1979-85) and currently serves as the President of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) that represents world Jewry in its relations with other world religions. He is Director of Interreligious Affairs and Director of the Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding of the American Jewish Committee. - 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, … - Shlomo Carlebach
Shlomo Carlebach (Salomon Peter Carlebach) (b. August 17, 1925 in Hamburg, Germany), (not to be confused with his cousin and namesake) is a Haredi rabbi and scholar who was chosen to be the mashgiach ruchani ("spiritual advisor" [of students]) of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin located in Brooklyn, in New York City after the departure of the previous "mashgiach ruchani" Rabbi Avigdor Miller. - Tovia Singer
Tovia Singer (b. 1965) is the host of The Tovia Singer Show, a radio show that was launched in 2002, as well as a public lecturer who devotes his time to countering missionary work undertaken by such messianic organizations as Jews for Jesus. In that capacity he heads Outreach Judaism, which aims to provide educational resources to individuals targeted for conversion by missionary groups. - Harold Kushner
Harold S. Kushner is a prominent American rabbi aligned with the progressive wing of Conservative Judaism. - Adin Steinsaltz
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz (Hebrew: עדין שטיינזלץ) or Adin Even Yisrael (born 1937) is most commonly known for his popular commentary and translation of both Talmuds into Hebrew, French, Russian and Spanish. In 1988, he was awarded the Israel Prize, Israel's highest honor. Steinsaltz is a noted scholar, philosopher, social critic and author world wide whose background also includes extensive scientific training. - Samson Raphael Hirsch
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch was the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism. Occasionally termed "neo-Orthodoxy", his philosophy, together with that of Ezriel Hildesheimer, has had a considerable influence on the development of Orthodox Judaism. - David Saperstein
David Saperstein is a rabbi and Reform Jewish community leader, serving as the director and counsel of the movement's Religious Action Center for more than 30 years. He currently co-chairs the Coalition to Preserve Religious Liberty, and serves on the boards of the NAACP and People For the American Way. In 1999, Saperstein was elected as the first Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. - Shimon Bar Yochai
Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai, Shimon son of Yohai, Simon son of Yohai or Rashbi, was a famous rabbi who lived in the era of the Tannaim (scholars of the Mishnah) in the area of what is today Israel during the Roman period, after the destruction of the Second Temple. According to the Talmud, he criticized the Roman government and was forced to go into hiding with his son for many years. - David Harris
Dovid Harris is an Orthodox Judaism rabbi who as co-rosh yeshiva (dean), heads the Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim: Rabbinical Seminary of America. He is a prominent figure in the yeshiva world. He is renowned for his analytical skills and depth of comprehension. He is a master of sensitivity to Talmudic textual nuance, and will rigorously examine the "assembly-line" of a Talmudic sequence. His students number over a thousand, and many retain close ties with him. - Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Joseph Ber (Yosef Dov, Yoshe Ber) Soloveitchik (1903 - 1993) was an American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist and modern Jewish philosopher. He was the descendant of the Lithuanian Jewish Soloveitchik rabbinic dynasty. As "Rosh Yeshiva" of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University in New York City, The Rav, as he came to be known, ordained close to 2,000 rabbis over the course of almost half a century. - Case
Case was one of the foremost Polish rabbis and Talmudists of the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth; died at Posen about 1610. His name, "Case" or "Kaza" is most probably only a variant of the well-known surname "Cases." This would argue for Italian descent; but it does not agree with the fact that Case called himself "Shapiro," as Bloch has conclusively proved. After serving as chief rabbi of Lemberg, Case became city rabbi of Posen, … - Isaac Luria
Rabbi Isaac Luria was a Jewish mystic in Safed. His name today is attached to all of the mystic thought in Safed: while his literary contribution to the Kabbalistic school of Safed was extremely minute (he only wrote a few poems), his fame led to the school and all its works being named after him. The main popularizer of his ideas was Hayim Vital, though Vital's claim to be the official interpreter of the Lurianic system was not undisputed. - 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. - Eric Yoffie
Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie is the President of the Union for Reform Judaism, the congregational arm of the Reform Jewish Movement in North America. Yoffie has remained the unchallenged head of American Judaism’s largest denomination since 1996 due to his popular advocacy of political liberalism and religious traditionalism. Raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, he is a graduate of Brandeis University and received his Rabbinical ordination from Hebrew Union College. - Joseph Telushkin
Joseph Telushkin (born 1948) is an American Modern Orthodox rabbi, lecturer, and author. Telushkin attended the Yeshivah of Flatbush, was ordained at Yeshiva University, and studied Jewish history at Columbia University. Telushkin serves as a rabbi for the Los Angeles-based Synagogue for the Performing Arts, is an associate of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. He is a former director of education at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute.
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