OU TORAH

Britain's Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has been Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth since September 1991, the sixth incumbent since the role was formalized in 1845. Prior to taking up his current post, Rabbi Sacks was Principal of Jews' College, as well as rabbi of the Golders Green and Marble Arch synagogues. Educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he obtained first class honours in Philosophy, Jonathan Sacks pursued postgraduate studies at New College, Oxford, and King's College London, gaining his PH. D in 1981 and rabbinic ordination from Jews' College and Yeshiva Etz Chaim. The Chief Rabbi has been a visiting professor at several universities in Britain, the United States and Israel, and is currently Visiting Professor of Theology at Kings' College London. He holds 14 honorary degrees, including a Doctor of Divinity conferred to mark his first ten years in office, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. At the time of his installation, the Chief Rabbi launched a 'Decade of Jewish Renewal'. This led to a series of innovative communal projects including Jewish Continuity, a national foundation for Jewish educational programmes and outreach; the Association of Jewish Business Ethics; the Chief Rabbinate Awards for Excellence; the Chief Rabbinate Bursaries, and Community Development, a national scheme to enhance Jewish community life. The Chief Rabbi began his second decade of office with a call to 'Jewish Responsibility' and a renewed commitment to the ethical dimension of Judaism. The Chief Rabbi has received a number of prizes, including the Jerusalem Prize 1995 for his contribution to diaspora Jewish life and The Ladislaus Laszt Ecumenical and Social Concern Award from Ben Gurion University in Israel in 2011. He was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer, taking his seat in the House of Lords on 27th October 2009, where he sits on the cross benches as Baron Sacks of Aldgate in the City of London. The Chief Rabbi is a frequent contributor to radio, television and the national press. He regularly delivers BBC RADIO 4's Thought for the Day, writes a monthly Credo column for The Times as well as other comment pieces and broadcasts an annual Rosh Hashanah message on BBC. In 1990 he was invited by the BBC Board of Governors to deliver the annual Reith Lectures which were then published as The Persistence of Faith. He has written 24 books, his most recent being The Great Partnership: God, Science and the Search for Meaning which was published in July 2011. A number of his books have won literary awards, including the Grawemeyer Prize for Religion in 2004 for The Dignity of Difference, and a National Jewish Book Award in 2000 for A Letter in the Scroll. Covenant & Conversation: Genesis also won the National Jewish Book Award in 2009. Born in 1948 in London, he has been married to Elaine since 1970. They have three children, Joshua, Dina and Gila and five grandchildren.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has been Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth since September 1991, the sixth incumbent since the role was formalized in 1845. Prior to taking up his current post, Rabbi Sacks was Principal of Jews' College, as well as rabbi of the Golders Green and Marble Arch synagogues. Educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he obtained first class honours in Philosophy, Jonathan Sacks pursued postgraduate studies at New College, Oxford, and King's College London, gaining his PH. D in 1981 and rabbinic ordination from Jews' College and Yeshiva Etz Chaim. The Chief Rabbi has been a visiting professor at several universities in Britain, the United States and Israel, and is currently Visiting Professor of Theology at Kings' College London. He holds 14 honorary degrees, including a Doctor of Divinity conferred to mark his first ten years in office, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. At the time of his installation, the Chief Rabbi launched a 'Decade of Jewish Renewal'. This led to a series of innovative communal projects including Jewish Continuity, a national foundation for Jewish educational programmes and outreach; the Association of Jewish Business Ethics; the Chief Rabbinate Awards for Excellence; the Chief Rabbinate Bursaries, and Community Development, a national scheme to enhance Jewish community life. The Chief Rabbi began his second decade of office with a call to 'Jewish Responsibility' and a renewed commitment to the ethical dimension of Judaism. The Chief Rabbi has received a number of prizes, including the Jerusalem Prize 1995 for his contribution to diaspora Jewish life and The Ladislaus Laszt Ecumenical and Social Concern Award from Ben Gurion University in Israel in 2011. He was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer, taking his seat in the House of Lords on 27th October 2009, where he sits on the cross benches as Baron Sacks of Aldgate in the City of London. The Chief Rabbi is a frequent contributor to radio, television and the national press. He regularly delivers BBC RADIO 4's Thought for the Day, writes a monthly Credo column for The Times as well as other comment pieces and broadcasts an annual Rosh Hashanah message on BBC. In 1990 he was invited by the BBC Board of Governors to deliver the annual Reith Lectures which were then published as The Persistence of Faith. He has written 24 books, his most recent being The Great Partnership: God, Science and the Search for Meaning which was published in July 2011. A number of his books have won literary awards, including the Grawemeyer Prize for Religion in 2004 for The Dignity of Difference, and a National Jewish Book Award in 2000 for A Letter in the Scroll. Covenant & Conversation: Genesis also won the National Jewish Book Award in 2009. Born in 1948 in London, he has been married to Elaine since 1970. They have three children, Joshua, Dina and Gila and five grandchildren.

Rabbi Eliyahu Safran

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Stephen Savitsky

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Rav Hershel Schachter

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Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter

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Rabbi Daniel Schonbuch

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Shlomo Schwartz

Shlomo Schwartz has been the Chief Financial Officer of the Orthodox Union since October 2009.

Shlomo Schwartz has been the Chief Financial Officer of the Orthodox Union since October 2009. He is a CPA with over 20 years of Accounting/Finance experience working for a diverse range of Companies spanning both the Public and Private sectors. He is a graduate of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath and Touro College and resides with his wife and 5 children in Brooklyn, NY where he delivers weekly shiurim in a local Shul in Flatbush.

Rivka Segal

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Rabbi Jonathan Shulman

Rabbi Jonathan Shulman moved to Jerusalem from Cambridge, MA eight years ago. He is currently the OU/JLIC rabbi at the University of Pennsylvania. Jonathan began his rabbinic studies at Yeshivat Darchei Noam (Shapell's). After studying at Shapell's for two years, he moved on to the Mir Yeshiva, where he studied for the next five years. Before returning to the States, Jonathan worked with the overseas students at Hebrew University at the Afikim Kollel, a student center for Jewish learning. He served there as the director of the overseas program, teacher and mentor. He received his BA from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Alan Singer

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Shira Smiles

Mrs. Shira Smiles is a highly sought-after international lecturer, a popular seminary teacher, and an experienced curriculum developer. She is well-known for her unique teaching style, which seeks to bring understanding of Torah texts through analysis of relevant sources, while making the lessons learned from every verse relevant to her students' lives. Mrs. Smiles teaches at Darchei Bina Seminary. In addition, she leads a number of women's study group classes in Beit Shemesh, Yerushalayim, and Modiin. Mrs. Smiles also trains Torah teachers in special workshops all over the world. Mrs. Smiles gives a weekly shiur that is broadcast around the world via satellite hookup, has a direct teleconference shiur with students in LA, and has over 300 audio shiurim. Her first book is called Torah Tapestries. Photo courtesy Daryl Tempkin Photography

Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky

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Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik

HaRav Joseph B. Soloveitchik ztz”l, affectionately known as “the Rav,” was the scion of a legendary rabbinic family, the great-grandson of his namesake, the Beis HaLevi. Rav Soloveitchik was renowned as a Talmudist and philosopher, celebrated for his insightful synthesis of Torah ethos into our post-modern world. As rosh yeshiva of RIETS, the Rav ordained nearly 2,000 rabbis over almost half a century. The Rav passed away in 1993 at the age of 90. Many of the Rav’s works are available from OU Press, http://www.ou.org/oupress. These recordings of the Rav on OU Torah were made available by Rabbi David Etengoff (www.reparashathashavuah.org), Director of Educational Technology at Magen David Yeshivah in Brooklyn, a student of the Rav.

HaRav Joseph B. Soloveitchik ztz”l, affectionately known as “the Rav,” was the scion of a legendary rabbinic family, the great-grandson of his namesake, the Beis HaLevi. Rav Soloveitchik was renowned as a Talmudist and philosopher, celebrated for his insightful synthesis of Torah ethos into our post-modern world. As rosh yeshiva of RIETS, the Rav ordained nearly 2,000 rabbis over almost half a century. The Rav passed away in 1993 at the age of 90. Many of the Rav’s works are available from OU Press, http://www.ou.org/oupress. These recordings of the Rav on OU Torah were made available by Rabbi David Etengoff (www.reparashathashavuah.org), Director of Educational Technology at Magen David Yeshivah in Brooklyn, a student of the Rav.

Rabbi Avrohom Stone

No bio available