Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb is Executive Vice President, Emeritus of the Orthodox Union, following more than seven years as Executive Vice President. In that role, he combined the skills of pulpit rabbi, scholar, and clinical psychologist to provide extraordinary leadership to the organization and to Orthodox Judaism worldwide. Rabbi Weinreb received his rabbinic ordination in 1962 from the Rabbi Jacob Joseph Yeshiva in New York and served as spiritual leader of Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Baltimore for 13 years, building the congregation from 160 to more than 400 families before coming to the OU. In addition, he has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Maryland and served as a psychotherapist for mental health organizations for many years while also maintaining a private practice. His positions included roles as school psychologist for Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland and as Chief Psychologist of the Potomac Foundation for Mental Health. As Executive Vice President, Rabbi Weinreb built the Orthodox Union to an unparalleled degree of esteem. He traveled widely, visiting communities and congregations across North America, in addition to his frequent trips to Europe and Israel. In these travels, he frequently served as scholar-in-residence, including some of his most enjoyable assignments, guiding NCSY summer touring groups. Now, with more time to write, Rabbi Weinreb has authored The Person in the Parsha: Discovering the Human Element in the Weekly Torah Portion, based on his popular weekly Person in the Parsha Torah commentary, in which he combines his background as a trained psychologist and a rabbinical scholar to provide insights into the parsha that would be available from no other source. For more than two decades, he has presented his annual Tisha B’Av shiur, webcast around the world on ou.org and reaching an audience of thousands. Many people use the new Koren Mesorat HaRav Kinot, the complete Tisha B’Av service, with an exquisite new English translation of the Kinot, the elegies of the fast day, by Rabbi Weinreb. Rabbi Weinreb is also the editor-in-chief of the new Koren Talmud Bavli, and has authored a commentary to Sefer Tehilim, called The Rohr Family Edition of Tehilim; also published by Koren. Rabbi Weinreb continues to travel extensively, and to write essays and commentaries for a wide variety of resources.
Mourning for what was, hurting for what is, believing in what will be. The OU’s Tisha B’av Video for 5765 featuring Rav Hershel Schachter, Rabbi Dr. JJ Schacter, and Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb.
Rabbi Weinreb’s Kinot on Tisha B’Av 5760 (2000). The cycle of Jewish History begins with the covenant (brit bein habetarim) God made with Avraham. A central concept in Judaism is covenant. But why is a covenant necessary?
Piercing the Mechitza Shel Barzel: From the day the Bet HaMikdash was destroyed an iron wall separates us from God. What does this mean to us living in this generation? Delivered in Baltimore on Tisha B’Av 5757 (1997) For the audio version click here
Envy is surely one of the most insidious of human emotions. It is a self-destructive emotion, because it often leads a person to act against his own best interests, as he attempts to redress the situation that caused him so much envy. It is also damaging to relationships with others, and can have disastrous social […]
Fear and trembling. Those have been our primary religious emotions during the past several weeks. Although Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are referred to nowadays as the High Holidays, traditionally they were known as the Days of Awe, Yamim Noraim. Frightful days, fearful days. During this recent time none of us escaped a sense of […]
Do you ever hear voices? I do, especially at this time of year. It is now the period of time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This ten-day period is known as the ten days of Teshuvah, or repentance. During this time Jews become more contemplative, more serious, and more given to internal dialogue. It […]
Sometimes even the corniest of old jokes has a profound lesson to teach us. “How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?” In case you haven’t already heard the answer to this example of tired “light bulb” humor, it goes like this: “Just one. But it has to be willing to change!” […]
In his introduction Rabbi Weinreb quotes the Maharal. He says that redemption cannot come from falsehood; only from pure unadulterated honesty; from the simple truth. “Evil, Our Enemy” – Tisha B’Av Kinot presented by Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb. Recorded as a live webcast on July 30, 2009 by the Orthodox Union at Young Israel of […]
Rav Kook asks: why don’t we read Shir HaShirim on Shavuot? Shavuot is a Yom Tov of serenity, not a passionate drama, more in line with Megillat Ruth.
Rabbi Weinreb’s The Person in the Parsha Weekly Column: Shavuot For those of us living outside the State of Israel, there is no “portion of the week”, parshat hashavua, this coming Sabbath. The two-day holiday of Shavuot falls on Friday and Saturday and preempts the regular reading. Instead, I will devote this weekly column to […]
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Orthodox Union