Aharon Lichtenstein

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Aharon Lichtenstein

Aharon Lichtenstein (born May 24, 1933) is a noted Orthodox Jewish

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish denominations of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict constructionist and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim....
rabbi

Rabbi

Rabbi , in Judaism, means a religious ?teacher?, or more literally, ?my great one?, when addressing any master. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ?great?, used in many senses, including the sense of a ?master? and apprentice, whence someone who is a distinguished ?teacher?....
and rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the Dean of a Yeshiva . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh ? meaning head, and yeshiva ? a school of religious Jewish education....
.

Rabbi Lichtenstein was born in Paris

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
, France

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, but grew up in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, studied in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin

Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin

Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin It is primarily an American, Lithuanian-style Talmudic Haredi but non-Hasidic Judaism yeshiva. It presently has an enrollment of close to two thousand students ranging from its elementary division to its post high school beis midrash and kollel divisions....
under Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner

Yitzchok Hutner

Yitzchok Hutner was an Orthodox Judaism rabbi and American rosh yeshiva born in Warsaw, Poland, to a family with both Ger Hasidic Judaism and non-Hasidic Lithuanian Jews roots....
. He earned a BA

Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin language Artium Baccalaureus, is an Undergraduate education bachelor's degree awarded for either a course or a program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
and semicha
Semicha

Semicha , also semichut , or semicha lerabbanut 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....
("rabbinic ordination") at Yeshiva University

Yeshiva University

Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a leading research institution, ranked 50th in the United States among national universities in 2008.....
and a PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian reform organization* PHD, a track on The Crystal Method album Tweekend* PHD finger, a protein sequence...
in English Literature at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
, where he studied under Douglas Bush

Douglas Bush

Douglas Bush was a literary criticism and literary history. He taught for most of his life at Harvard University, where his students included many of the most prominent scholars, writers, and academics of several generations, including Walter Jackson Bate, Neil Rudenstine, Paul Auster and Aharon Lichtenstein....
.

After serving as Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the Dean of a Yeshiva . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh ? meaning head, and yeshiva ? a school of religious Jewish education....
at Yeshiva University for several years, Rabbi Lichtenstein answered Rabbi Yehuda Amital

Yehuda Amital

Rabbi Yehuda Amital, , born Yehuda Klein on 31 October 1924) is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion and a former member of the Cabinet of Israel....
's request in 1971 to join him at the helm of Yeshivat Har Etzion

Yeshivat Har Etzion

Yeshivat Har Etzion , commonly known as "Gush," is an elite Hesder located in Alon Shvut, a settlement in Gush Etzion near Jerusalem, Israel....
, located in Gush Etzion

Gush Etzion

Gush Etzion refers to a group of Jewish villages established from the 1920s south of Jerusalem on the northern part of Mount Hebron in the southern West Bank, and destroyed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War....
, Israel

Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
, and moved to Jerusalem

Jerusalem

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Encyclopedia

Aharon Lichtenstein (born May 24, 1933) is a noted Orthodox Jewish

Orthodox Judaism

Rabbi

Rosh yeshiva

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
, France

France

United States

Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin

Yitzchok Hutner

Bachelor of Arts

Yeshiva University

PHD

Harvard University

Douglas Bush

Rosh yeshiva

Yehuda Amital

Yeshivat Har Etzion

Yeshivat Har Etzion , commonly known as "Gush," is an elite Hesder located in Alon Shvut, a settlement in Gush Etzion near Jerusalem, Israel....
, located in Gush Etzion

Gush Etzion

Israel

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
. He still maintains a close connection to Yeshiva University as a Rosh Kollel

Kollel

A kollel is an institute for advanced Torah study of the Talmud and of rabbinic literature for Jewish men, essentially a post-graduate yeshiva which pays married men a regular monthly stipend or annual salary to study Judaism's classic texts in depth....
for the Gruss Institute in Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
, an affiliate of Yeshiva University and its rabbinical school, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary , or Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, is the most important yeshiva component of Yeshiva University and a preeminent seminary for the training of Orthodox Judaism rabbis....
. In 2005, he and his wife Tovah moved to Alon Shvut

Alon Shvut

Alon Shvut is a communal settlement and Israeli settlement in Judea, within the southern West Bank, administered by the Gush Etzion Regional Council....
, where Yeshivat Har Etzion is located.

On January 4, 2006, Rabbi Yaaqov Medan

Yaaqov Medan

Rabbi Yaaqov Medan is a co-Rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, and a lecturer in Tanakh, gemara, and Jewish philosophy....
and Rabbi Baruch Gigi

Baruch Gigi

Rabbi Baruch Gigi is a co-Rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem.He was born in Morocco and Aliyah at the age of 11....
were officially invested as co-roshei yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the Dean of a Yeshiva . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh ? meaning head, and yeshiva ? a school of religious Jewish education....
alongside Rav Amital and Rav Lichtenstein, with an eye toward Rabbi Amital's intention to retire. On October 28, 2008, Rav Lichtenstein's eldest son, Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein, was officially invested as co-Rosh Yeshiva, simultaneous with Rav Amital's official retirement, this time with an eye toward Rav Aharon Lichtenstein's eventual plan to retire.

He is committed to intensive and original Torah study

Torah study

Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Tanakh, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts....
and articulates a bold Jewish worldview that embraces elements of modernity within the framework of a Torah life, reflecting the tradition of his teacher and father-in-law, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik in line with Centrist Orthodoxy.

He is a source of inspiration for a wide circle of Jewry, for both his educational attainments and his intellectual and spiritual leadership. He is especially admired by many centrist Modern Orthodox leaders.

Works

By His Light: Character and Values in the Service of God, based on Lichtenstein's addresses and adapted by Reuven Ziegler
Leaves of Faith (vol. 1): The World of Jewish Learning
Leaves of Faith (vol. 2): The World of Jewish Living

Based on Rabbi Lichtenstein's Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
classes at Yeshivat Har Etzion, his students' notes have been edited and published as Shiurei Harav Aharon Lichtenstein on Tohorot

Tohorot

Tohorot is the sixth order of the Mishnah . This order deals with the clean/unclean distinction and family purity. This is the longest of the orders in the Mishnah....
, Zevahim, the eighth chapter of Bava Metzia

Bava Metzia

Bava Metzia is the second of the three Talmudic tractates in the order of Nezikin . Bava Metzia discusses Civil code such as property law and usury....
, the third chapter of Bava Batra

Bava Batra

Bava Batra is the third of the three tractates in the Talmud in the order Nezikin; it deals with a person's responsibilities and rights as the owner of property....
, the Ramban

Ramban

Ramban can refer to:*Ramban , town in Jammu*Nahmanides , Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman, Catalan rabbi, philosopher, physician, Kabbalist and biblical commentator...
's pamphlet on Dinah DiGarmi, the first chapter of Pesahim

Pesahim

Pesahim is the third tractate of Moed of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. It is concerned mainly with the laws of the Jewish holiday Passover as well as the Passover lamb offering....
and the first chapter of Gittin..

External links

Yeshivat Har Etzion - -
(PDF), Dr Alan Brill
, David Singer