Rabbinic Advisors

RABBI ZEV LEFF, שליט"א

 

Rabbi Zev Leff is one of Israel’s most popular English-speaking Torah educators. For more than 20 years, he has served as the rav (rabbi) of Moshav Matityahu, a small religious community located in central Israel. In addition to the shiurim (lectures) he gives seven days a week at Matityahu, Rabbi Leff is constantly traveling to speak at schools, yeshivot, seminaries, community centers, and events throughout Israel and abroad.

 

Rabbi Leff received his semicha ordination from the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland Ohio, where he studied under Rav Mordechai Gifter, zt"l. In 1974, Fulfilling a life-long dream, he moved with his family to Eretz Yisrael in 1983 settling in Moshav Matityahu where he continues to serve as Rav, as well as Rosh Hayeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah Matisyahu.

 

Today, in addition to his communal duties, Rabbi Leff is also rosh yeshivah of Yeshiva Gedolah Matisyahu, and oversees the 20-member kollel on the Moshav. Additionally, he teaches a group of unaffiliated Israelis who live near Moshav Matityahu and lectures at several leading Israeli yeshivot, seminaries and institutions, including the Orthodox Union’s Israel Center. He is a featured speaker at the conventions of the Orthodox Union, Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah.

 

You can read more about Rabbi Leff at http://www.rabbileff.net/

 

 

 

 

RABBI Y.A.Y. MILIKOWSKI, שליט"א, The Amshinover Rebbe

 

Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Yishai Milikowsky was born in the United States. He is the present Amshinover Rebbe in the Bayit Vegan section of Jerusalem. He is the grandson and successor of Rabbi Yerachmiel Yehudah Meir Kalish of Amshinov, son of Rabbi Chaim and Rebbetzin Chayah Nechamah Milikowsky, daughter of Rabbi Yerachmiel Yehudah Meir Kalish.

 

He prays for hours on end, meditating on every word, as a result of which he ends the Sabbath very late. Once an adam gadol, a very learned man, discussed the Halachic implications of the Rebbe's zmanim with the late Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. Reb Shlomo Zalman referred to the Rebbe as a "Pillar of Fire" and advised his questioner that one who touches fire will be burnt. The Rebbe is also the mentor of the famous Hasidic preacher, R. Tzvi Maier Zilberberg who considers himself an Amshinov chassid. The renowned mekubal Rebbe Yitzchok "Itche" Myer Morgenstern, the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Toras Chochom considers the Amshinov Rebbe the "Tzadik HaDor."

 

The Amshinover Rebbe is widely known within the Haredi world, and is regarded within Hassidic circles for his exceptional Ahavas Yisroel, love of every Jew; a good example is his warmth towards Shlomo Carlebach and his unconventional followers. The Rebbe has literally counseled thousands of newcomers to Judaism. The Amshinov Rebbe has been quoted as believing that Reb Shlomo was the "Pillar of Prayer." In the present generation the Rebbe himself is considered a "pillar of tefillah" and davens for hours on end. Of note is the Rebbe's guidance of the Sde Tzofim Yeshiva in Beitar for Baalei Teshuva.

 

The Rebbe is also known for his outstanding advice in medical matters. HaRav Meier Bransdorfer, z"l advised the Rebbeim of "A Time" to consult with the Amshinov Rebbe - "a eish gadol meod" regarding complicated medical shailas. His advice is sought after on very delicate matters worldwide.

 

 

 

 

RABBI CHAIM PINCHAS SCHEINBERG, זצ"ל

 

Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg (Hebrew: חיים פנחס שיינברג‎;‎ 1 October 1910 – 20 March 2012) was a Polish-born, American-raised, Israeli Haredi rabbi and rosh yeshiva who, from 1965, made his home in the Kiryat Mattersdorf neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel.He was the rosh yeshiva of the Torah Ore yeshiva in Kiryat Mattersdorf and Yeshivas Derech Chaim in Brooklyn. He was a posek (decisor of Jewish law), Gadol HaDor, and one of the last living Torah scholars to have been educated in the yeshivas of prewar Europe. He was often consulted on a range of communal and personal halachic issues. He was one of the rabbinic leaders of Kiryat Mattersdorf, together with Rabbi Yisroel Gans and Rabbi Yitzchok Yechiel Ehrenfeld. He was also a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Israel and author of various scholarly works, including Tabaat Hachoshen, a four volume treatise on the seminal halakhic work, Ksot Hachoshen, and the three volume Mishmeret Chayim where the analysis of dilemmas illustrates the Talmudic method of study.

 

He was especially well-known for wearing more than 36 layers of tzitzit (fringed four-cornered garment) and keeping on his tefillin (phylacteries) all day.

 

 

 

RABBI ASHER WEISS, שליט"א

 

Dayan (Rabbi) Osher (Usher, Asher) Weiss is the current Rosh Kollel of Machon Minchas Osher L’Torah V’Horaah in Jerusalem. He is the author of the Minchas Osher, an Av Beis Din, Rosh Kollel, posek, and is well known in Haredi circles for having traveled to the United States with Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman and Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter, the Gerrer Rebbe. He frequently gives classes at American yeshivos in Israel.

 

 

 

 

RABBI SHLOMO WOLBE, זצ"ל

 

One of the Torah's dicta that Wolbe was most known in his advocacy of was his opposition to hitting children; this, in light of the longstanding misinterpretation of the biblical verse in Proverbs advising "spare the rod spoil the child."

 

Known for being a lifelong reader of secular psychology and educational theory, Rav Wolbe created his own educational philosophy for the Haredi community. In his important work on education Zeriah u'Binyan beChinnuch ("Planting and Building in Education") he presents a Haredi adaptation and paraphrase of John Dewey’s Democracy and Education(1916), in which Dewey presented the tension of rote learning and a democratic individualism. For Wolbe, the educator needs to “build” the students on the firm ground of Torah, the community, and Haredi yeshiva values, yet at the same time allow the students to “grow,” each in their own personal and individual way.

 

Wolbe emphasized the great stress Torah places on the individuality of every child and every situation.