Yitzchok Adlerstein
{{Short description|American rabbi}}
{{BLP sources|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein
| image =
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| caption =
| birth_name = Jeffrey Adlerstein
| birth_date = 1950
| birth_place = New York City
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| nationality = American
| education = B.A.
Queens College, City University of New York
| occupation = Professor, teacher, and author
| employer = Loyola Law School, Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Yeshiva of Los Angeles
| known_for =
| title = Rabbi
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Yitzchok Adlerstein (born 1950 in New York) is an Orthodox rabbi. He is the co-founder of Cross-Currents, an online journal of Orthodox Jewish thought, and regularly contributes to that site.{{cite web |publisher=Cross-Currents.com|title=Cross-Currents|url=http://www.cross-currents.com/}} He is on the editorial board of Klal Perspectives, an online journal of issues facing the Orthodox community.
Career
Adlerstein served in an advisory and honorary position as one of the founding trustees of the Association for Jewish Outreach Programs (AJOP, known at the time as The Association for Jewish Outreach Professionals), delivering lectures and workshops to Orthodox Jewish outreach rabbis.
Adlerstein studied and received his advanced rabbinical ordination from the Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim in New York.{{citation needed|date=April 2008}} He is a summa cum laude graduate of Queens College, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.{{citation needed|date=April 2008}}
Adlerstein is the director of Interfaith Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center. He holds the Sydney M. Irmas Adjunct Chair in Jewish Law and Ethics at Loyola Law School and teaches senior high school girls at Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}}
He writes regularly for the Cross-Currents blog.
He is the author of "Netivot Shalom: Insights on the Holidays and Avoda Based on the Writings of the Slonimer Rebbe" ({{ISBN|978-1-59264-535-0}}, Maggid Books, 2019).
Controversies
Rabbi Adlerstein has frequently participated in controversial debates that have relevance to Orthodox Jews and their world outlook.
During the Slifkin controversy over how Orthodoxy views evolution, Adlerstein was quoted in the New York Times supporting Rabbi Slifkin, who faced intense pressures from Haredi rabbis to withdraw his books.{{cite news |work=The New York Times |title=Religion and Natural History Clash Among the Ultra-Orthodox |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/22/science/22rabbi.html |first=Alex |last=Mindlin |date=March 22, 2005}}
Adlerstein is an outspoken opponent of the "Bible Code" and has written articles{{cite web |publisher=Cross-Currents.com |title=Bible Codes |date=10 September 2007 |url=http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2007/09/10/bible-codes-announcement/}} and given lectures{{cite web |publisher=Dartmouth.edu |title=Chance Lecture Series |url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/ChanceLecture/contents.msri.html}} together with Barry Simon on the topic.
Adlerstein criticized the methods and notions behind the workings of the Kabbalah Centre.{{cite web |publisher=jewishjournal.com |title=When Witches Blend Torah and Tarot |url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=11298 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050415090155/http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=11298 |archivedate=April 15, 2005}}
Personal life
Adlerstein currently resides in Jerusalem with his wife, Reena.
References
{{Reflist}}
= Partial bibliography =
{{refbegin}}
- [http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/to-forgive-or-to-shun/16001/ To forgive or to shun, LA Weekly, March 28 2007],
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050411112735/http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600121296,00.html Schiavo case divides religious bioethicists, Deseret News, March 25 2005]
- [http://www.ou.org/index.php/shabbat_shalom/article/chairmans_message/ Orthodox Union chairman's message, December 28, 2006] (Orthodox Union)
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/22/science/22rabbi.html?ei=5088&en=71c12004b0b30b0a&ex=1269147600&partner=rssnyt&pagewanted=print&position= Religion and Natural History Clash Among the Ultra-Orthodox, New York Times, March 22, 2005]
{{refend}}
External links
- [http://www.cross-currents.com/the-writers/ Cross-Currents Blog]
{{Authority control}}
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Category:People from Los Angeles
Category:Orthodox rabbis from New York City
Category:20th-century American rabbis