Seth Farber

Seth Farber Hebrew name שאול פרבר is an American-Israeli Modern Orthodox rabbi, historian, and founder and director of the not-for-profit organization ITIM.

Early life and education

Farber grew up in Riverdale, Bronx, New York. He received a BA from New York University,[1] was ordained as a rabbi by the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University in 1991, received an MA in Judaic Studies from Yeshiva University in 1995, and a PhD from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 2000.

Farber's great-great-great-grandfather was the pre-eminent Central European Rabbi Moshe Sofer, better known as the Chasam Sofer (or Chatam Sofer).[1]

Career

Farber was a teacher at the Maimonides School in Brookline, Massachusetts. After moving to Israel, he founded ITIM, an organization that aims to assist Israelis with the legal intricacies of personal status—marriage, divorce, conversion, and burial—which are administered by the Ministry of Religious Affairs in a manner that often leaves families bewildered, overwhelmed, and resentful.[2] Farber is widely cited in the press on the politically fraught issues of personal status among Jews in Israel.[3][4][5]

The New York Times called Farber a "pragmatic idealist" who believes that Orthodox Jews — including the rabbinate — and non-Orthodox Jews need to learn to "to trust each other" sufficiently to work together on difficult issues of personal status.[1]

Personal life

Farber is married with five children, Moshe, Chani, Shira, Esti, and Tali. He lives in Ra'anana, Israel.[6]

Selected works

Books

  • Farber, Seth (2003). An American Orthodox Dreamer: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Boston's Maimonides School. Brandeis University Press, University Press of New England. ISBN 1-58465-338-8.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gorenberg, Gershom. "How Do You Prove You’re a Jew?", The New York Times, March 2, 2008. Accessed May 4, 2008. "Farber, 41, has a round, clean-shaven face and frameless glasses that make him look like an earnest grad student. He grew up in Riverdale, N.Y., attending the kind of Orthodox parochial school that, he told me, "celebrated Americanism," that turned the American bicentennial into the focus of an entire school year."
  2. ↑ Q & A with Yeshiva Alumnus Rabbi Dr. Seth Farber, Menachem Butler and Zev Nagel, Yeshiva University Commentator, 5/4/04 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-04-05. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
  3. ↑ Friedman, Andrew. "Liberals, Russians Boo Civil-Marriage Deal", The Forward, July 25, 2007.
  4. ↑ Eglash, Ruth. "Would-be convert faces deportation", The Jerusalem Post, July 28, 2007. Accessed May 6, 2008.
  5. ↑ Chabin, Michele. "Orthodox Convert Nixed On Aliyah, Despite Deal", The Jewish Week, December 13, 2011. Accessed April 19, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Rabbi Seth Farber". torahinmotionusa.org. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.