Moshe Weinberger

Moshe Weinberger is an American Hasidic rabbi, outreach educator, author, translator, and speaker. He is the founding spiritual leader of the Contemporary Chassidic Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, New York, and Mashpia/mashgiach ruchani (spiritual supervisor) at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS). Considered the "senior spokesman" of the Neo-Hasidic movement in Modern Orthodoxy,[1] he has recorded more than 4000 lectures on Hasidic thought and philosophy.

Rabbi

Moshe Weinberger
Speaking in June 2016
Personal
Born1957
Queens, New York
ReligionJudaism
NationalityUnited States
Alma materM.A. Jewish philosophy, Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, Yeshiva University
M.A. educational administration, Columbia University Teachers College
PositionRabbi
SynagogueCongregation Aish Kodesh
Began1992
OtherMashpia (effectively a Mashgiach ruchani), Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
SemichaRabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Early life and education

Moshe Weinberger grew up in a Modern Orthodox home in Queens, New York.[2][3] His father, Mordechai Aryeh Yosef "Martin" Weinberger (March 24, 1923 - February 10, 2020), and his mother, were both Holocaust survivors from Munkacs and Ungvar,[2] and his grandparents were Belzer Hasidim.[3] He began studying Hasidic works after his Bar Mitzvah.[4]

Although he originally planned a career in law, he discontinued his law studies to train for the rabbinate, receiving rabbinic ordination from RIETS, where he was a student of Rabbi Dovid Lifshitz and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.[5] He also studied at Yeshivat Sh'or Yoshuv.[6] He earned master's degrees in Jewish philosophy from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University, and in educational administration from Columbia University Teachers College.[7]

Early career

Weinberger began his career as a rebbi (teacher) at a yeshiva in Far Rockaway. He taught for two decades at Ezra Academy, a Jewish day school in Queens, and also served as a mashgiach ruchani for N'vei Tzion of Queens.[8][6]

Congregation Aish Kodesh
Main article: Congregation Aish Kodesh
There's a certain humility I've seen among the Modern Orthodox, especially the youth . . . they are prepared to acknowledge a sense of spiritual desolation that they're experiencing. There was and still is a readiness to hear more about [God], to find out more about [God] and develop a personal relationship with Him, as opposed to just keeping a finger on the place in the Gemara and, in a more robotic way, observing the rituals of Judaism; to seek a living relationship with God.

—Rabbi Moshe Weinberger[9]

In December 1992 Weinberger became the first rabbi of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, New York. He named the synagogue after Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Piaseczna Rav and author of the work Aish Kodesh (Holy Fire), who was a leading Polish Hasidic rabbi in prewar Europe.[4][10] Noting that religious Jews may follow the letter of the law without feeling its inner joy or a personal connection with God, Weinberger preaches the tenets of Hasidism to rekindle excitement and joy in Jewish observance.[1] He leads the congregation in song and dance after prayer services,[9] conducts tishen, officiates at an annual hillula celebration on the yahrtzeit of the Piaseczna Rav and on Lag BaOmer, which each draw more than 1,000 attendees,[2] and takes congregants on pilgrimages to kivrei tzaddikim (graves of tzadikim) in Ukraine and Israel. The synagogue building itself is modeled after a Polish Hasidic shtiebel.[11] Congregation Aish Kodesh has been called a "phenomenon" and a "revolution" in the Modern Orthodox community of Long Island.[12][13]

In 2013 Weinberger was appointed mashgiach ruchani (spiritual supervisor) at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, where he presents weekly classes in Hasidic thought and philosophy, conducts a monthly farbrengen (Hasidic gathering), and spends Shabbat on campus several times a year.[1][7] Although he is considered the "senior spokesman" of the Neo-Hasidic movement, he dislikes the title.[1][14]

Weinberger has been noted as "one of this generation's leading teachers of Chassidus".[12] His teachings derive from a wide range of Hasidic sources, including the Baal Shem Tov, Ramchal, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, the Baal HaTanya, Chabad, and Izbica, as well as from the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Tzadok Hakohen, and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, among others.[12][14] He also teaches works that were previously unavailable to the English-speaking public, such as the works of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh.[13][15] He has recorded over 3,500 lectures on Hasidic thought and philosophy.[14]

Works

In the 1980s and 1990s Weinberger wrote articles on issues pertaining to Modern Orthodox practice and baalei teshuva (Orthodox Jewish returnees to the faith). He was a frequent contributor to Jewish Action, published by the Orthodox Union, and the Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, published by the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School. In 1990 he authored the book Jewish Outreach: Halakhic Perspectives, on halakhic issues pertaining to Orthodox Jewish outreach.[16]

Since 2011, he has produced four volumes of English translation and commentary on the Hebrew sefer Oros HaTeshuva (The Lights of Repentance) by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, published under the title Song of Teshuva. In 2015 a collection of his Torah discourses at the annual hillula of the Piaseczna Rav at Congregation Aish Kodesh was published under the title Warmed by the Fire of the Aish Kodesh.[2][10]

Personal

Weinberger wears full Hasidic levush (dress), including beard and peyos,[17] Hasidic-style jacket and black hat on weekdays, and shtreimel and bekishe on Shabbat.

Bibliography

Books
  • Warmed by the Fire of the Aish Kodesh: Torah from the Hilulas of Reb Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piaseczna. 2015. ISBN 1680250221.
  • Jewish Outreach: Halakhic Perspectives. KTAV. 1990. ISBN 0-88125-355-3.
  • Song of Teshuvah: A Commentary on Rav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook's Oros Hateshuvah. 4. Urim Publications. 2015. ISBN 9655242153.
  • Song of Teshuva: A Commentary on Rav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook's Oros Hateshuvah. 3. Urim Publications. 2014. ISBN 9655241610.
  • Song of Teshuva: Commentary on Rav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook's Oros Hateshuvah, Parts 8-10. 2. Urim Publications. 2012. ISBN 9655241254.
  • Song of Teshuva: A Commentary on Rav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook's Oros Hateshuvah. 1. Penina Press. 2011. ISBN 1936068249.

Selected articles
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References

Notes
  1. Bensoussan, Barbara (1 December 2014). "Rekindling the Flame: Neo-Chassidus Brings the Inner Light of Torah to Modern Orthodoxy". Jewish Action. Orthodox Union. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  2. Frankfurter, Rabbi Yitzchok (May 25, 2016). "Igniting Jewish Souls with Sparks of Emunah: A conversation with Rabbi Moshe Weinberger of Aish Kodesh". Ami: 56–66.
  3. Rose, Binyamin (12 January 2005). "Gathering Sparks in Woodmere: Rabbi Moshe Weinberger sparks the souls of his congregants at Aish Kodesh of Woodmere, Long Island, with the teachings of the Piaseczna Rebbe, Hy"d". Mishpacha.
  4. Weinberger 1999, p. 35.
  5. Cohen, Dovid M. (13 June 2013). "My Rebbe's Rebbe". The Jewish Press. Retrieved 23 June 2006.
  6. "Derech HaMelech Advisory Committee". Derech HaMelech. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  7. "Rabbi Moshe Weinberger to Join RIETS Faculty as Mashigach Ruchani". The Commentator. Yeshiva University. 14 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
  8. "Teaching Torah to Women" (PDF). Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society (9): 19. 1985.
  9. Ehrenkranz, Binyamin (1 December 2014). "Embracing Chassidus: Q. & A. with Rabbi Moshe Weinberger". Jewish Action. Orthodox Union. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  10. Wolf, Binyomin (2014). "New Aish Kodesh Publication Honors Warsaw-Ghetto Rebbe". Five Towns Jewish Times. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  11. Ferziger 2015, p. 266.
  12. Besser, Yisroel. "Breslov Revisited". Mishpacha, May 12, 2010, pp. 30-40.
  13. Ferber, Elisha (18 June 2009). "Wedding of Daughter of Rav Moshe Weinberger". matzav.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  14. Kratz, Elizabeth (19 February 2015). "Rabbi Moshe Weinberger to Give Inspirational Shiur at Bnai Yeshurun". Jewish Link of New Jersey. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  15. "Droshos – Rav Weinberger on Bilvavi". bilvavi.net. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  16. "Ethics and Chesed". Edah. 2001. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  17. Weinberger 1999, p. 38.

Sources
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