Rabbis of our Time

Marek Čejka is a research scholar at the Institute of International Relations in Prague and Military History Institute in Brno, focusing on the Middle East, the relationship between religion and politics, international law, religious radicalism and terrorism.Roman Kořan has extensive experience researching issues in Judaism, in particular Jewish Mysticism where he focuses primarily on the work of Rabbi Isaac Luria, as well as translating Hebrew texts.

• 1.Introduction 2.Who are rabbis? 3. Profiles of rabbinical authorities: Yisrael Abuhatzeira and Baruch Abuhatzeira, Avraham Mordechai Alter, Leo Baeck, Amram Blau and Ruth Blau, The Braslav Hasids and their rabbis, Mordechai Tzemach Eliyahu, Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, Menachem Froman, Shlomo Goren, Abraham Yehoshua Heschel, Moshe Hirsch and Yisrael Meir Hirsch, Yitzhak Kaduri, Israel Meir Ha-Kohen/Kagan, Meir David Kahane and Benjamin Ze'ev Kahane, Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz – Chazon Ish, Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Kohen Kook and Tzvi Yehuda Kook, Yisrael Meir Lau, Moshe Levinger, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Elazar Menachem Man Shach, Joseph Dov Ha-Levi Soloveitchik, Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, Yoel Teitelbaum, Chaim Michael Dov Weissmandl, Ovadia Yosef. 4. A collection of shorter profiles of several rabbis Arik W. Ascherman, Yehuda Leib Ha-Levi Ashlag, Ezra Attiya, Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, Meir Bar-Ilan (Berlin), Yehuda Berg, Elmer Berger, Joseph Samuel Bloch, Shmuel (Shmuley) Boteach, Moshe Feinstein, Yihyah Kafih and Yosef Kafih, Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, Harold Kushner, Berl Lazar, Michael Lerner, Dov Lior, Michael Melchior, Chaim Nahum, Yitzhak Nisim, Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, Aharon Roth, Yonathan Henry Sacks, Yedidia Shofet, Adin Steinsaltz, Menachem Mendel Taub, Ben Zion Meir Chai Uziel (Ouziel), Elchonon Wasserman, Yisroel Dovid Weiss, Shalom Dovber Halevi Wolpo. 5. Some final thoughts instead of a conclusion

A useful source for those interested in contemporary Orthodox Judaism. An insight into an unknown world often deemed forbidding and inaccessible. Yakov Rabkin, Professor of Contemporary Jewish History, University of Montreal.Rabbis of Our Time presents informative portraits of over 50 prominent rabbinic personalities, primarily Orthodox (hence male) leaders, who have influenced the religious and political lives of modern Jews. In accessible language, the authors place each figure in his historical context and explain how he shaped the thinking and practice of fellow Jews. In the political climate of the 20th and early 21st centuries, rabbis in Israel and the Diaspora have exercised considerable influence, which makes this overview, with references provided for further reading, a distinctly helpful resource for Jews and non-Jews alike.Dr. Yehezkel Landau, Associate Professor of Interfaith Relations Hartford SeminaryThe overview of rabbis provided in the book is supremely relevant to contemporary political issues and demonstrates unmistakably that Orthodoxy did not and does not speak with one voice... Overall, this book provides an overview of numerous contemporary religious figures, references to their writings, and their engagement with contemporary questions of Jewish life and the Jewish state.Guy Ben-Porat, Ben-Gurion University, Israel Studies Review