Shlomo Riskin

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Rabbi Shlomo Riskin (born 1940) is the American founder of the Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City, the Rabbi of the Israeli city of Efrat, and Founder and Dean of the Ohr Torah Stone Institutions, a network of High Schools, Colleges, and Graduate Programs in both the United States and Israel. He belongs to Modern Orthodox Judaism.

[edit] Biography

Rabbi Riskin was born on May 28, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York into a non-religious Jewish family. His legal given name was Steven; his Hebrew name is Shlomo. He attended a local Haredi Judaism yeshiva by the name of Yeshiva of Brooklyn. He graduated from Yeshiva University in 1960, and became an ordained rabbi under the guidance of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. In the early 1960's Rabbi Riskin was employed at Israel Center of Hilcrest Manor as the advisor to the Tallis and Tefillin Club. In 1963, Riskin received his Master's degree in Jewish history. In 1982, Riskin received his Ph.D. from New York University's Near Eastern Languages and Literature department. From 1963 until 1977, he lectured and served as an Associate Professor of Tanakh and Talmud at Yeshiva University in New York City. He was the founding Rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City in 1964 and served in that position until 1983. Also during the 60's and 70's he was an outspoken leader of the Soviet Jewry movement and made several trips to visit and strengthen the Jewish communities in Russia.

In 1983, Riskin immigrated to Efrat, Israel with his family to become the city's Rabbi, a position he still retains. (He is often erroneously referred to as the Chief Rabbi of Efrat, but by Israeli law, only four cities have Chief Rabbis, and Efrat is not among them.) He also established a network of high schools, colleges, graduate programs, seminaries and rabbinical schools under the name Ohr Torah Stone Institutions with a total student enrollment numbering in the thousands.

Riskin is also the author of several books, including "Women and Jewish Divorce", "The New Passover Haggadah", the "Torah Lights" series, and "Around the Family Table", as well as many scholarly articles. He also writes a weekly column on the Torah portion of the week, published in The Jerusalem Post and dozens of Anglo-Jewish newspapers around the world.

[edit] Quotes

"Judaism is an optimistic religion, and we believe the Jews are a light unto the nations. If we speak of truth and peace, peace must be predicated on truth... The Bible has three covenants:

Abraham established the Jews as a people with an eternal relationship between the land and the people which equals a divine promise (Genesis 15).
In Sinai Judaism was established as a religion with 613 commandments - thus the Jews are a holy nation (Exodus 20).
In Shechem (Nablus) when the Jews first entered the Land of Israel with Joshua, a covenant of responsibility was established, making Jerusalem the city of this third covenant (Deuteronomy 26/27)."

"God’s message is of absolute peace. Thou shall not kill, and this should be the Jews' message. The Jews must obliterate the following lies:

'We are occupiers'. Wrong! "Settlers" in Hebrew means "inheritors". At the conclusion of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles provided for establishing eighteen Arab and one Jewish state in the Middle East. From 1918 to 1949, twenty-two Arab states were established. In 1948 Israel was established on 20% of the mandate territory, and the refugee problem began. From 1948 to 1967, Israel won land that was to have been the Jews' by treaty and by right.
'Suicide bombers are freedom fighters'. Wrong! They are not, they are murderers. After Oslo Israel pulled out of Palestinian Arab areas, which led to Arab violence, and showed us what they really were and what they really wanted. Israel's destruction is their goal. We must show them they can't get away with aggression. Islamic fundamentalism has turned 'God' into 'Satan'. Only those with a vision of peace have a right to a state."