Rabbi Yaacov Haber has been engaged in teaching Jews about their heritage for almost thirty years. He is considered one of the pioneers of the "Kiruv" or outreach movement and is world renowned as being one of the foremost experts in Adult Jewish education.
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Rabbi Haber was ordained in Jerusalem by Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg of Yeshivah Torah Ore and by Chacham Avrohom Ochana of Yeshivah Ahavat Shalom.
After his ordination in Israel, Rabbi Haber returned to his hometown of Buffalo, New York in 1979 with his family to found the Torah Center of Buffalo. During his ten years in Buffalo he served as spiritual leader, first of the Amherst Synagogue and later at the Saranac Synagogue.
From there he went to Melbourne, Australia where the Rabbi founded the Australian Institute of Torah, an adult education program that ran in almost every synagogue in Australia and was attended by thousands of men and women.
Rabbi Haber was then brought back to the United States to become the National Director of Jewish Education for the Orthodox Union. In that capacity he created the extremely popular Pardes Project and many other learning programs.
Rabbi Haber was the Rav of Bais Torah Congregation in Monsey, New York where he succeeded Rabbi Berel Wein in leading one of Monsey's most dynamic communities.
Currently, Rabbi Haber serves as President of TorahLab.[1] Rabbi Haber can be reached at info@torahlab.org.
He is the author of many books in English and Hebrew and hundreds of his lectures are in circulation around the world on the internet [2], in print and on cassette tape.
A sought after lecturer and speaker, Rabbi Haber has been instrumental in forming numerous learning programs throughout the USA, Canada and Australia. His easy listening approach to teaching Judaism to men and women of all walks of life has been widely acclaimed.
It was Rabbi Haber who initiated the OU's Cyber Home of Torah Project.[3]
Since Rosh Hashana 5769 (2008), Rabbi Haber has held the position of Rabbi of Kehillas Shivtei Yeshurun [4] in Ramat Beit Shemesh, where he currently lives with his wife, Bayle, and children.
On February 12, 2009, Rabbi Haber was booked aboard Colgan Air Flight 3407 from Newark, NJ, to Buffalo, NY, but was forced to miss the flight because powerful winds prevented him from driving to the airport.[1] The flight crashed on arrival in Buffalo, killing all 49 people on board.