Dov Lipman
| Dov Lipman | |
|---|---|
 M.K. Rabbi Dov Lipman | |
| Date of birth | 9 September 1971 |
| Place of birth | Silver Spring, United States |
| Year of aliyah | 2004 |
| Knessets | 19 |
| Party represented in Knesset | |
| 2013– | Yesh Atid |
Dov Lipman (Hebrew: דב ליפמן, born 9 September 1971) is an Israeli Knesset member of the 19th Knesset.[1] He is a member of Yesh Atid, and was placed seventeenth on the party's list for the 2013 Knesset elections.[2] Yesh Atid won 19 seats, making Lipman the first American-born to be elected to the Knesset since Meir Kahane in 1984.
Biography
Lipman was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, the son of a US Federal judge. He attended the Yeshiva of Greater Washington in his hometown and completed his rabbinical studies at Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore while in a concurrent program with the Johns Hopkins University, where he earned a master's degree in Education. Lipman received ordination (smicha) from his Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg. After marriage, Lipman spent two years at the Kollel in Cincinnati. He immigrated to Israel in 2004.[3]
In the 1990s, Lipman was asked to serve as headmaster of Eshkol Academy, in suburban Washington DC. Subsequently, Lipman was offered a faculty position in Israel and decided to move there. Since then, Lipman served as a faculty member at several institutions for post-high school Torah learning, such as Yeshivat Yesodei HaTorah, Yeshivat Reishit Yerushalayim, Machon Maayan, and Tiferet. Lipman has also authored several books on Jewish topics.
Lipman lives in Beit Shemesh with his wife and four children.[1] He became active in politics in response to local extremism and was asked to join the slate of candidates of the fledgling Yesh Atid Party for the 2013 election. After his entrance into the 19th Knesset, Rabbi Lipman renounced his United States citizenship as required by US law.[4]
Knesset
As a member of Yesh Atid, Lipman strongly advocates basic secular education for all schools in Israel wanting to receive government funding, increased employment opportunities for those among the Orthodox population who want to join the work force and some form of national service, be it military or social, for every citizen. This is also the position of Israel's Minister of Education, Rabbi Shai Piron. Since taking these controversial positions, Lipman has been publicly shamed by many within the ultra-Orthodox/Haredi world, including his former Rosh Yeshiva and teacher Rabbi Aharon Feldman. Feldman, dean of Baltimore’s Ner Israel Rabbinical College, called Lipman a "wicked" apostate and said his positions on Jewish education do not represent the values taught by the institution from which he received rabbinic ordination.[5] Shortly after, Feldman slightly retracted his strong criticism and conceded that Lipman is not really an apostate, he is simply an unintentional sinner.[6]
Since his entree into the Knesset, Lipman has given a keynote address at the 2013 Rabbinical Council of America Convention (Orthodox) and the 2013 Limmud Conference in the United Kingdom. Lipman was also part of the official Israeli delegation to Nelson Mandela's funeral in South Africa.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 All the kingmaker’s men, and women Times of Israel, 23 January 2013
- ↑ Yesh Atid Central Elections Committee
- ↑ Anglos left, right and center Times of Israel, 13 November 2012
- ↑ Times of Israel: "Dov Lipman’s rock solid struggle for a better Israel" By Raphael Ahren and David Horovitz February 19, 2013
- ↑ http://www.timesofisrael.com/dov-lipman-an-apostate-head-of-mks-old-yeshiva-fumes/
- ↑ http://www.timesofisrael.com/lipman-is-not-an-apostate-hes-just-an-unintentional-sinner/
External links
- Dov Lipman on the Knesset website
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||