Aryeh Stern

Rabbi Stern at his study in "Halacha Brura" Institute

Aryeh Stern (Hebrew: אריה שטרן‎, b. 1944) is the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem,^[1] a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel and the chief editor of the Halacha Brura and Berur Halacha Institute.

Biography

Rabbi Stern was born in 1944 in Tel Aviv and studied at the "HaYishuv HaChadash" yeshiva led by the rabbi Yehuda Kolodetsky. Then he moved to the "Hebron" yeshiva in Jerusalem and after a short while to the "Mercaz HaRav" yeshiva following his rabbi who served as the head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook. After he married, he started his studies for dayanut (Jewish-religious judeship) in Tel Aviv in a kolel led by Rabbi Ephraim Bordiansky, who was also the teacher of the Halachaic posek (adjudicator), the rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. Rabbi Stern also fought in the Six-Day War in the Combat Engineering Corps.

Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook appointed Rabbi Stern and Rabbi Yochanan Fried to establish the "Halacha Brura and Berur Halacha" Institution which Rabbi Stern runs ever since. This institution is known for its method for Talmud studying, first developed by Rabbi Kook, in which the final Halacha stand of Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch is summarized and the other approaches of the commentaries are discussed as well. The religious enterprise of "Halacha Brura" was one of the chief life works to the founder of religious Zionism and the founder of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who was the father of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook.

Following the passing of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook in 1982, Rabbi Stern was appointed as a teacher in "Mercaz Harav" yeshiva, and ever since he serves as general preacher in various yeshivas, from "Hakotel" and Kiryat Shmona yeshivas, to the "Or Etsion" and the Petach Tikvah yeshivas. Rabbi Stern was also the head of "Hadrom" high-school yeshiva in Rehovot. In addition, he took part in the organization of "Rabbi Kook's House" in Jerusalem, an active museum of Rabbi Kook's life, and in the establishment of "Merchavim" Institute for training teachers and religious educators. Over the years Rabbi Stern wrote hundreds of Halachic responsa and religious-philosophical articles regarding Jewish thought. Alongside his religious and educatory activities, he also serves as a congregational rabbi in the "Katamon" neighborhood in Jerusalem. He was also one of the founders of the "Ma'aleh Television, Cinema and Arts School" for the religious-national sector in 1989.

Rabbi Stern at his desk

He has seven children. His youngest daughter, Shira, died in a car accidnet in 2007, at the age of 21.

Standpoints

• Rabbi Stern promised that as the rabbi of Jerusalem he will organize kiddushim for religious and secular people, held once a month in synagogues across Jerusalem after the Mussaf prayer.^[2]

• He opposes cultural-religious segragation of sectors where each sector lives in their own neighborhood, and supports the establishment of mixed neighborhoods of both religious and non-religious.^[3]

• He said that he is interested in returning the Kashrut level in Jerusalem to its status 50 years ago, when it was perceived as very mehudar.^[4]

• In relation to the place of women in prayers, he said: "In the world I knew from the times of my mother and my grandmother there was no such demand, and it was also apparent in the posekim of the time. Our grandmothers did not want it. Today however the situation is different, and one cannot claim old arguments exercised in past generations...it is clear one needs to renew things, basing it on the Halakha of course". That's why he supported in the expanding of the Women's Gallery at the Western Wall to the same size of the men's section,^[5] and also allowed placing a Sefer Torah in the women's gallery a the times of hakafot (encirclements at the synagogue) at Simchat Torah.^[6]

• Regarding the acceptance of a religious homosexual couple, he said he would accept them at him synagogue, in the same way he accepts Shabbat violators, though he would not appoint them as congregational cantors.^[7] He opposes the Pride parade in Jerusalem.^[8]

• He called to abolish the Talmud and Torah matriculation exams.^[9]

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem

Rabbi Stern was elected as the Ashkenzai chief Rabbi of Jerusalem on October 22, 2014, after 11 years of a vacancy in this rabbinical position with the passing of the former chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Yitzhak Kolitz (1922- 2003).^[10] Rabbi Stern was elected by a majority vote of 27 out 48 representatives from the city's synagogues, city's council and appointed voters by the Naftali Bennett.^[11] He was elected as the candidate of the dati-leum sector in 2009.^[12] He faced a series of hardships by his counter opponents, including motions to the Supreme Court to disqualify him from running him over an expired rabbinical certificate and an attempt to postpone the elections until after he is 70 years old and incapable to submit his candidacy.

Rabbi Stern's election was backed by the religious services minister, Naftali Bennett, leader of the "Bayit Yehudi" party, and by Jerusalem's mayor, Nir Barkat. Alongside rabbi Stern, Rabbi Shlomo Amar was elected as the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of the city. Among his rabbinical supporters of Rabbi Stern were: Rabbi Haim Drukman, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, both among the most outstanding spiritual leaders of the modern-orthodox in Israel, the Rebbe of Erlau who is a chief senior in the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah (Council of great Torah Sages) and Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel. In addition, the rabbis of Tzohar organization also openly backed him.

Upon his election, Rabbi Stern stated: "It is in my intention to serve as the rabbi of all Jerusalemites: secular, modern-orthodox and charedi alike. The Jerusalem rabbinate is a great merit, but it also comprises a hefty responsibility. I will make sure that the religious services will become accessible and friendly and will serve as an outstanding model for all of the other rabbinates in Israel".^[13]

On December 28, 2014, Rabbi Stern was appointed by President Reuven Rivlin as a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel.^[14]

References

External links

• Profile at Halacha Brura website