Dov Lipman

Dov Lipman

M.K. Rabbi Dov Lipman
Date of birth 9 September 1971
Place of birth Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Year of aliyah 2004
Knessets 19
Faction represented in Knesset
2013–2015 Yesh Atid

Dov Alan Lipman (Hebrew: דב אלן ליפמן‎, born 9 September 1971) is an Israeli politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid between 2013 and 2015.

Biography

Lipman was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, the son of Ronald Lipman, a federal administrative law 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.[1] 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.[2]

In the 1990s Lipman was asked to serve as principal of Eshkol Academy, in suburban Washington, D.C. 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.

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 elections. He was placed seventeenth on its list for the elections,[3] and was elected to the Knesset as the party won 19 seats. After being elected Lipman was required to renounced his United States citizenship.[4]

Lipman was placed seventeenth on the party's list again for the 2015 elections,[5] but lost his seat as Yesh Atid were reduced to 11 seats.

He lives in Beit Shemesh with his wife and four children.[6]

Views

Lipman 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. He believes his task is to be "a conduit of tolerance and acceptance" between the Haredi and secular world.[7]

In the wake of Lipman's argument that Haredi boys' schools in Israel should teach math and English, Rabbi Aharon Feldman, the dean of the rabbinical college Lipman attended, called him a "wicked apostate."[8] He later retracted that statement, describing him as an "unintentional sinner."[9]

In November 2014 rabbinic students who were visiting the Knesset were denied access to the Knesset Synagogue because they are not Orthodox. Rabbi Joel Levy, director of the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, said he had submitted the request on behalf of the students and saw their shock when the request was denied. He noted, "paradoxically, this decision served as an appropriate end to our conversation about religion and state in Israel.” MK Dov Lipman expressed the concern that many Knesset workers are unfamiliar with non-Orthodox and American practices and would view "an egalitarian service in the synagogue as an affront." [10]

References

  1. ↑ Bringing an air of optimism and hope to the Knesset, Jerusalem Post
  2. ↑ Anglos left, right and center Times of Israel, 13 November 2012
  3. ↑ Yesh Atid Central Elections Committee
  4. ↑ Dov Lipman’s rock solid struggle for a better Israel Times of Israel, 19 February 2013
  5. ↑ Yesh Atid list Central Elections Committee
  6. ↑ All the kingmaker’s men, and women Times of Israel, 23 January 2013
  7. ↑ Bringing an air of optimism and hope to the Knesset The Jerusalem Post, 6 February 2014
  8. ↑ Dov Lipman an ‘apostate,’ head of MK’s old yeshiva fumes Times of Israel, 8 May 2013
  9. ↑ Lipman is not an ‘apostate,’ he’s just an ‘unintentional sinner’ Times of Israel, 12 May 2013
  10. ↑ Non-Orthodox Jews prohibited from praying in Knesset synagogue Haaretz, 26 November 2014

External links