Shlomo Miller
Rabbi Shlomo Eliyahu Miller is a Rosh Kollel (dean) of the Kollel Avreichim Institute for Advanced Talmud Study,[1] the leading haredi post-yeshiva educational institution in Toronto and head of its Beis Din (Rabbinical court). He is the foremost Litvish Haredi Posek (decisor of Rabbinic law) in Toronto, and a prominent Litvish Poskim in North America.
Rabbi Miller has been chosen to head the Beis Din of the Va'ad Harabonim of Lakewood (Association of Rabbis) of Lakewood, NJ and heads a Kollel there as well.[2] Many members of the Haredi community, view Rabbi Miller as taking a strong stand against any weakening of the rule of Halacha (Rabbinic law), while many in the Jewish community (including Haredi members as well), see his opinions as being overly stringent, and intolerant of more lenient viewpoints that are based on the ruling of other prominent authorities. One example relates to the use of Sabbath Mode ovens on festivals - see below.
Some Major Rulings
Shabbos Mode Ovens
Rabbi Miller was one of the signatories to the ruling forbidding changing the temperature of Shabbos Mode ovens on Yom Tov, alleging that Rabbi Moshe Heinemann was the sole Haredi authority to permit it.
Slifkin Controversy
Rabbi Miller wrote a letter voicing his support of the controversial ban of Rabbi Natan Slifkin's books by a number of prominent rabbis.[3] His defense of the rabbis and the ban, was itself controversial, as evidenced by the responses it generated.[4] Rabbis Miller and Slifkin met in Toronto in December 2007. Rabbi Slifkin reported that, despite their “strong disagreements,” they had “a very pleasant conversation” in “a nice, polite atmosphere.” Rabbi Slifkin noted, however, that nothing was resolved.[5]
Ted Floyd/Natan Levy
Rabbi Miller was the head of the beis din that ruled that Ted Floyd who assumed the name Natan Levy retained the status of a non-Jew and that his wife was Jewish and not complicit in his subterfuge.