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Avi Weiss
Avraham Haim Yosef Weiss (Hebrew: אברהם חיים יוסף הכהן ווייס; born June 24, 1944) is an American Open Orthodox ordained rabbi, author, teacher, lecturer, and activist who led the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in The Bronx, New York until 2015. He is the founder of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah for men and Yeshivat Maharat for women, rabbinical seminaries that are tied to Open Orthodoxy, a breakaway movement that Weiss originated, which is to the left of Modern Orthodox Judaism and to the right of Conservative Judaism. He is co-founder of the International Rabbinic Fellowship, a rabbinical association that is a liberal alternative to the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America, and founder of the grassroots organization Coalition for Jewish Concerns – Amcha.
Semikhah (rabbinical ordination) of women by Weiss' movement has been a source of friction within Orthodox Judaism.
Weiss was born to Moshe and Miriam Weiss. His sister is Tova Reich. Weiss received his semikhah (rabbinical ordination) at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University in 1968.
In 2013, Newsweek ranked Weiss the 10th most prominent rabbi in the United States, climbing from number 11 in 2012 and number 12 in 2011, after being ranked number 18 in 2010.
On June 29, 2015, Weiss resigned from the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) in protest over their decision to not accept graduates of his rabbinical seminary into the organization.
The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale (HIR) was founded in 1971 in a boiler room of the Whitehall Building off the Henry Hudson Parkway by former members of the Hebrew Institute of University Heights in the Bronx who had moved to Riverdale. Weiss, who had finished his training at Yeshiva University a few years earlier and held pulpits in Creve Coeur, Missouri and Monsey, New York, became the synagogue's rabbi in 1973. The congregation has grown to 850 families, and has served as a platform for Weiss's rabbinical advocacy. Weiss stepped down from the pulpit in July 2015, and Steven Exler became HIR's senior rabbi. Weiss continues to remain on the synagogue's staff.
On one Friday night, the synagogue introduced "the first woman to lead this service in an established Orthodox synagogue in front of a mixed congregation".
In 1997, Weiss started a new religious movement which he called Open Orthodoxy, which is to the left of Modern Orthodox Judaism and to the right of Conservative Judaism. Weiss noted that the latter "is generally not composed of ritually observant Jews."
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Avi Weiss
Avraham Haim Yosef Weiss (Hebrew: אברהם חיים יוסף הכהן ווייס; born June 24, 1944) is an American Open Orthodox ordained rabbi, author, teacher, lecturer, and activist who led the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in The Bronx, New York until 2015. He is the founder of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah for men and Yeshivat Maharat for women, rabbinical seminaries that are tied to Open Orthodoxy, a breakaway movement that Weiss originated, which is to the left of Modern Orthodox Judaism and to the right of Conservative Judaism. He is co-founder of the International Rabbinic Fellowship, a rabbinical association that is a liberal alternative to the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America, and founder of the grassroots organization Coalition for Jewish Concerns – Amcha.
Semikhah (rabbinical ordination) of women by Weiss' movement has been a source of friction within Orthodox Judaism.
Weiss was born to Moshe and Miriam Weiss. His sister is Tova Reich. Weiss received his semikhah (rabbinical ordination) at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University in 1968.
In 2013, Newsweek ranked Weiss the 10th most prominent rabbi in the United States, climbing from number 11 in 2012 and number 12 in 2011, after being ranked number 18 in 2010.
On June 29, 2015, Weiss resigned from the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) in protest over their decision to not accept graduates of his rabbinical seminary into the organization.
The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale (HIR) was founded in 1971 in a boiler room of the Whitehall Building off the Henry Hudson Parkway by former members of the Hebrew Institute of University Heights in the Bronx who had moved to Riverdale. Weiss, who had finished his training at Yeshiva University a few years earlier and held pulpits in Creve Coeur, Missouri and Monsey, New York, became the synagogue's rabbi in 1973. The congregation has grown to 850 families, and has served as a platform for Weiss's rabbinical advocacy. Weiss stepped down from the pulpit in July 2015, and Steven Exler became HIR's senior rabbi. Weiss continues to remain on the synagogue's staff.
On one Friday night, the synagogue introduced "the first woman to lead this service in an established Orthodox synagogue in front of a mixed congregation".
In 1997, Weiss started a new religious movement which he called Open Orthodoxy, which is to the left of Modern Orthodox Judaism and to the right of Conservative Judaism. Weiss noted that the latter "is generally not composed of ritually observant Jews."