Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Ben-Tzion Spitz (born 1969) was the Chief Rabbi of Uruguay. He was born in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, New York, United States. In May 2013 he was appointed as

Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi ( he, רב ראשי ''Rav Rashi'') is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a ...

of Uruguay, a position he held until October 2016.

Early life and education

Ben-Tzion was born in

, New York, U.S. in 1969, the son of Elliot and Nira Spitz. His father is an international commodities trader and his mother is an artist. The family moved for the father's business assignments. Ben-Tzion spent formative years of his childhood in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

, Venezuela and in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil where he learned to speak

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

. Spitz attended

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

High School in Manhattan from 1983 to 1986. Spitz learned at

Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh ( he, ישיבת כרם ביבנה, lit. ''Vineyard in Yavne Yeshiva'') is a youth village and major yeshiva in southern Israel. Located near the city of Ashdod and adjacent to Kvutzat Yavne, it falls under the jurisdict ...

from 1986 to 1988 and after moving to Israel in 1997 was an ongoing student and lecturer at

Yeshivat Har Etzion Yeshivat Har Etzion (YHE; ), commonly known in English as "Gush" and in Hebrew as "Yeshivat HaGush", is a hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, an Israeli settlement in Gush Etzion. It is considered one of the leading institutions of advanced Tor ...

from 1997 until 2013. He studied with Yeshivat Pirchei Shoshanim since 2007 and received his

rabbinic ordination Semikhah ( he, סמיכה) is the traditional Jewish name for rabbinic ordination. The original ''semikhah'' was the formal "transmission of authority" from Moses through the generations. This form of ''semikhah'' ceased between 360 and 425 C ...

from them in 2010. Spitz obtained a BA from

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

in 1990 and a MS from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in Mechanical Engineering in 1992. He is also a Certified Energy Manager receiving his certification from the

Association of Energy Engineers The Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), founded in 1977, is a non-profit professional society whose mission is “to promote the scientific and educational interests of those engaged in the energy industry and to foster action for sustainable ...

in 2012.

Career

After graduate school, Spitz worked as a

Nuclear Engineer Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of breaking down atomic nuclei ( fission) or of combining atomic nuclei ( fusion), or with the application of other sub-atomic processes based on the principles of n ...

for

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitaliza ...

. Thereafter he held a number of business and technical positions for companies in the United States and in Israel, including serving as CEO of technology start-up Nanolayers and Managing Director of energy technology consultancy Hillpoint Energy.

Writings

Spitz has written much Biblical Fiction, weaving new stories based on the ancient text, but strongly inspired and in line with the Jewish Orthodox tradition. He has posted an entire series of short stories based on the weekly reading of the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

. He has also posted a fictional series based on the biblical stories of

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

Ehud Ehud ben‑Gera ( he, אֵהוּד בֶּן־גֵּרָא, Tiberian ''ʾĒhūḏ ben‑Gērāʾ'') is described in the biblical Book of Judges chapter 3 as a judge who was sent by God to deliver the Israelites from Moabite domination. He is d ...

and

Ruth Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...

. Valiant Publishing has published two collections of his short stories, Destiny's Call: Book One - Genesis, and Destiny's Call: Book Two - Exodus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spitz, Ben-Tzion 1969 births Living people Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Yeshiva University alumni Modern Orthodox rabbis People from Queens, New York Chief rabbis of Uruguay American expatriates in Uruguay Uruguayan Orthodox rabbis Yeshivat Har Etzion