Jacob J. Schacter (born 1950) is an American
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
rabbi. Schacter, a historian of intellectual trends in Orthodox Judaism, is University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and Senior Scholar at the
Center for the Jewish Future at
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.["About YU]
on the Yeshiva Universit ...
.
Biography
Schacter, the son of Pnina Gewirtz Schacter and Rabbi
Herschel Schacter
Herschel Schacter (October 10, 1917 – March 21, 2013) was an American Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi and chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
Early life
Schacter was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn ...
, grew up in New York City's Bronx neighborhood.
Schacter holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and received
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
Yeshiva Torah Vodaas
Yeshiva Torah Vodaas (or Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Vodaath or Yeshiva Torah Vodaath or Torah Vodaath Rabbinical Seminary ) is a ''yeshiva'' in the Kensington neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
History
The yeshiva was conceived in 1917 and for ...
in 1973. He graduated from
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
in 1973.
He lives in
Teaneck, New Jersey
Teaneck () is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, th ...
.
According to
Jacob Katz Jacob Katz (Hebrew: יעקב כ"ץ) (born 15 November 1904 in Magyargencs, Hungary, died 20 May 1998 in Israel) was an internationally known Jewish historian and educator, recognized as "one of this century's greatest and most influential historian ...
, Schacter's thesis, "Rabbi
Jacob Emden
Jacob Emden, also known as Ya'avetz (June 4, 1697 April 19, 1776), was a leading German rabbi and talmudist who championed Orthodox Judaism in the face of the growing influence of the Sabbatean movement. He was acclaimed in all circles for his ...
: Life and Major Works" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1988), "supplanted" Mortimer J. Cohen's 1937 book ''Jacob Emden: A Man of Controversy, '' as the most authoritative source on Emden.
Schacter is an historian of intellectual trends in Orthodox Judaism.
Schacter is regarded as following "the ideological tradition" of
Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ( he, יוסף דב הלוי סולובייצ׳יק ''Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveychik''; February 27, 1903 – April 9, 1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher. He was a scion ...
.
His 1997 book, ''A Modern Heretic and a Traditional Community: Mordecai M. Kaplan, Orthodoxy and American Judaism'', was about the "complicated relationship" between
Mordecai Kaplan
Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (born Mottel Kaplan; June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983), was a Lithuanian-born American rabbi, writer, Jewish educator, professor, theologian, philosopher, activist, and religious leader who founded the Reconstructionist ...
, an Orthodox rabbi who left that movement to found
Reconstructionist Judaism
Reconstructionist Judaism is a Jewish movement that views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization rather than a religion, based on concepts developed by Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983). The movement originated as a semi-organized stream wi ...
.
Before leaving Orthodoxy, Kaplan had been Rabbi of the
Jewish Center (Manhattan)
The Jewish Center is a Modern Orthodox synagogue on New York City's Upper West Side.
History
The synagogue was founded in 1918 by prosperous Jews moving into the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a neighborhood that was just being built along the ...
, the congregation that Schacter would later lead.
While still a graduate student, Schacter became the first Rabbi of
Young Israel of Sharon, in
Sharon, Massachusetts
Sharon is a New England town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,575 at the 2020 census. Sharon is part of Greater Boston, about southwest of downtown Boston, and is connected to both Boston and Providence by ...
. Serving in this capacity from 1977 - 1981, he created a new, vibrant, and committed community.
He became Rabbi of the prestigious
Jewish Center
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
in Manhattan in 1981.
Under his leadership, the congregation more than tripled in size, with new members attracted by "the intellectual seriousness of the rabbi's sermons and lectures.
In 2000, he moved to Massachusetts where he became dean of the ''Rabbi Joseph B Soloveitchik Institute'' in
Brookline
Brookline may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Brookline, Massachusetts, a town near Boston
* Brookline, Missouri
* Brookline, New Hampshire
* Brookline (Pittsburgh), a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
* Brookline, Vermont
See ...
,
a position he held until 2005, when he left to become Senior Scholar and University Professor at
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.["About YU]
on the Yeshiva Universit ...
's new ''Center for the Jewish Future'' (initially called the ''Center for the Jewish People'').
As author
* "A Modern Heretic and a Traditional Community: Mordecai M. Kaplan, Orthodoxy, and American Judaism." Coauthor with
Jeffrey S. Gurock Jeffrey S. Gurock is Libby M. Klaperman Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University in New York City.
Biography
Gurock earned a bachelor's degree from the City College of New York and a master's degree from Columbia University. He served as ...
, Columbia University Press (1997)
As editor
* "Reverence, Righteousness and Rahamanut: Essays in Memory of Rabbi Dr. Leo Jung" (1992)
* "Jewish Tradition and The Nontraditional Jew" (1992)
* "Judaism's Encounter with other Cultures: Rejection or Integration?" (1997)
* "The Complete Service for the Period of Bereavement" (1995)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schacter, Jacob J.
Living people
American Modern Orthodox rabbis
Brooklyn College alumni
Yeshiva University faculty
Harvard University faculty
Harvard University alumni
1950 births
21st-century American rabbis