![Saks Jeffrey - July 2020](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Saks_Jeffrey_-_July_2020.jpg)
Jeffrey Saks (born March 25, 1969) is a Modern
Orthodox rabbi, educator, writer and editor. Saks has published widely on Jewish thought, education, and literature. Born into a secular Jewish family and raised in suburban New Jersey, Saks became interested in religious observance in high school through the influence of a local rabbi and the
NCSY
NCSY (formerly known as the National Conference of Synagogue Youth) is a Jewish youth group under the auspices of the Orthodox Union. Its operations include Jewish-inspired after-school programs; summer programs in Israel, Europe, and the United ...
youth movement.
Education
Upon graduating from public school he enrolled at
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.["About YU]
on the Yeshiva Universi ...
in New York, spending his sophomore year studying abroad at
Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Israel. He completed a B.A. in political science and continued for an M.A. at Yeshiva's
Bernard Revel Graduate School The Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies was Yeshiva University’s first graduate school. Founded in 1937, it was named for Yeshiva University's first president, Bernard Revel. Its curriculum prepares highly trained teachers, researchers ...
, studying medieval Jewish history under Prof. David Berger. While at Revel he was part of the student leadership instrumental in rescuing the graduate school from threatened closure in 1992. He completed his Rabbinic ordination at Yeshiva in 1994.
Career
In the United States Saks spent two years on the faculty of the
Yeshiva University High School for Girls ("Central"), in Queens, NY, teaching A.P. Jewish history, Talmud, and Bible in 1992–94. He also occupied various leadership positions in the NCSY youth movement, serving as the director of its Israel Summer Kollel (1992–96).
In 1994 he left the United States and answered the call of Rabbi
Chaim Brovender and
Shlomo Riskin
Shlomo Riskin (born May 28, 1940) is an Orthodox rabbi, and the founding rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue on the Upper West Side of New York City, which he led for 20 years; founding chief rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the Israe ...
to serve as the administrator of Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Israel.
In 1997 he was awarded a two-year fellowship at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership in Jerusalem, where he pursued research in the philosophy of Jewish education, remaining as an adjunct faculty of the Mandel Foundation's Visions of Jewish Education Project. Saks has taught classes in Jewish thought and the works of Shai Agnon since around 2017 at the American Seminary for girls,
Amudim. He is a consulting editor for digital platform ''The Lehrhaus'' and editorial board member of the ''Tel Aviv Review of Books''. He was formerly on the teaching faculties of
Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalayim,
Machon Gold Machon Gold was an Orthodox Jewish girl's seminary (originally co-ed) founded in 1958 by the Torah Education Department of the World Zionist Organization and named after Rabbi Wolf Gold, one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of indepe ...
, and currently teaches at Midreshet Amudim. Jeffrey Saks lives in Efrat, Israel, with his wife Ilana Goldstein Saks and their four children.
ATID/WebYeshiva
In 1999, with Rabbi Chaim Brovender, Saks created ATID – The Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions in Jewish Education, a center for training Modern Orthodox educators in Israel and the United States and research institute.
(“Atid” is Hebrew for future.)
In 2007 ATID launched
WebYeshiva.org, the world's first fully interactive online yeshiva with students from the entire world.
S. Y. Agnon
Saks is considered one of the leading experts in the world on the writing of Hebrew literature's only Nobel laureate,
S.Y. Agnon, and serves as the Director of Research at the Agnon House in Jerusalem. Between 2013 and 2019 he was the Series Editor of the S.Y. Agnon Library at the Toby Press, publishing a 15-volume series of Agnon's writings in annotated English translation. 8 The series was singled out for praise in reviews in ''The New Yorker'' and ''The New York Review of Books'', where literary critic Robert Alter wrote, “Jeffrey Saks has undertaken a heroic task in assembling the Agnon Library.”
''Tradition'' journal
In January 2019 Saks was named the sixth editor in chief of
''Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought'', published by the
Rabbinical Council of America
The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union (OU). It is the main p ...
.
[Sam Sokol, “A journal’s new editor wants to steer the Modern Orthodox debate into the 21st century,” ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency'' (2/7/19): https://www.jta.org/2019/02/07/culture/can-a-journals-new-editor-keep-orthodox-debate-relevant-in-the-21st-century] ''Tradition'' was founded in 1958 by Rabbi
Norman Lamm
Norman Lamm (December 19, 1927 – May 31, 2020) was an American Modern Orthodox rabbi, scholar, academic administrator, author, and Jewish community leader. He was the Chancellor of Yeshiva University until he announced his retirement on July ...
as the leading journal of intellectual Orthodox thought, and Saks has aimed to create a greater digital presence for the journal in addition to its quarterly print issues.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saks, Jeffrey
1969 births
Living people
American rabbis
21st-century American writers
American editors
Yeshiva University alumni
21st-century American Jews