HaRav Mordechai Yitzchak HaLevi Willig (born April 25, 1947; 5th of Iyyar, 5707 on the Hebrew calendar) is an
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 ...
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights is a neighborhood in the uppermost part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest natural point on Manhattan by Continental Army troops to defe ...
. He is often known to his students as the Ramu (), which is the transliteration of the
acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
of the Hebrew letters Reish, Mem, and Vav, which spell out the first letters of Rav Willig's name (Rabbi Mordechai Willig = ).
Jewish history
Jewish history is the history of the Jews, and their nation, religion, and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions, and cultures. Although Judaism as a religion first appears in Greek records during the Hellenisti ...
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 ...
.
Professional life
In 1973, Rabbi Willig was appointed as rosh yeshiva at the Mazer School of Talmudic studies at Yeshiva University and holds that position, along with the position of rosh kollel at RIETS.
Rabbi Willig has been the rabbi and spiritual leader at the
Young Israel
The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) or Young Israel (in Hebrew: , ''Yisrael Hatza'ir''), is a synagogue-based Orthodox Judaism organization in the United States with a network of affiliated "Young Israel" synagogues. Young Israel was found ...
of Riverdale Synagogue, in Riverdale, The Bronx, New York, since 1974.
During the summer, Rav Willig is the Rosh Kollel of the college in Morasha Kollel.
Rabbi Willig is also the
av beis din
The ''av beit din'' ( ''ʾabh bêth dîn'', "chief of the court" or "chief justice"), also spelled ''av beis din'' or ''abh beth din'' and abbreviated ABD (), was the second-highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period, ...
of the
Beth Din of America The Beth Din of America is a Beth Din (Court of Jewish Law) which serves Jews throughout the United States of America as a forum for arbitrating disputes through the din torah process, obtaining Jewish divorces, and confirming Jewish personal status ...
(https://bethdin.org/about/#rabbis), the court of 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 pr ...
Rabbi Willig is the author of a sefer entitled ''Am Mordechai'', which came out in four volumes (1992 on Brachot, 2005 on Shabbat 2010 on
Seder Moed
Moed ( he, מועד, "Festivals") is the second Order of the Mishnah, the first written recording of the Oral Torah of the Jewish people (also the Tosefta and Talmud). Of the six orders of the Mishna, Moed is the third shortest. The order of M ...
and 2016 on
Shulchan Aruch
The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in Is ...
).
Lanner case
In 1989, Rabbi Willig led a
Bet Din
A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...
that heard allegations of abuse by Rabbi
Baruch Lanner
Baruch S. Lanner (born October 20, 1949)Offender Details , accessed vi
The Bet Din found Lanner guilty of only three minor charges and found three other charges to be unsubstantiated. The Bet Din read their determination to the litigants, to the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County, and to Lanner's two employers, the Orthodox Union and a synagogue in
New Milford, New Jersey
New Milford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 16,341,
On February 19, 2003, Rabbi Willig publicly apologized for reaching what he eventually realized to be incorrect conclusions and for other "mistakes" made during the 1989 Bet Din proceedings. He noted that since the Bet Din did not have experience adjudicating matters of abuse, they should not have agreed to take the case. A report prepared in 2000 by a special commission appointed to investigate the Orthodox Union and Rabbi Willig's Bet Din role in the Lanner case critiqued the failure of taking action and thus allowing Lanner's abusive actions to "continue unchecked for many years."
Family
Rabbi Willig resides with his wife in
Riverdale, New York
Riverdale is a residential neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of the Bronx. Riverdale, which had a population of 47,850 as of the 2000 United States Census, contains the city's northernmost point, at the Colle ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* ...
. They have nine children and over 50 grandchildren. Four of his children live in Israel, teaching at various
Yeshivos
A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are stud ...
Beit Shemesh
Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in .
History Tel Beit Shemesh
The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city w ...
.
He is the first cousin of Rabbi Avi Weiss, who is the former senior Rabbi of the
Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale is an Open Orthodox synagogue in the residential Riverdale neighborhood of New York City. The congregation was founded in 1971 and has been led by Rabbi Avi Weiss since 1973, although he announced in October 2014 ...
. Rabbis Weiss and Willig are both part of the
Vaad
::For the ''Va'adat Ezrah Vehatzalah'', known as the ''Vaad'', see Aid and Rescue Committee
Vaad is a Hebrew term for a council. Often it refers to a council of rabbis, i.e., a rabbinical council. It is a diasporic phenomenon, having no precedent ...