Shlomo Eliyahu Miller is a member of the
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (, "Council of great Torah ages) is the supreme rabbinical policy-making council of the Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah movements in Israel; and of Agudath Israel of America in the United States. Members are usually pr ...
(Council of Torah Sages). He is a Rosh
Kollel
A kollel ( he, כולל, , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning ''sedarim'' (sessions); ...
(dean) and co-founder of the Kollel Avreichim Institute for Advanced
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
Study, a
haredi
Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...
post-
yeshiva
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 st ...
educational institution in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
and head of its
Beis 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 ...
(Rabbinical court). He is the foremost
Litvish
''Misnagdim'' (, "Opponents"; Sephardi pronunciation: ''Mitnagdim''; singular ''misnaged''/''mitnaged'') was a religious movement among the Jews of Eastern Europe which resisted the rise of Hasidism in the 18th and 19th centuries. The ''Misna ...
Haredi
Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...
Posek
In Jewish law, a ''Posek'' ( he, פוסק , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the position of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities a ...
(decisor of Rabbinic law) in Toronto.
Miller is the head of the Beis Din of the Va'ad Harabonim of Lakewood (Association of Rabbis) of
Lakewood, NJ and heads a Kollel there as well. He is a close friend of
Avraham Bromberg
Rabbi Avraham Dov Halevi Bromberg, formerly the Rosh Yeshiva of Beth Hatalmud Rabbinical College, is currently Rosh Yeshiva of Sha'ar Hatalmud in Lakewood Township, New Jersey. In 2022, the Yeshiva relocated to Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is ...
. Miller is a strong opponent of any weakening of the rule of
Halacha
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...
(Rabbinic law).
Personal life
Rabbinic history
Miller learned in the
Talmudical Academy of Baltimore
The Talmudical Academy of Baltimore or TA (Hebrew: ישיבת חפץ חיים) is a K–12 yeshiva founded in 1917. Its present campus, located at 4445 Old Court Road, includes a pre-school building, an elementary school building, a middle school ...
and was a close talmid (student) of
Rav Aaron Kotler. He began deciding Halachic disputes after
Rav Moshe Feinstein
Moshe Feinstein ( he, משה פײַנשטיין; Lithuanian pronunciation: ''Moshe Faynshteyn''; en, Moses Feinstein; March 3, 1895 – March 23, 1986) was an American Orthodox rabbi, scholar, and ''posek'' (authority on ''halakha''—J ...
began referring
halakhic disputes to him. He founded
Kollel Toronto along with
Rav Yaakov Hirschman in 1970.
Works
Shoshanas Yisroel on Hilchos
Purim
Purim (; , ; see Name below) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire who was planning to have all of Persia's Jewish subjects killed, as recounted in the Book ...
.
Shabbos Shlomo on Hilchos
Shabbos
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stori ...
.
Some major rulings and statements
Shabbos mode ovens
Miller was a signatory to the ruling forbidding changing the temperature of
Shabbos Mode ovens on
Yom Tov
Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainstre ...
.
Slifkin controversy
Miller wrote a letter voicing his support of the controversial ban of
Natan Slifkin's books by a number of prominent rabbis. His defense of the rabbis and the ban was itself controversial, as evidenced by the responses it generated. Miller and Slifkin met in Toronto in December 2007. Slifkin reported that, despite their "strong disagreements", they had "a very pleasant conversation" in "a nice, polite atmosphere." Slifkin noted, however, that nothing was resolved.
''Techeiles'' debate
Miller investigated the claim that the sea snail ''
Murex trunculus
''Hexaplex trunculus'' (previously known as ''Murex trunculus'', ''Phyllonotus trunculus'', or the banded dye-murex) is a medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails. It is included ...
'' was the source of the biblical ''
techeiles''. In a letter on the subject, he wrote that he believes that there are several Talmudic proofs that the ''Murex'' is not the creature from which ''techeiles'' is produced, and that the evidence in support of the claim is insufficient to overcome these points.
[
] Yisroel Barkin authored a comprehensive disputation of Millers' letter.
[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Shlomo
Miller, Sholomo
Living people
People from Toronto
Canadian Haredi rabbis
Year of birth missing (living people)
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah