Jacob J. Schacter
Jacob J. "JJ" Schacter (1950- ) is an American Orthodox rabbi. Schacter is University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University.
Schacter holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages from Harvard University and received rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva Torah Vodaas. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1973. He lives in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Career
While still a graduate student, Schacter became the first Rabbi of Young Israel of Sharon, in Sharon, Massachusetts. Serving in this capacity from 1977 - 1981, he created a new, vibrant, and committed community. He then became Rabbi of the prestigious Jewish Center in Manhattan. He also served as dean of the Rabbi Joseph B Soloveitchik Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts from 2000-2005.[1]
Currently, Rabbi Schacter works in Yeshiva College and Stern College within Yeshiva University. He is a University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought, Adjunct Instructor in Jewish Studies, and a Senior Scholar in Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future.[2]
Controversy
Schacter angered some members of the Orthodox community with his publication of Marc Shapiro's translation of Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg's personal letters. Schacter lived to regret this and begged forgiveness at the author's gravesite.
Books
- "A Modern Heretic and a Traditional Community: Mordecai M. Kaplan, Orthodoxy, and American Judaism." Columbia University Press (1997)
Edited books
- "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)