Residence Kfar Chabad, Israel Occupation Rabbi, author, speaker Alma mater University of Vermont | Nationality American Website www.rabbijacobs.com | |
Books Coffee Melts Bars: My Israeli Prison Career | ||
Rabbi fishel jacobs fight
Fishel Jacobs is an American-Israeli rabbi, martial artist, ex-Israel Prison Service officer, author, and speaker.
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Jewish karate champion rabbi fishel jacobs breaks brick with head
Background
Rabbi Jacobs is a devout Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi and speaker. Jacobs has published ten non-fiction books, including works on difficult areas of practical Talmudic law. His interviews, articles and columns frequently appear in Jewish and mainstream media. Rabbi Jacobs was born in 1956 in Brooklyn, raised in Vermont, and has lived in Israel since 1979.
In 1974, Jacobs earned a black belt in karate from the International Tang Soo Do Association. After graduating from the University of Vermont and winning many regional heavyweight Black Belt tournaments, including the 1976 YMCA mid-Atlantic Heavyweight title, he immigrated to Israel to study in the rabbinical school in Kfar Chabad. He was presumably the first American to receive rabbinic ordination by Israel's head rabbis, holds a PhD degree (equivalency) from the Israel Department of Religion, and completed training as a Rabbinic attorney. In 2006, he was promoted to Eighth Degree Black Belt Master Instructor.
After spending fourteen years studying in the rabbinical school, Tomchei Temimim, in Kfar Chabad, Israel, Jacobs went on to serve in a number of rabbinic positions. From 1988 to 2007, he served as emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneersohn, and the Chabad-Lubavitch Campus chaplain at Tel Aviv University. Concurrently, from 1992 until 2005 he served as a full-time chaplain, a staff-officer with the rank of Major, in the Israel Prison Service (IPS). He retired from that position in 2005 and subsequently published the first book ever describing life within the IPS, republished in 2016 under the title Coffee Melts Bars: My Israeli Prison Career.