Name Yisrael Rosen | Role Rabbi | |
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Israeli Orthodox rabbi Yisrael Rosen Died at 76
Yisrael Rosen (Hebrew: ישראל רוזן; born 1941) is an Orthodox Israeli rabbi. He founded the office for conversion to Judaism in the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and he is a judge there. He is also director of the Zomet Institute for the interface of halakhah and technology and the editor-in-chief of the annual journal Techumin published by that institute. He edits the weekly newsletter Shabbat B'Shabbato and writes a weekly column therein. He writes commentaries about the Rabbinic interpretations of Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible).
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Rabbi Rosen was born in Tel Aviv, learned in Yeshivat HaYishuv HeHadash and in Kerem BeYavneh, and founded the kollel in KBY. Afterward he studied electronics in Machon Lev and in Bar-Ilan University. Rabbi Rozen lives in Alon Shevut and is married with five children.
Rabbi Rozen is active in many areas. He helps implement technological innovations for halakhic observance at the Zomet Institute. These devices apply halakhic concepts to technological devices, mostly electronics, to enable using them within the rules of halakhah. He also writes and publishes articles on Tanakh. His positions tend to be conservative both politically and religiously.
In April 2008, Rabbi Rosen was awarded the Lev Prize by Machon Lev for outstanding achievement in Torah Umadda.
In November 2008, rabbi Rosen won a libel lawsuit against Yated Ne'eman (Israel) after the rabbinic board of Yated Ne'eman instructed its editors to slander him. Yated Ne'eman falsely claimed that the rabbi provided halachic certification out of the desire for money.
On the occasion of Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 pilgrimage to Israel, Rosen's far-from-endearing message to the Pope was that Jesus was a false messiah who deserved to die, but Catholics could be utilized to help Israel fight a war against fundamentalist Islam.