Michael Rosensweig - Biography

Michael Rosensweig is a Rosh Yeshiva and Rosh Kollel at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University.

Education

Rabbi Rosensweig graduated early from the Yeshiva High School of Queens. At the young age of 16, Rosensweig left to study under Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel, where he became one of his prized disciples. After completing his year and a half tenure there, R. Rosensweig returned to study under Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik at Yeshiva University. He received his Semicha (ordination) from YU's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and became one of the early fellows in RIETS's nascent Gruss Kollel Elyon.

R. Rosensweig graduated summa cum laude from Yeshiva College. He then received his M.A. and Ph.d. in medieval Jewish history from YU's Bernard Revel Graduate School. There he studied under R. Dr. Haym Soloveitchik, for whom he wrote both his M.A. thesis ("The Role of Kinsa and Rotehin in the Purging Process of Wine Barrels in Medieval Ashkenaz and Provence: A Case Study in the History of Halakhah") and doctoral dissertation ("Debt Collection in Absentia: Halakhah in a Mobile and Commercial Age"). Rosensweig is one of the only doctoral students mentored by Dr. Soloveitchik..

Appointment as Rosh Yeshiva and Rosh Kollel

In 1985, R. Dr. Rosensweig was appointed Rosh Yeshiva, at which time he was RIETS's youngest Rosh Yeshiva. He currently occupies the Nathan and Perel Schupf Chair of Talmud at RIETS. In 1997, he was appointed Rosh Kollel (Dean) of the prestigious Beren Institute for Advanced Talmudic Studies (Beren Kollel Elyon) at RIETS.

Lecturer

R. Rosensweig is known for his highly sophisticated and rigorous approach in conceptual Talmudic analysis, as well as his command of the halachik literature. His shiurim (Talmudic Lectures) intricately develop the minutia of a particular sugya while contextualizing them in their broader halachik framework.

Articles

• Family Structure: Halakhic and Anthropological Perspectives, in Higayon: מחקרים בדרכי החשיבה של חז"ל, 1989.
• "Elu va-Elu Divre Elokim Hayyim: Halakhic Pluralism and Theories of Controversy", in TRADITION 26:3, 1992.
• Reflections on the Conceptual Approach to Talmud Torah, in לומדות,The conceptual Approach to Talmud Torah, 2006.
• Personal Initiative and Creativity in Avodat Hashem, in Torah Umadda Journal 1, 1989

External links

• articles, audio, and video on TorahWeb.org