Pinchas Polonsky - Biography

Pinchas Polonsky (Полонский Петр (Пинхас), born 1958) is a known popularizer of Judaism as well as original thinker in the middle of Russian-speaking Jews. He has written several books as well as translations.

Biography

Born in Moscow in 1958 as Piotr Polonsky, was fond of math and took prizes in regional Olympiads. Graduated pedagogical college of Moscow. Later got interested in Judaism, took name Pinchas. During 1980th years was able to organize a network of Torah study, organized a clandestine printing popular books by the method of photocopy, while official editions were forbidden during the communist era in USSR.

Lived several years as refusenik and finally repatriated to Israel in 1987.

He is one of the founders of Machanaim organization, in its framework he wrote "Two stories of the World Creation", edited popular prayer book "Gates of prayer" and recently a fundamental study of r. Kook philosophy.

Teaches Torah in Bar-Ilan University, writes periodically in newspapers in Russian. Father of eight.

Published works

• Series on Jewish holidays - 8 books
• "Two stories of the World creation" - original
• Prayer book "Gates of prayer" with Russian translations, instructions and commentaries, no less than 50 000 copies
• Video and audio courses on problems of Judaism
• Creative audio and video guide for Passover celebration (no less than 30 000 copies)
• "Philosophy of R.A.I. Kook: religious Zionism and modernization in the orthodox Judaism" - opus magnum
• "Two thousand years together. Jewish view on Christianity". Machanaim, 2008 (in Russian)

• "Important figure in the Religious-Zionist movement" Bureau of Jewish education in Los Angeles
• Review on "Rabbi A.Y.Kook. His Personality and Teaching" "This book is of vital importance to Russian-speaking Jewry's search for spirituality" - Natan Sharansky
• Rabbi Kook and the Modernization of Judaism [1]
• review on "Religious Zionism of Rav Kook" [2]