RABBI DR. AARON RAKEFFET
Dr. Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff, of Yeshiva University's Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Institute in Jerusalem, is a noted scholar, author, and teacher. Born in New York City in 1937, Rabbi Rakeffet moved with his wife, Malkah, and family to Israel in 1969, following seven years as spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Ephraim and Maplewood Jewish Center in New Jersey. A 1959 summa cum laude graduate of Yeshiva College, he earned three degrees from Yeshiva University's Bernard Revel Graduate School, including his doctorate in 1967. Rabbi Rakeffet was ordained by the University's affiliate Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) in 1961.
Rabbi Rakeffet has written many entries for the Encyclopedia Judaica, including the one on "the Rav," Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik. His two-volume The Rav: The World of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik was published in 1999 by KTA V Publishing House, Inc. The Rav's relationship with Yeshiva University is detailed in these volumes. Also, he is author of Bernard Revel: Builder of American Jewish Orthodoxy, a biography of Yeshiva University'S first president that was published by the Jewish Publication Society; and The Silver Era: Rabbi Eliezer Silver and His Generation, about the life and times of Rabbi Eliezer Silver (1881-1968) and published by Feldheim. Both these works have gone through three editions. In 1997, he published two volumes of Rakafot Aharon, a collection of published scholarship in the fields of Halakhah and Jewish history.
The Yeshiva College Alumni Association awarded its annual Bernard Revel Memorial Award in Religion and Religious Education to Rabbi Rakeffet in 1975, the first time the award ceremony took place in Israel. He also taught at Jerusalem's Torah College for Men (BMT), Machon Gold, Michlalah (The Jerusalem College for Women), and Midreshet Moriah, an advanced Torah study program for women.