Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh יצחק גינזבורג MSc | |
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| Personal life | |
| Born | (1944-11-14)14 November 1944 (age 81) |
| Spouse | Romemia nee Segal |
| Parents |
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| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Yeshiva | Tom VaDa'at (president) |
| Organisation | Derech Chaim Movement (leader) |
| Other | Founder of Gal Einai Institute; President of Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva, Yitzhar; Dean of Torat Hanefesh School of Jewish Psychology |
| Residence | Kfar Chabad |
Yitzchak Feivish Ginsburgh (Hebrew: יצחק פייוויש גינזבורג; born 14 November 1944) sometimes referred to as "the Malakh" (lit. 'the angel') is an American-born Israelirabbi affiliated with theChabad movement.[1] In 1996 he was regarded as one of Chabad's leading authorities on Jewish mysticism.[2]He is the leader of theDerech Chaim ('The Way of Life') Movement[3] and founder of the Gal Einai Institute, which publishes his written works. His students includeCharedim (ultra-Orthodoxs),religious Zionists, and ChabadChassidim, as well asba'alei teshuvah (penitents).[4][better source needed] He is currently the president of a number of educational institutions, including theOd Yosef Chai ('Joseph Still Lives')yeshiva in thesettlement ofYitzhar in theWest Bank.[4] Ginsburgh has lectured in various countries, and throughout Israel. His teachings cover subjects including science, psychology, marital harmony and monarchy in Israel. He has published over 100 books in Hebrew and English, most of which are edited by his students.
Ginsburgh is a musician and composer.[4] Some of his music has been performed by Israeli musicians. His students include Torah scholars, academics and musicians.
Some of his statements regarding the differences between Jews and non-Jews have aroused controversy. Ginsburgh and his students have responded to the controversy by saying that his use of concepts taken fromChassidut andKabbalah are far removed from the language that the media has adopted.
Ginsburgh was born inSt. Louis, Missouri, in 1944,[4][5] the only child of Shimshon Ya'akov and Bryna Malka (nee Dunie) Ginsburgh. He was considered a child prodigy in music and mathematics.[6] Both of his grandfathers were Chabad chassidim. His parents had a great affinity to their Jewish roots and a love of the Land of Israel. His father immigrated to Israel as a young man, where he was one of the founders of the City ofRa'anana, but returned to the USA to complete his higher education. His return to Israel was delayed when theSecond World War broke out and he remained in the USA, where he married Ginsburgh's mother. His father held a PhD in education and served as principal of a number of Jewish schools. The family later moved toCleveland, Ohio, where Ginsburgh grew up until the age of 14, when his parents spent a year in Israel while his father wrote his doctorate on teaching the Hebrew language.[citation needed]
During their year in Israel, the young Ginsburgh studied at the HebrewGymnasium in Rechavia, where he learned Hebrew and began his path to Torah study by readingEthics of the Fathers, which left a great impression upon him.Upon their return toPhiladelphia, he met the Rebbe of theNadvorna Chassidic dynasty, RabbiMeir Isaacson, author of theMevasser Tovresponsa, and at the age of 15 became abaal teshuva. He attended theUniversity of Chicago, majoring in mathematics and philosophy. He then completed a Masters in Mathematics at the Belfer Graduate School of Science ofYeshiva University. At the age of 20, he abandoned his doctorate studies to devote himself entirely toTorah study.[4][5]
In 1965, he returned toIsrael and studied at the Yeshivah of Kamenitz inJerusalem. He spent 1966 through 1967 at theSlonimshul inTiberias. After theSix-Day War, Ginsburgh went to Jerusalem and was one of the first to move into the old Jewish quarter. There, together with his future father-in-law,Rabbi Moshe Zvi Segal, he began renovating the ruins, sleeping at night in the Tzemach Tzedek synagogue.[5]
In the summer of 1967, he went to the Torat Emet Chabad yeshivah in Jerusalem,[4] where he studied the Chabad school ofChassidus in depth. That year he visited theLubavitcher Rebbe, RabbiMenachem Mendel Schneerson, and remained inCrown Heights, Brooklyn for several months. There, he was accepted for private audience with the Rebbe, whose guidance became his leading influence.[7]
When he returned to Israel, he married Rabbi Segal's daughter, Romemia. They lived in Jerusalem, where Ginsburgh studied with RebAsher Freund, helping to establish Freund's charity organization,Yad Ezrah. He also took part in founding Freund's Or Yerushalaim yeshivah in Jerusalem, where he taughtTalmud,Shulchan Aruch, andChassidut. During this period, a kernel of students developed around him.[5]
In 1971, following an instruction from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, he moved with his wife and growing family toKfar Chabad.[citation needed] In 1973, at the beginning of theYom Kippur War, under instruction from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Ginsburgh visited the warfront to transmit the Rebbe's blessing to officerAriel Sharon, who later became 11thPrime Minister of Israel. The next morning, after a successful battle, Ginsburgh presented Sharon with alulav andetrog.[5]
Ginsburgh founded the Chabad house in theYamit settlement in Sinai, where he lived during the last few weeks before the settlement's destruction by the Israeli government in 1982.[citation needed] He returned to Kfar Chabad in 1982, and was asked by Jerusalem rabbi and philanthropistYosef Eliyahu Deutch to serve as head of theShuva Yisra'el Yeshivah on Yo'el Street. Rabbi Ginsburgh gave frequent classes on a wide variety of subjects, from the exoteric to the esoteric parts of the Torah. Many were taped and form a large part of the 15,000 lecture archive of his classes.[citation needed]
Ginsburgh served as theRosh Yeshivah of theOd Yosef Chai Yeshivah (then located atJoseph's Tomb) from 1987 until the retreat of theIDF from the Tomb inNablus during theAl-Aqsa Intifada (2001). He also served as the head of aKollel in the Menuchah Rachel Synagogue inHebron and as the head of a Kollel in the ancientShalom Al Yisrael Synagogue inJericho.[citation needed] As of 2014, he served as the president of a number of educational institutes run by his students, including the Torat Chaim elementary school for boys (Jerusalem), the Ya'alat Chen elementary school for girls (Jerusalem), Ma'ale Levonah high school for girls,[8] and the Tom Vada'at Yeshivah in Jerusalem. He is also president of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshivah since its relocation toYitzhar. In addition, he is the dean of the Torat Hanefesh School of Chassidic Psychology, founded and run by his students.[9]
Ginsburgh lives with his wife inKfar Chabad.[10][11] One of his sons is Rabbi Yossi Ginsburgh, the Rosh Yeshivah ofTomchei Temimim Yeshivah inRamat Aviv.[citation needed]
Ginsburgh follows Chassidic practices in his teaching style and is proficient in many aspects of Chassidic literature. He bases his teachings onKabbalah andChassidut and presents them in practical terms,[12][4] rendering the profound concepts of the original Kabbalistic texts relevant to today's world and presenting them in modern language.[7] Although the media has dealt almost exclusively with his two booklets that address politics, the great majority of his work is of a broader and deeper scope.[citation needed]He has written books on Jewish law, Kabbalah, Torah and science, psychology, love, marriage and education. He has also published a book addressed to children, namedAnochi Ve'Hayeladim ("Myself and the Children").[13] Ginsburgh specializes in analyzing modern cultural phenomena in the light of Kabbalah. These include psychology, psychoanalysis, homeopathy and economics.[6]
He has published over 100 volumes of original work in Hebrew and more than 20 in English. Some of his books have been translated into French, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese.[citation needed]
Ginsburgh's teachings form a methodical ideology that covers three major areas: the individual, society and the Jewish national state. He has also developed a social and economical renewal strategy based on Torah teachings, called "The Dynamic Corporation."[14] One of his seminars was recognized by the Israeli Ministry of Education as a supplementary teachers' training course.[6] His books are published by the not-for-profit Gal Einai Institute, which he founded in 1991. The Hebrew name Gal Einai is taken from Psalms 119:18, meaning "Open my eyes."[citation needed]
He delivers classes in Israel, and has lectured in the United States and other countries including France, Canada and England.[citation needed]
Since December 2012, Ginsburgh has been a lead speaker at an annual gala evening commemorating the Chassidic festival19 Kislev. The event includes performance of many of his musical compositions. In 2015, the event was held atCulture Palace in Tel Aviv, with an audience of approximately 3000 people.[15]
Ginsburgh's style of teaching combines structured thought together with a freer, associative component that manifests in his generous use of the ancient tradition ofgematria (Hebrew numerology), by which he translates between words and numbers. He also implements the use offigurate numbers in interpreting Torah verses.[16]
Ginsburgh's contribution to Chassidic psychotherapy has opened up new horizons in therapeutic practice, whose processes are already evident in modern clinical psychology.[12] Ginsburgh sees awareness of the Divine as the key to successful psychological therapy. He aims to find the balance between science and theTorah, which will allow establishing psychology on the Torah together with empirical analysis of the data in order to develop working theories.[12]: 130
Ginsburgh's writings on psychology develop the three-stage Chassidic model of submission, separation and sweetening[17]: 343 [18] that originated in the study halls of the Ba'al Shem Tov and his followers.[12]: 135 He has thus severed the chain of non-Jewish religious sources upon which all western schools of psychotherapy are founded.[12]: 149
Ginsburgh does not adopt foreign meditative methods. He remains faithful to theChabad system of meditation, which consists of Torah study, pre-prayer meditation, and meditation during prayer. His particular innovation is the connection between personal consciousness achieved through meditation, and a change in the collective consciousness.[19]
Ginsburgh defines two types of meditation, "general meditation" (הִתְבּוֹנְנוּת כְּלָלִית) and "detailed meditation" (הִתְבּוֹנְנוּת פְּרָטִית) The purpose of general meditation, according to Ginsburgh, is to arouse one's natural love and awe of God. In order to arouse love, he recommends meditating on how God vitalizes the individual and the entire world at every single moment of time. Similarly, he recommends meditating on God's omniscience to arouse fear of God in one's heart.[19]
According to Ginsburgh, three general meditative aids are music, movement and breathing exercises.[19]
Ginsburgh began composing at a very young age.[6] He has composed hundreds of songs and original melodies in the Chassidic tradition.[4][20] He has also composed a number of musical compositions in the genre ofworld music. His music has been published in dozens of discs, which include discs that conserve Chassidic songs and melodies from bygone eras.
Rabbi Ginsburgh has appeared and sung together with RabbiShlomo Carlebach.[21]
Russian violin virtuosoSanya Kroytor has performed renderings of some of Rabbi Ginsburgh's compositions, and has played violin accompaniment to Rabbi Ginsburgh singing the Chassidic melody Tzama Lecha Nafshi.[22]
Ginsburgh's compositions are performed by a number of musicians and singers, includingShuli Rand,Erez Lev Ari,Yosef Karduner,Yishai Ribo,Aharon Razel,Shlomo Katz,[20] andDaniel Zamir.[20][15]
Israeli musician,Ariel Zilber, performs some of Ginsburgh's works.[4]
Ginsburgh has also co-designed a number of pieces of Jewelry based on ancient Kabbalistic ideas, expressing love,[23] peace[24] and grace.[4][5]
Over the years, Ginsburgh has accumulated a large number of students from all over the world.
In the 1980s, a group of ba'alei teshuvah crystallized around him, some of whom were inspired to found theBat Ayin settlement inGush Etzion. Following the death ofRabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, another group of students joined him from theMerkaz Harav yeshivah. They sought to fill the gap left by their rabbi's death by heading for new spiritual horizons in Kabbalah and Chassidut. They founded the original Od Yosef Chai yeshivah at Joseph's Tomb, and sought a significant spiritual leader in these spiritual fields to serve as their head. Ginsburgh later conceded to their request to join them as theirrosh yeshivah.[6]
In Israel today, there are communities of his students in Jerusalem, Bat Ayin,[6] Yitzhar, Kfar Chabad, and Rechovot.[4] His students include Charedim, religious Zionists, and Chabad Chassidim, as well asba'alei teshuva.[4][5][1]
Amongst the most notable are:
Ginsburgh advocates thereinstitution of Jewish monarchy in the Land of Israel.[34] Some of his own followers want him to be the king.[13] He opposes efforts to removeJewish settlements from theWest Bank and encourages his followers to attempt to dissuade soldiers and police officers from carrying out evacuations.[35] He advocates "Jewish labor" − the idea that under the current state of affairs in the land of Israel,[36] Jews should employ other Jews. In accordance with Maimonides' ruling[37] and many rabbinical authorities, he believes that taking the current security risks into consideration,[36] Gentiles should not be allowed to live in the Land of Israel,[36][38] unless they become the "righteous of the nations".[36][39]
Ginsburgh also supports the rebuilding of theJewish temple, believing that this would facilitate spiritual elevation and hasten redemption.[40] Following a response from theLubavitcher Rebbe, he does not currently advocate visiting theTemple Mount, the site of theDome of the Rock andAl-Aqsa Mosque.[41][42]
Ginsburgh has repeatedly said that he does not promote violence.[6] His students say that they seek to actualize the messianic vision not by violent revolution, but by a change of consciousness that will take place within individuals and will eventually encompass the collective.[19] In his 2007 bookKabbalah and Meditation for the Nations Ginsburgh writes, "Ours is the first generation in modern times to understand the truly universal human condition and to seek to bring all peoples of the earth together in peace and harmony."[43] In April 2014, after the confiscation of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshivah complex following assaults by residents on an IDF unit,Gershon Mesika, then head of the Shomron Council, visited Rabbi Ginsburgh in his home in Kfar Chabad together with a group of rabbis headed by the Chief Rabbi of the Shomron Elyakim Levanon. During the visit, Ginsburgh expressed his opposition to causing any harm to IDF soldiers.[44]
Ginsburgh's theocratic worldview is to take control of Israel's state institutions to pave the way for theMessiah's arrival.[13][45] Ginsburgh details his approach in an essayTime to Crack the Nut (in Hebrew).[46] UsingKabbalistic imagery, he compares Israel to a walnut surrounded by four shells orQlippoth, which represent the forces of darkness and impurity. The outermost shell is (secular)Zionist thought which may not align with the vision of a religioustheocracy. The second shell is the judicial system, the courts, the media and the education system which in his view promote negative values, i.e. universal values likeliberalism,assimilation and equality between Jews and Arabs. The third shell comprises government apparatuses including theKnesset, which are considered dangerous because they allow for compromise and territorial withdrawal. The fourth and innermost shell is thearmy, which Ginsburgh deems necessary with changes such as soldiers ignoring the principle ofpurity of arms if it contradicts the will of God.[45] According to Ginsburgh, the first three shells must be crushed by dismantling Zionist-secular ideology and overthrowing the government in order to pave the way for a Torah-based rule. This way of thinking is similar toISIS andAl-Qaida, except Ginsburgh would impose ahalakhic-style regime instead ofsharia law.[45]
In 1989, following the arrest of seven of his students after the shooting of an Arab girl during a settler rampage through the PalestinianWest Bank village ofKifl Haris (in response to rock-throwing by the Arab villagers[6]), Ginsburgh reportedly "offered biblical justification for the view that the spilling of non-Jewish blood was a lesser offense than the spilling of Jewish blood." He stated that threatening to kill Jews comes under the ruling, 'He who comes to kill you, you should kill him first.'[47][48][49] The Ashkenazi chief rabbiAvraham Shapira criticized Ginsburgh's views.[47][50][51] In 1993 Ginsburgh defended another student of his guilty of firing indiscriminately at Arab labourers inTel Aviv.[52]
In 1994, Ginsburgh received widespread criticism for his article "Baruch Hagever"[53] in which he defendedBaruch Goldstein who hadmassacred 29 Palestinian worshippers at theCave of the Patriarchs inHebron.[54][55] Rabbi Ginsburgh wrote that it is possible to view Baruch Goldstein's act as either following or defying[56][57] fiveHalachic principles, namely "sanctification of God's name", "saving life" (referring to allegations that Goldstein had received prior warning from the IDF regarding a planned Arab massacre of Jews[58]), "revenge", "eradication of the seed ofAmalek" and "war".[59] The conclusion to the article is that Goldstein's act emanated from the super-rational powers of his soul, therefore one cannot rely on logical reasoning to determine whether the act was worthy or condemnable.[60]
TheJerusalem Post asserted that Ginsburgh had called the massacre amitzvah.[61] Motti Inbari commented on this:
In his writings, Ginzburg (sic) gives prominence to Halachic and kabbalistic approaches that emphasize the distinction between Jew and non-Jew (Gentile), imposing a clear separation and hierarchy in this respect. He claims that while the Jews are the Chosen People and were created in God's image, the Gentiles do not have this status... Ginzburg stated that, on the theoretical level, if a Jew requires a liver transplant to survive, it would be permissible to seize a Gentile and take their liver forcefully. From this point only a small further step is required to actively encourage and support the killing of non-Jews, as Ginzburg did in the case of Goldstein.[62]
Ginsburgh responded to claims that he permits the murder of non-Jews:
Never did I advocate taking non-Jewish life, except when tragically forced by war. The Torah forbids this, emphasizing that ALL human life is sacred. It is our task, as G-d's chosen people to enlighten all humanity and raise the consciousness of mankind to fully recognize the sanctity of all life... When G-d deemed it necessary that the Egyptians drown in the Red Sea to save and liberate His chosen people, Israel, He nonetheless forbade His ministering angels to rejoice at the death of the Egyptians, His own creations. The Torah instructs us to "emulate His ways" of mercy and loving kindness to all.[63]
On March 10, 1996, Ginsburgh was arrested for administrative detention for 60 days for his pronouncements that the state should take action against Arabs in response to the recent wave of terror attacks.[64] An article in the Jewish Week stated that the detention was "an attempt to stifle Rabbi Ginsburgh's teaching and lectures to his followers".[2] After an appeal against the detention,[64] on March 28 Ginsburgh was released without charge. The judge declared that the accusations were baseless[65][66] and that Ginsburgh was not a danger to the public.[65][2][4] Prior to the court ruling, the government had circulated to all its embassies abroad a statement that Ginsburgh had "a long record of incitement to violence, inflammatory rhetoric, and has developed a theology of revenge whose tenets he spreads wherever he can."[66] Following his release, Ginsburgh wrote, "The court recognized that my arrest entailed not only a violation of freedom of speech, but an attack against teaching Torah in general and Chassidic philosophy in particular."[63]
In 2003, Ginsburgh was indicted on charges of encouraging racism against Arabs in his booklet "Tsav Hasha'a – Tipul Shoresh" (טִיפּוּל שׁוֹרֶשׁ, "Order of the Day – Root Treatment"[67]).[68] The charges were dropped after he issued a clarification letter.[69] In 2010, the Israeli newspaperHaaretz called Ginsburgh "a well known radical on his views on Israel Arab public."[69] A former head of theShin Bet,Carmi Gillon, toldThe Forward in 2016 that, in his view, "[Ginsburgh's] words count as incitement and he should have faced charges a long time ago."[13]
In 2009 Ginsburgh wrote an endorsing introduction to the first volume of the highly controversial bookTorat Hamelekh. The volume, which endorses the killing of innocent children as a way to take revenge on their parents, and has been condemned by spokespeople for both theConservative andReform movements[70] and theAnti-Defamation League[71] is said by its authors to have been based on Ginsburgh’s ideas.[72]
In April 2014, Ginsburgh calledprice-tag acts of vandalism "unsupervised acts", and stated that there is no need to use hands-on tactics. Instead, he suggested achieving goals by power of word alone, speaking out firmly but calmly to transmit the message.[73] The following month theShin Bet claimed that the price-tag acts were the handiwork of about 100 individuals who were inspired by Ginsburgh's ideas.[74] Tzvi Sukkot, self-identified as a prior "hill top youth", says that it was Rabbi Ginsburgh who convinced him to stop his violent activities against Arabs and find more legitimate ways to express his frustration. "Ginsburgh spoke out very clearly against violence. He said that we should act... within the framework of the law."[75] Ginsburgh and his students have responded to the accusations made against him by stating that he has been misunderstood and that his words have been taken out of context.[57]
"The wicked acts of the people of Gaza underscores their Amalek-like features," he wrote in his "Niflaot" pamphlet a few weeks after the Oct. 7 massacre. These features, he added, "demands that we observe the command 'Blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven, you shall not forget it' – total annihilation, not sifting," that is not checking who is innocent and who is guilty.[76]
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no claim is made that he advocated concrete criminal acts... It has also not been proven that his words are liable - not with near certainty and not a lesser degree of likelihood - to cause his students to injure Arabs.
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