Hershel Schachter

Not to be confused with Rabbi Herschel Schacter, former president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

Rabbi Hershel Schachter
Position	Rosh Yeshiva
Yeshiva	RIETS
Personal details
Born	(1941-07-28) July 28, 1941 Scranton, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Denomination	Orthodox
Residence	Washington Heights, Manhattan
Alma mater	Yeshiva University

Hershel Schachter (born (1941-07-28)July 28, 1941) is a rabbi and rosh yeshiva at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), Yeshiva University, in New York City, and the son of the late Rabbi Melech Schachter, who was also a rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University. A noted Talmudic scholar and a prominent posek, he is also a halakhic advisor for the kashrut division of the Orthodox Union.

Schachter became an assistant to Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik at the age of 22. Schachter earned a B.A. from Yeshiva College and an M.A. in Hebrew Literature from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies in 1967.

After receiving rabbinic ordination in 1967 at the age of 26, Schachter became the youngest Rosh Yeshiva at RIETS, and was appointed rosh kollel, or dean of the kollel, in 1971.

Halakhic opinions

As a posek, Schachter has made important and notable decisions in various areas of Jewish law. In the realm of medical halacha, Schachter does not allow doctors or medical students to work on the Sabbath unless they need to save a life. Also Schachter believes that the living status of a brain dead individual is a safek, a matter of doubt, and thus requires that all decisions be made with the same stringencies applied to all cases where life-and-death is in doubt. This, ipso facto, forbids the organ donations of brain dead individuals, by considering them as possibly still halachically alive, but also requires chalitzah in the case that a widow is left with only a brain dead child as well as a normal brother-in-law. Regarding monetary law and taxation, Schachter believes that a graduated system of income taxes is "fair and reasonable" and thus falls under the ægis of dina d'malchusa dina, the requirement to conform to the laws of the land, and thus everyone must pay taxes. Regarding other areas of religious law, Schachter holds that a woman is not allowed to serve as the president of a synagogue unless there is absolutely no other choice. Schachter is also the posek for the Yeshiva University eruv in Washington Heights, and is one of the most notable contemporary halachik authorities to allow for the implementation of an eruv in sections of Manhattan.

Other views

In a December 2006 speech, Schachter stated that Mesirah, informing on a fellow Jew to the authorities, "is permitted in situations where one is a public menace (see Shach to Choshen Mishpat 388, 59), or if one is physically or psychologically harming another individual (for example, in instances of sexual abuse of children, students, campers etc., or spousal abuse) (see Shach to Choshen Mishpat ibid, 45)."

In a February 2013 speech to a London audience, Schachter echoed this sentiment. He did express concern that before going to the authorities, one should make sure that a potential abuse victim is credible by referring him to a competent rabbi or psychologist. Schachter cited concerns that if the child's story was a fabrication, it could result in a Jew's being locked in a cell with a "schvartze...a black Muslim who wants to kill him." Yeshiva University condemned the use of the word "schvartze," an offensive Yiddish racial slur. “The recent use of a derogatory racial term and negative characterizations of African-Americans and Muslims, by a member of the faculty, are inappropriate, offensive, and do not represent the values and mission of Yeshiva University,” a Y.U. spokesman stated.

Works

Schachter has written many books related to Judaism. They include:

• Eretz HaTzvi (1992) (with an approbation by Rabbi Dovid Lifshitz)
• Nefesh HaRav (1994) - Torah from Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
• B'Ikvei HaTzon (1997) (with an approbation by the famed Rabbi Pinchas Hirschsprung, the former Chief Rabbi of Montreal)
• Shiurei ha-Rav ha-Gaon Rabi Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveitchik, Masekhet Gittin, chap. 1-4 [based on lectures from 1963-1964] (1999)
• Shiurei ha-Rav ha-Gaon Rabi Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveitchik, Masekhet Kiddushin (2001)
• MiP'ninei HaRav (2001) - more Torah from Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
• Shiurei ha-Rav ha-Gaon Rabi Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveitchik, Tzitzet, Tefillen, Kriat haTorah (2002)
• Shiurei ha-Rav ha-Gaon Rabi Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveitchik, Yom HaKippurim, Megillah (2002)
• Shiurei ha-Rav ha-Gaon Rabi Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveitchik, Masekhet Shabbat (2004)
• Ginas Egoz (2007) (with an approbation by Rabbi Gershon Yankelevitz)
• Divrei HaRav (2010) - a third volume of Torah from Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

Articles:

• בירור הלכה בענין אמירה לנכרי בשבת וכבוד המת in HaPardes No. 57, Vol. 8 (May 1983)

He has also written more than 200 articles, in both Hebrew and English, for scholarly Torah publications such as HaPardes, HaDarom, Beit Yitzchak, and Or Hamizrach.

Works about

• Lawrence Kaplan, "The Multi-Faceted Legacy of the Rav: A Critical Analysis of R. Hershel Schachter's Nefesh ha-Rav," BDD (Bekhol Derakhekha Daehu: Journal of Torah and Scholarship) 7 (Summer, 1998): 51–85.
• Rachel Adler, "Innovation and Authority: A Feminist Reading of the 'Women's Minyan' Responsum" in Walter Jacob and Moshe Zemer, Studies in Progressive Halacha
• Adam S. Ferziger, "Feminism and Heresy: The Construction of a Jewish Metanarrative," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 77/No. 3, 494-546