Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman (born 1970) is the President Elect of Yeshiva University. He was formerly the Rabbi of the Jewish Center (Manhattan). Rabbi Dr. Berman will begin his tenure in June, 2017. Dr. Berman will be succeeding Richard Joel and will the 5th President of Yeshiva University history. His uncle is Julius Berman, who serves on the Board of Trustees of Yeshiva University and is the Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of RIETS.
A quadruple alumnus of YU, Rabbi Dr. Berman graduated from MTA in 1987. He graduated magna cum laude from Yeshiva College in 1991 and then received his ordination from RIETS and his masters in Jewish philosophy from the Bernard Revel Graduate School. Rabbi Dr. Berman taught Talmud in YU’s Stone Beit Midrash Program and served as the assistant rabbi and then the lead rabbi of The Jewish Center of Manhattan. He left his post at The Jewish Center when he moved to Israel in 2008, and recently completed a PhD in Jewish thought from Hebrew University under the guidance of Dr. Moshe Halbertal, on the topic of “Ger Toshav (gentile who accepts the Noahide Laws) in Jewish Law Codes of the Middle Ages.” He resides in Neve Daniel with his wife and five children.
Rabbi Berman will assume the helm as president on June 5, 2017 (following the 86th Annual Commencement and Shavuot). In the interim, Rabbi Berman will be traveling back and forth between Israel and America, but as time goes on he will become increasingly more of a presence on campus.