Dr. Michael Rosen | |
---|---|
Rabbi | |
Position | Founder |
Organisation | Yakar |
Began | 1978 |
Ended | 2008 |
Personal details | |
Birth name | Michael Rosen |
Born |
Glasgow, Scotland |
21 January 1945
Died | 8 December 2008 Jerusalem, Israel |
Buried | Har HaMenuchot cemetery |
Nationality | British and Israeli |
Denomination | Orthodox |
Residence | Jerusalem, Israel |
Parents | Rabbi Kopul and Bella Rosen |
Spouse | Gilla Katzersdorfer Rosen |
Children | 6 |
Profession | Rabbi and teacher |
Alma mater | Grodno Yeshiva Beer Yaakov and University College London |
Semicha | 1973 |
Michael Rosen (Shmuel Meir ben HaRav Yaakov Kopul, born 21 January 1945 in Glasgow, Scotland, died 8 December 2008 in Jerusalem, Israel) was a British-born Israeli rabbi and founder of Yakar, an innovative Jewish learning community and synagogue.
Michael ("Mickey") Rosen was one of three sons of Rabbi Yaakov Kopul and Bella Rosen. His thinking was strongly influenced by his father, who rejected fundamentalism and obscurantism and instead embraced secular wisdom while remaining committed to religious life. Rosen was first educated at Carmel College, the school his father had founded based on this philosophical orientation. He then continued his education at the Slabodka Yeshiva and the Grodno Yeshiva Beer Yaakov, both in Bnei Brak. He received semikhah from the latter in 1973. In addition, he studied at the Harry Fischel Institute for Talmudic Research in Jerusalem, and was presented with a second semikhah by Chief Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman.
After serving as a rabbi near Manchester, Rosen opened a Jewish educational center in London in 1978 called Yakar – Center for Tradition and Creativity, whose name is an acronym of his father's name, Yaakov Kopul Rosen, and also means precious or worthy in the Hebrew language. In 1992 he established a Yakar center in Jerusalem and, in 2007, another in Tel Aviv. What was unique about the Yakar concept was that it blended traditional Jewish learning with social action, interfaith dialogue and the arts.