Rabbi Yehuda Oppenheimer

Rabbi Yehuda Oppenheimer, a resident of Afula, is married, a father of five, and a grandfather. A former congregational rabbi, he is a lecturer, writer, editor, baal tefillah, and licensed tour guide. He returned to live in Israel with his wife about eight years ago, after years of rabbinic and communal work in the United States.

He studied for many years in Charedi yeshivos in Israel and the United States, among them Kol Torah, the Mir in Jerusalem, Netzach Yisrael, and Beis Moshe, and afterward at Kiryat Nachliel in Migdal HaEmek as a close student of Rabbi Nachman Bulman, of blessed memory. In 1994 he received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Berel Wein.

For close to twenty years he served as a congregational rabbi in the United States: rabbi of Congregation Kesser Israel in Portland, Oregon (1994–2005), where he also founded and directed a local kashrus agency, and rabbi of the Young Israel of Forest Hills, New York (2007–2017). After returning to Israel he served as rabbi of the synagogue in Lavon (2018–2021). Over the years he was also active in education and outreach with NCSY and Ohr Somayach, and trained and worked in family mediation.

Alongside the rabbinate he pursued an academic and professional career. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics, earned largely at the Jerusalem College of Technology (Machon Lev), a master’s degree in computer science, and a law degree from Brooklyn Law School. He worked as an electronics and communications engineer, including at AT&T Bell Laboratories, and as an attorney.

He writes regular columns in the Jewish Press and the Queens Jewish Link, publishes on his blog Libi BaMizrach, and has edited several books. In recent years he has written and spoken on Charedi enlistment, education, employment, and public responsibility, and on the relationship between the Charedi public and the rest of Israeli society.