Yitzchak Berkovits

Who is Yitzchak Berkovits?

Yitzchak Berkovits, also spelled Yitzchak Berkowitz, is a Haredi Jewish rabbi, rosh kollel and posek in Jerusalem, Israel. Through his 16 years as mashgiach ruchani of Yeshivas Aish HaTorah and EYAHT College of Jewish Studies for Women, he built a reputation as a lucid orator on halakhic and philosophical topics and a caring mentor for hundreds of English-speaking, baalei teshuva young men and women. He is considered one of the spiritual leaders of the worldwide baal teshuva movement.

Berkovits is the dean and rosh hakollelim of Linas HaTzedek: The Center for Jewish Values, which is dedicated to spreading the awareness of mitzvot bein adam lechaveiro. He leads the Center's network of evening kollelim in Israel and the United States. He is also the founder and rosh kollel of The Jerusalem Kollel, an institute dedicated to training rabbis and Orthodox Jewish outreach counselors for communities in the Jewish diaspora. Many of his students fill prominent positions around the globe. He is regarded as a "rabbi's rabbi" and as an adviser to hundreds of rabbis.

He is well-known to international audiences for his telephone tapes and book on shemiras halashon for the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation. He serves as a Moreh Tzedek for Jerusalem's Sanhedria Murhevet neighborhood, where he resides, and leads that community's Congregation Minyan Avreichim.