Rabbi Yitzchak Rosenbaum

National Jewish Outreach Program, New York, NY

Oct 13, 2010

Rabbi Yitzchak Rosenbaum is the Associate Director of the National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP), where he has worked for twenty one years. After more that two decades at NJOP, Rabbi Rosenbaum "remains thrilled by the opportunity Hashem has given me to bring our brothers and sisters closer to their heritage."

As a semicha student at Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), he studied under Rav Yerucham Gorelick, his grandfather, Rav Moshe Aharon Poleyeff, and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik from whom he received semicha.

After earning his semicha, Rabbi Rosenbaum worked in his family's business, served as rav of a small congregation in North Bergen, NJ, and was active in the Yeshiva of Hudson Country that he, and later his children, attended. He was also active in the UJA. In 1974, he became a faculty member at Torah Leadership Seminar and Yeshiva High School Seminar. Later, he taught Talmud and Shulchan Aruch at YU's Isaac Breuer (then known as Erna Michael) College. Teaching Talmud at YU was personally satisfying since it allowed him to continue a family tradition of teaching at YU, following in the footsteps of his rebbe and grandfather, Rav Poleyoff, who was a YU Rosh Yeshiva for nearly half a century. He also served for many year as Director of RIETS Rabbinic Alumni.

Working with other family members, Rabbi Rosenbaum is currently publishing an updated, annotated version of his grandfather's chiddushim (Talmudic novellae) on Tractates Pesachim, Bava Metzia and Bava Kama. Rav Poleyeff, a talmid of Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer in Slutsk, was known for his clarity and insight, and carried on a long term correspondence with his talmid, the Rosh Yeshiva of Telz, Rav Mordecai Gifter.

Rabbi Rosenbaum and his wife, Judith, live in Teaneck, NJ. They are blessed with children and grandchildren living in Israel and the United States.