Rabbi Ilan Fuchs

March 5, 2019

Rabbi Ilan Fuchs currently resides in Monsey, NY however his personal and professional experiences have allowed him to join communities throughout America, Canada and Israel. Born in Ramat Gan, Israel, R. Fuchs completed his army service serving in Dover Tzahal, the Army Spokespersons Unit. He then spent several years in a rigorous dual-curriculum program at the Bar Ilan University Kollel, earning a Ph.D. in Law and Semicha through the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. At this time, R. Fuchs and his wife, Sarah, also completed the Rothschild Foundation program that trains Rabbinic couples for community work. After completing these studies R. Fuchs and his young family spent two years in New Orleans, LA where he served as a Schusterman Visiting Israeli Scholar in the Jewish Studies Department at Tulane University. He fulfilled various communal responsibilities in this small, but exceedingly warm, community and was particularly focused on serving as a model for Torah u'Mada to his university students and colleagues. Following his time at Tulane, he spent one year as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Calgary. One of only a handful of Orthodox rabbis in Calgary at the time, R. Fuchs was extremely active in adult education and maintained several meaningful chavrutot with individuals who were beginning to study their Judaism more seriously. The following year, R. Fuchs served again in an academic and rabbinic capacity at Brandeis University. While serving as an Assistant Rabbi at Chabad of Brandeis and developing warm relationships with students through chavrutot and weekly Shabbat meals, he also conducted research on the role of women in the Orthodox community at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. This was a particularly exciting year where R. Fuchs, once again, was able to seamlessly bridge his passion for rabbinic service and academic rigor. One more stop in the Detroit area allowed R. Fuchs to complete his book, Jewish Women's Torah Study: Orthodox Education and Modernity, while pursuing several smaller research projects that explored Orthodoxy, Zionism and Feminism at the University of Michigan. In Michigan, he continued to engage in community education by teaching in a variety of capacities in community institutions. At the present, R. Fuchs has relocated to the east coast where he teaches at The Frisch School and finds many opportunities to serve the community and to maintain his own research agenda. He has recently begun to focus on higher education in the ultra-Orthodox world--interest within the community and appropriate opportunities outside of the community--and looks forward to drawing on his unique background as an Orthodox rabbi and accomplished academic to help others who wish to pursue university degrees. R. Fuchs is grateful for his loving family: Sarah, his wife, and children Dina, Asher, Leah and Mendel.