Yonason Sacks


Yonason Sacks is an Orthodox rabbi and the Rosh Yeshiva of Lander College for Men, a division of Touro College, as well as the spiritual leader of the Agudas Yisroel Bircas Yaakov in Passaic, New Jersey.

Family

Rabbi Sacks' grandfather was one of the leaders of Jewish education in Chicago, Illinois, and his great-grandfather was the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank. Rabbi Sacks dedicated his first book, Chemdas Yomim in memory of his father.
Rabbi Sacks lives with his family in Passaic.

Education

Rabbi Sacks attended the high school headed by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and Rabbi Pinchas Bak in Riverdale, New York in the mid 1970s.
Rabbi Sacks graduated from Yeshiva University in 1981 and was ordained by the University's affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in 1984. Two years later, he was awarded Yadin Yadin semikha.

Rosh Yeshiva

Rabbi Sacks was Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University from 1994 until 2012, when he became Rosh Yeshiva at Beis Midrash L'Talmud, a part of Lander College, a division of Touro College.

Educational method

When giving a shiur, Rabbi Sacks uses a two-step approach to topic analysis. First, in an effort to understand the topic in a wider context than the case at hand, Rabbi Sacks branches out into other areas of halacha examining the topic as it appears throughout the Talmud. The information gleaned from the broad analysis is applied to the case at hand. Secondly, Rabbi Sacks elaborates on parenthetical points made by the Talmud, giving his students a background in these important issues.

Works

Sacks is the author of more than 30 Jewish books, including: