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Benjamin Brown

Benjamin Brown is an Israeli scholar of Jewish thought and a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, known for his research on Haredi society, Hasidism and Jewish law.

born 1966Research on Haredi thoughtStudies of HasidismResearch on the Hazon IshStudies of Jewish law

Born: 1 July 1966, Tel Aviv
Occupation: Judaic scholar, university teacher, historian, jurist
Education: Harvard University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Benjamin Brown was born in 1966 in Tel Aviv

Benjamin Brown was born in Tel Aviv on July 1, 1966, and grew up in Bnei Brak. He attended a religious high school in Ramat Gan.

After his IDF service ended in 1987, he studied law and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He finished his law degree in 1993 and worked briefly as a civil lawyer. He then studied Jewish thought, and his doctorate on the Hazon Ish, supervised by Aviezer Ravitzky, was approved in 2003.

He did postdoctoral studies at Harvard University in 2004 and 2005, then became a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute. He joined the Hebrew University faculty in 2007. His books cover Haredi leadership, the Hazon Ish, Karlin Hasidism, the Musar movement and Jewish law.

He also wrote books on epistemology and formal ontology. Some of his studies were cited in Supreme Court rulings. In 2024 he left the Israel Democracy Institute and joined the Van Leer Institute as a senior research fellow.

In 1990 he married Iris Brown, who also researches Jewish law. They have 4 children and live in Ramot, Jerusalem.