Religionיצחק גינזבורג

Isaac Ginsburgh

Yitzchak Ginsburgh is an American-born Israeli rabbi affiliated with Chabad, who leads the Derech Chaim movement and heads the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar.

born 1944Chabad teaching on Jewish mysticismLeading the Derech Chaim movementOd Yosef Chai yeshivaOver 100 published books

Born: 14 November 1944, St. Louis
Occupation: rabbi
Education: University of Chicago, Yeshiva University
Founded: Derech Chaim (2011)

Isaac Ginsburgh was born in 1944 in St. Louis

Ginsburgh was born in St. Louis in 1944, the only child of Shimshon Ya'akov and Bryna Malka Ginsburgh. His father, who held a PhD in education, ran Jewish schools. The family moved to Cleveland, and at 14 he spent a year in Israel, studying at the Hebrew Gymnasium in Rechavia.

At 15 he became a baal teshuva. He studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Chicago and earned a master's degree in mathematics at Yeshiva University's Belfer Graduate School of Science. At 20 he left doctoral studies to study Torah full time.

In 1965 he moved to Israel and studied at the Kamenitz yeshiva in Jerusalem, then with Slonim Hasidim in Tiberias. After the Six-Day War he was among the first to settle in the Jewish Quarter. He spent several months with the Lubavitcher Rebbe in New York, then married Romemia Segal and taught a group of students in Jerusalem.

He moved to Kfar Chabad in 1971. He headed the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva at Joseph's Tomb and has been its president since it moved to Yitzhar. He founded the Gal Einai Institute, has published over 100 books, and is also a musician and composer.

Some of his statements on differences between Jews and non-Jews have caused controversy. He and his students say his Kabbalistic concepts differ from the language the media uses. In 2019 he received a Torah creativity prize.