A creative coordination between Congregations Rinat Yisrael in the West Englewood area of Teaneck and Congregation Netivot Shalom in the Route 4/Cedar Lane area of town will result in the presentation of two exciting lectures by Professor Aviad Hacohen, renowned legal expert from Israel. The morning lecture will take place at Congregation Netivot Shalom following kiddush at 11:30 a.m. The topic announced is “‘Baal Teshuva’ and ‘Baal She’ela’: When Abraham (Joshua Heschel) Met Eliezer (Wiesel).” The afternoon lecture will take place at Congregation Rinat Yisrael, pre-Mincha at 5:30 p.m. The announced topic is “Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein’s Untold Life Story and History Based on Previously Unknown Material.”
Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot, rav of Netivot Shalom, and Faye Landes, co-chair of the vibrant adult education committee at Rinat, are both quite familiar with Professor Aviad’s proactivity in many areas of legal decision-making in Israel today and believe that he will impart a great deal of up-to-date information to his Teaneck audiences. In addition, his closeness to Rav Moshe Lichtenstein, zt”l, through his studies at Yeshivat Har Etzion as well as his research in preparation for an upcoming book about this highly regarded leader of Modern Orthodoxy in the 20th century will attract wide audiences in our community as we are home to many former students of Yeshivat Har Etzion and Rav Lichtenstein. They are excited about the joint venture and hope that the community will respond by coming out in large numbers.
The biography of Professor Aviad Hacohen begins with his illustrious parents, prominent Israeli personalities. His father, Rabbi Menachem Hacohen, was a member of the Israeli Knesset and served as an assistant to Rav Shlomo Goren during the Six Day War. His mother, Devorah Hacohen, now 86, served as a history professor at Bar Ilan University and recently was awarded the National Book Award for the English version of her biography of Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah Women’s Organization, “To Repair a Broken World,” with a foreword by Ruth Bader Ginsberg,
Professor Hacohen studied at Netiv Meir High School, followed by Yeshivat Har Etzion and Yeshivat HaKotel. In the IDF he served in a hesder unit. In 1989 he received his BA in law from Hebrew University where he began teaching and pursuing his MA, which he received cum laude in 1993. In 1995 he began teaching law at Bar Ilan University law school. In 1996 he was appointed director of the Center for the Instruction and Study of Jewish Law at the Sha’arei Mishpat Academic Center, serving as a lecturer as well. Hacohen earned his Ph.D. in law from the Hebrew University Law School in 2003. While working as a lecturer in law, Hacohen participated in many research institutes and forums, including the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Mosaica, the Institute for the study of Religion, Society and State, which he founded and directs.
In addition to his extensive academic positions in legal studies, Hacohen is a highly recognized voice in the world of Modern Orthodoxy in Israel and has taken on many complex issues. Since 1994, Hacohen has served as general counsel for the Israel Festival and of the movement “Hakol Hinukh,” Everything is Education. He is a member of the Israel and Jerusalem Bar Associations, the Disciplinary Tribunal of the Bar Association, a member of the Center for Women’s Justice Israel, the Yeshivat Hat Etzion Foundation and the Takana Forum that addresses sexual harassment in the religious community. He has been in the forefront of cases defending women’s rights in marriage and in religious settings, and in cases involving ethnic discrimination and equal opportunitiy. He has called for the increase in public awareness of people with disabilities and ensuring that their special needs are met. He is an advocate for closing the economic gap in Israeli society as well as many other current issues.
His publications include his 2004 work “The Tears of the Oppressed” in which he relies on halachic sources to propose approaches to solving the problem of women agunot. In his 2011 “Parshiot v’Mishpatim” he discusses human rights, criminal law and civil law in relation to Jewish law.
When contacted by The Jewish Link for a comment about his upcoming Shabbat in Teaneck, Professor Hacohen enthusiastically shared, “Teaneck and its surrounding communities are examples of authentic spiritual Jewish life in an environment that does not always give priority to spirituality and specifically Judaism. As I am a fourth-generation Israeli on one side and an eighth on the other, I value the opportunity to meet Jews who are not citizens but who themselves and their children have incorporated visits and long periods of study in Israel into their lives. I am coming to learn from you in addition to sharing a remarkable story of an encounter between two giant Jewish personalities, Elie Wiesel and Rabbi Abraham Yehoshua Heschel. My second presentation will hopefully bring out the scores of former talmidim of one of the 20th century’s greatest Torah scholars whom many in the community have had the privilege to know and study with, Harav Aharon Lichtenstein, zt”l. I look forward eagerly to meeting you.”
The community is urged to come out to hear the two informative lectures by Professor Aviad Hacohen planned for the joint Shabbat program of Congregations Rinat Yisrael and Netivot Shalom on Shabbat day, March 19, Parshat Tzav.
Shabbat morning, 11:30 a.m., at Congregation Netivot Shalom, 811 Palisades Avenue.
Shabbat afternoon, 5:30 p.m., at Congregation Rinat Yisrael, 389 West Englewood Avenue.
By Pearl Markovitz
