(Courtesy of YU) Yeshiva University is excited to announce the appointment of Rabbi Ari Rockoff as the David Mitzner Community Dean for Values and Leadership. Rockoff will work to develop and strengthen the University’s mission through the Office of Values and Leadership.
“We are thrilled to welcome Rabbi Rockoff to our outstanding leadership team at Yeshiva University,” said Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University. “Rabbi Rockoff is recognized throughout the community as a dynamic Jewish leader with a national and international network, who has significant expertise in organizational strategy and management.”
A proud alumnus of Yeshiva University, Rockoff brings with him more than two decades of leadership experience. Most recently he served as the executive vice president of the Religious Zionists of America and prior to that he served as the inaugural director of leadership development and strategic partnerships at the Orthodox Union. Rockoff also had a key role in creating major initiatives for Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future. YU is proud to welcome him back.
As community dean, he will work closely with the Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership and RIETS to create an expansive fee-for-service global Jewish adult education and executive leadership programs. Rabbi Menachem Penner, who counts Rockoff as a trusted colleague, said, “Rabbi Rockoff will bring passion, dedication and innovation to his new position and serve as an important role model for our rabbinic students.”
He will oversee a number of other existing community-based learning opportunities and online publications. Dr. Erica Brown, vice provost of Values and Leadership and the director of the Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center, believes Rockoff will “bring his creative and strategic thinking to help us identify future leaders, on the undergraduate and graduate level, and find ways to support them through scholarships and newly funded programs.”
“Returning to Yeshiva University is a true homecoming,” said Rockoff. “It is a real privilege and honor to help advance Yeshiva’s unique mission and strong values as the institution strives to reach new vistas of impact and influence in the years to come.”
Rockoff is a graduate of Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business and received his rabbinical ordination from RIETS, a master’s degree in education from the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, and a master’s of business administration degree from Baruch College, where his studies focused on organizational behavior.
He resides in West Hempstead with his wife, Deborah, and their five children.
