Open to Interpretation: Defining Modern Orthodoxy

Rabbi Avi Weiss, one of Newsweek’s “50 Most Influential Rabbis in America,” discusses his philosophy on an Orthodoxy that is both open and inclusive. Rabbi Weiss is the founder and president of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, the Modern and Open Orthodox Rabbinical School in New York. He is also the senior Rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. Most recently, he founded Yeshivat Mahara”t, a Modern and Open Orthodox school training women to become spiritual leaders. He is the author of Spiritual Activism: A Jewish Guide to Leadership and Repairing the World. He served as the National Chairman of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, and is the National President of AMCHA – the Coalition for Jewish Concerns.