Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh (born 20 Cheshvan 5704-1944) is a prominent Chabad Rabbi and Mashpia. He is the Rosh Yeshivah of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshivah, and the leader of the Gal Einai organization.
Biography
Rabbi Ginsburgh was born in the USA. In his youth he studied mathematics and philosophy. While in America he became a baal teshuva, and devoted himself to Torah study. In 1965 he immigrated to the State of Israel and learned in the Yeshivah of Kamenitz in Jerusalem. He spent 1966 through 1967 (including the Six Day War) in Tiberias. After the Six Day War, Rabbi Ginsburgh returned to Jerusalem, and there, along with his future father-in-law, Rabbi Moshe Segal, was one of the first to move into the Jewish quarter. At that time he came to study writings of the Chabad school of Chassidus in depth. That year he visited the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and remained there for several months. When he returned to Israel he married, and began to teach Talmud, Shulchan Aruch, and Chassidut to a group of students in Jerusalem.
Until the retreat of the IDF from the Tomb of Joseph in Shechem during the Al Aksa Intifada (2001), he served as the Rosh Yeshivah of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshivah in Shechem and as the head of the Kollel in Jericho.
He lives with his family in Kfar Chabad and delivers classes throughout Israel. He devotes most of his time and resources to writing books in Kabbalah and Chassidut that discuss a range of topics, from commentaries on the Chumash to the relationship between Torah and science. These books are published by Gal Einai, his organization, whose name is taken from Psalms 119:18.
Rabbi Ginsburgh is the author of the article "Baruch the Man," which praises Baruch Goldstein, who perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in the city of Hebron, killing 29 Muslims at prayer and wounding another 150 in a shooting attack.[1]
Method and Philosophy
Rabbi Ginsburgh is considered a unique voice in the world of Torah scholarship today. His singular mastery of Kabbalah--the esoteric tradition in Judaism--and Chassidut, together with his talent as a number theorist have led to the creation of a highly inspired and inspiring form of Torah scholarship. Rabbi Ginsburgh teaches with a firm and adamant commitment to the tradition of the sages, while at the same time offering surprising new insights and understandings to even the most well-known topics and issues in Torah. Aside from his wide use of mathematical relationships as a source for inspiration, his trademark is his use of Kabbalistic and Chassidic models to organize varying and differing opinions in any topic that he scrutinizes. Following the innovative teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Arizal), he calls this integrative method: making a partzuf. On the political front, Rabbi Ginsburgh is an advocate for the reinstitution of Jewish monarchy in the Land of Israel as an alternative to the current model of Parliamentary democracy.
Works in English
- The Hebrew Letters: Channels of Creative Consciousness (1995, Hardcover, 501pp.)
- The Mystery of Marriage: How to Find Love and Happiness in Married Life (1999, Hardcover, 499pp.)
- Awakening the Spark Within: Five Dynamics of Leadership That Can Change the World (2001, Hardcover, 200pp.)
- Transforming Darkness Into Light: Kabbalah and Psychology (2002, Hardcover, 192pp.)
- Rectifying the State of Israel: A Political Platform Based on Kabbalah (2002, Hardcover, 230pp.)
- Living In Divine Space: Kabbalah and Meditation (2003, Hardcover, 288pp.)
- Body, Mind, Soul: Kabbalah on Human Physiology, Disease and Healing (2004, Hardcover, 341pp.)
- Consciousness & Choice: Finding Your Soulmate (2004, Hardcover, 283pp.)
- The Art of Education: Integrating Ever-New Horizons (2005, Hardcover, 303pp.)
- What You Need to Know About Kabbalah (2006, Hardcover, 190pp.)