Yaakov Fogelman

Dr. Yaakov Fogelman is an American-Israeli Torah teacher and Jewish Outreach activist. A pioneer in the writing of Weekly Torah Sheets in English, he was among the first to distribute the Torah on the Internet.

Background

Fogelman was born in Camden, NJ in 1938. He was raised in Reading, Pa. He is a graduate of Yeshiva University and Harvard Law School. After working in real estate in Boston, he in 1974 made Aliyah to Israel where he established his Torah Outreach Center in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. As a public intellectual and gadfly, he is well-known among the Anglo-Orthodox community of Jerusalem. His letters on public issues frequently appear in Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post, and other Jewish and Israeli publications.

Fogelman is married to the writer Ruth (Freeman) Fogelman. In keeping with his teaching which stresses the importance of building the Jewish family, he is the father of eight children and the grandfather of over thirty grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Torah Sheets

He is a religious Zionist who aims to bring the message of Torah to Jews and non-Jews alike. In his Torah Sheets, he gives a broad overview of the weekly Torah reading and a comprehensive commentary. He is featured in The Famous book by Freedman, Shalom. "In the Service of God: Conversations with Teachers of Torah in Jerusalem" Jason Aronson, N.Y. 1995. pp. 149-169. His sheets also include discussion of controversial Jewish theological and communal issues. In them, he also cites a vast variety of sources. His aim is to share his lifetime ongoing exploration of Torah and secular learning with his readers. His Torah sheet has thousands of subscribers online, in addition to the many hundreds of sheets that are distributed weekly. Jews, Rabbi's and theologians of every denomination come to Israel to discuss Torah with Dr. Fogelman.