Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander

President & Rosh HaYeshiva, @OhrTorahStone; Building a Torah community of leadership, peoplehood, and responsibility for our complex world.

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

Can faith exist without observance? Or observance without faith?

Join me as I explore this question in my Shabbat Shuva drasha at Kehilat Shir Hadash in Jerusalem.

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

Yesterday, I taught the student-soldiers of @ohrtorahstone's Pava Hadas Army Program for Women at Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem, where we discussed the "U'Netaneh Tokef" prayer.

In the afternoon, I met the first cohort of fellows from OTS's Genet Institute for Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship. Using rabbinic sources from the Second Temple period, I demonstrated that the multi-faceted spiritual experience, including education, social justice, life cycle events, concern for the environment, and the underprivileged, that took place in the Beit HaMikdash, should serve as a precedent for synagogues being communities with multiple portals of spiritual entry.

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

During the Days of Repentance, our haftarah warns us against "stumbling" over God's ways. We are called to look deep within: Does our Torah study push us toward greater integrity and mutual responsibility? Or are we misusing it to bypass personal accountability? Read my full thoughts on this week's Haftarah on JNS: https://t.co/7BQwzPyF3g

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

https://t.co/JVG6mjRiwe

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

BDE. We are heartbroken by the untimely passing of Rabbanit Ravit Kalech z"l, a graduate of Kollel Deah (Susi Bradfield Women's Institute for Halakhic Leadership). She possessed a unique singular mind, exceptional commitment to Torah, and a huge heart. Even after graduating from the 5 year full time program she continued to learn full time in our Beit Midrash. My thoughts are with her husband Meir, her children, grandchildren, mother and her fellow students and chavrutot. We will all miss the Torah and light she brought into our Beit Midrash and into our lives.

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

The personalities placed before us in the Haftarah and Torah readings on Rosh Hashanah, Sarah, Hagar, Yitzchak, Hannah, Jews exiled to the diaspora, and even in the introduction to the shofar, the prayer from the the sons of Korach, have one thing in common. They have all suffered and been through their own personal Gehonim. Yet, they continue to seek a relationship with God. This week, I share how we, too, can transform our deepest struggles into purposeful action. https://t.co/8gEw3pdoNv

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

The days of Elul demand real introspection. R. Mosheh Lichtenstein’s call to address the climate enabling violence echoes a vital message that our educators and leaders have been voicing across our schools and communities: true leadership requires confronting uncomfortable truths and building environments rooted in peace and accountability.

[עיינה בן אדרת @Ayanabenaderet_]

"איזה בושת פנים יש לנו כציבור? הבעיה היא שהציבור לא מזדעק" • ביקורת חריפה של הרב משה ליכטנשטיין, ראש ישיבת 'הר עציון' באלון שבות, על השתיקה בציבור הסרוג ביחס לפשיעה הלאומנית

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

“It is not in heaven…nor is it beyond the sea…. This word is very close to you."

This week’s parsha reminds us that we are not just recipients of the Torah. We are partners in making it come alive.

My Dvar Torah dives into this theme within the haftarah, parsha, and preparation for the new year: https://t.co/h47HlXNQEA

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

With respect, I disagree with R. Aviner’s position that one may not vote for a party with a non-Jew on its list. MKs do not possess the authority of a king, and when leaders are chosen by the people, the sources cited are not directly applicable. For similar reasons, we have permitted women to assume major leadership roles, despite sources that could be invoked to argue otherwise. Israel must also learn to build respectful partnerships with people of other faiths. Rhetoric that suggests otherwise harms us both at home and around the world.

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

https://t.co/Hk65SdkiQW
With respect, I disagree with R. Aviner’s position that one may not vote for a party with a non-Jew on its list. MKs do not possess the authority of a king, and when leaders are chosen by the people, the sources cited are not directly applicable. For similar reasons, we have permitted women to assume major leadership roles, despite sources that could be invoked to argue otherwise. Israel must also learn to build respectful partnerships with people of other faiths. Rhetoric that suggests otherwise harms us both at home and around the world.

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

Yesterday, I had the privilege of meeting with and teaching students at two of @OhrTorahStone’s institutions.

In the morning, at Midreshet Dorit, A Division of Lindenbaum in Lod, we explored “U’Netaneh Tokef,” one of the keynote prayers of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. We discussed the prayer’s pre-Talmudic origins, the epistemology of prayer, and how we can take ancient prayers and make them our own.

In the afternoon, I had the privilege of teaching at OTS’s Robert M. Beren Machanaim Hesder Yeshiva, engaging with students and continuing these meaningful conversations.

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

As the school year kicks off this week, I met with educators at @OhrTorahStone’s Katz Oriya HS for Girls to discuss the importance of empowering our students and ourselves to build a relationship with God, as I shared a teaching from Rav Kook ("Orot HaTechiya") about the vital goal of keeping our people together no matter how significant are our differences.

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

Images of a monument being deliberately destroyed by MK Sukkot are deeply troubling. We should be clear that honoring terrorists as martyrs, as this monument allegedly does, is deeply wrong and should be unequivocally condemned. But the answer to one form of extremism cannot be another. No individual, regardless of their position or convictions, should take the law into their own hands. Vigilantism is unacceptable.

It is important that the Israeli government investigate what happened and hold those responsible accountable. In the most difficult circumstances, our commitment to these values is tested precisely by how we respond when others fail to uphold them. True strength means rejecting extremism in all its forms and insisting on both security and integrity.

[i24NEWS English @i24NEWS_EN]

🔴 Far-right MK Zvi Sukkot caught on camera demolishing a monument in a Palestinian village near Nablus

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

The image of Harel Birenstock’s children at his funeral is one I cannot forget.

Harel, a graduate of our Neveh Shmuel Yeshiva High School, gave his life defending Israel. His story, and those of so many of our fallen alumni, remind us that education is about more than knowledge. It is about cultivating responsibility, courage, and a commitment to something greater than ourselves.

Torah is not only something we study. It is something we live.

I write about the responsibility of our schools to nurture this generation and to help them carry both the burden of loss and the strength to rebuild.

Read my latest in @jns_org: https://t.co/2A7EzZnqbH

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

Mazal tov to Tali Dee (OTS Neve Channah HS & Midreshet Dorit in Lod) on her recent marriage to Ariel Rosenfeld.

Tali's journey from the unimaginable loss of her mother and two sisters to building a new Jewish home is a powerful testament to courage, faith, and resilience. Tali chose to bring the memory of her mother, Lucy z”l, and sisters Maia z”l and Rina z”l into her wedding day. She wore her mother's wedding dress, stood beneath a chuppah created in memory of Maia, also an OTS Neve Channah HS & Midreshet Dorit in Lod alumna, and remembered Rina through the music and words chosen for the ceremony.

May Tali and Ariel be blessed to build a בית נאמן בישראל filled with love, strength, and light. Mazal tov!

Read the full story: https://t.co/7JnBWM8Xwf

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

Israel never gives up, we never leave anybody behind.

When I was rabbi in Boca Raton photos of Sgt. First Class Yehuda Katz, Sgt. First Class Zachary Baumel and Sgt. First Class Zvi Feldman sat on a chair next to me.

Today I am happy for the Katz family that they will finally be able to bury their son because of the tireless efforts to bring him home.

[Ynet Global @ynetnews]

Last missing IDF soldier from 1982 Lebanon War battle returned to Israel after 44 years

IDF and Mossad say Yehuda Katz’s remains were located through a decades-long intelligence effort and formally identified in Israel, completing ...

https://t.co/4dqoIiLa8E

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

Jewish values demand that we speak clearly when innocent people are targeted because of their identity.

As Jewish extremist violence in the West Bank rises sharply, I spoke with the @Jerusalem_Post about the responsibility of Jewish leaders, educators and rabbis to condemn such violence without hesitation and to reaffirm the values of justice, human dignity and responsibility at the heart of our society.

Read the full article.

[The Jerusalem Post @Jerusalem_Post]

Report: West Bank nationalist crime surged 63% in the first half of 2026, while deliberate attacks on security forces rose 50%, according to a new Israeli security establishment data report.
https://t.co/ZfUVoEliE3

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

Moving words from MK Chili Tropper:

“Last night, the thirteenth graduate of the Ohr Torah Stone Neveh Shmuel High School on the Riva and Ira Mitzner Families Campus fell, in the current war. It is doubtful whether there is another educational institution that has lost so many of its graduates in the “Iron Swords” war.

This is neither a large nor an ancient educational institution. I, too, am a graduate of it. The memorial wall in the yeshiva has filled with the names of heroes:

Elhanan Kalmanson, Yehonatan Samo, Eytan Dishon, Eitan Rosenzweig, Gideon Ilani, Shay Pizem, Yuval Nir, Yitzhar Hofman, Tzvi Marantz, Mordechai Amuyal, Eitan Orbach, Itamar Sapir, and last night also Harel Birenstock.

Many good things are said about the graduates of this generation, and at the same time many bad things are said about education in Israel. But the connection between this generation and education is not always meaningful.

Certainly, education is primarily something that comes from the home. But precisely because of the unbearable price paid by one educational institution—not a large one—it is also fitting to remember that education for the state and for an atmosphere that urges people to serve and to have spirit and determination, whether that means storming Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, as Elhanan Kalmanson did; returning to service after being wounded, as Yitzhar Hofman chose to do; or repeatedly going back into reserve duty even when you have a wife and and infant child, as Itamar Sapir did—this spirit also has roots in the school these special graduates attended.

May his memory be a blessing.”

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

The loss of Major (Res.) Harel Birenstock ז"ל, an alumnus of our Neveh Shmuel Yeshiva High School, is a heartbreaking reminder of the immense price Israel continues to pay in defense of our people and our homeland.

A man of spirit and grace, Harel was a student who embodied both sefer and saif, the sacred text and the sword. He was pleasant, well-mannered, and deeply modest: a student and a person of great stature.

Harel embodied the values we strive to instill: faith, courage, humility, and a profound sense of responsibility. Our hearts are with his wife, Eliya, their four children, his parents, and his entire family as they mourn this unimaginable loss.

May Hashem comfort them among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may Harel’s memory forever be a blessing.

[Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander @RabbiBrander]

Elana Stein Hain's review of Ve-Hai Imakh in the latest issue of Tradition beautifully captures the essence of this important work by faculty of Ohr Torah Stone’s Beit Midrash for Judaism and Humanity.

We are blessed to have renewed Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. With that blessing comes profound responsibility, and a new opportunity to explore how the values and laws of our Torah can guide the way our Jewish state relates to minorities who live within it.

Ve-Hai Imakh offers a serious, Torah-rooted framework for engaging with these questions. I hope it sparks meaningful learning and conversation.

https://t.co/N11qAC5QU3