My Rebbe

In My Rebbe, celebrated author and thinker Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz shares his firsthand account of this extraordinary individual who shaped the landscape of twentieth-century religious life. Written with the admiration of a close disciple and the nuanced perceptiveness of a scholar, this biography-memoir inspires us to think about our own missions and aspirations for a better world.

Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz is a teacher, philosopher, social critic and prolific author who has been hailed by Time magazine as a “once-in-a-millennium scholar.” His lifelong work in Jewish education earned him the Israel Prize, his country's highest honor, and the President's Medal. Born in Jerusalem in 1937 to non-religious parents, Rabbi Steinsaltz studied physics and chemistry at the Hebrew University. He established several experimental schools and, at the age of twenty-four, became Israel's youngest school principal. In 1965, he began his monumental Hebrew translation and commentary on the Talmud. Now all forty-four volumes have been completed. The rabbi's classic work of Kabbala, The Thirteen Petalled Rose, was first published in 1980 and now appears in eight languages. In all, Rabbi Steinsaltz has authored some sixty books and hundreds of articles on subjects ranging from zoology to theology to social commentary. Continuing his work as a teacher and spiritual mentor, Rabbi Steinsaltz established a network of schools and educational institutions in Israel and the former Soviet Union. He has served as scholar in residence at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies in Washington, DC, and the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University. His honorary degrees include doctorates from Yeshiva University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Bar-Ilan University, Brandeis University and Florida International University. Rabbi Steinsaltz lives in Jerusalem. He and his wife have three children and many grandchildren.