RIETS Alumni Resources

Did You Know?

1. The Morris and Gertrude Bienenfeld Department of Jewish Career Development and Placement works to help each RIETS alumnus find appropriate and meaningful work.
2. Continuing Rabbinic Education courses are certificate-granting course that develop a wide range of practical rabbinic skills for rabbis in the field.
3. Rabbanan.org is RIETS’ free, password-protected site with resources for rabbis including ideas for drashas, Jewish thought on current events, stories and more.
4. The Wolf Chomer Lidrush program provides inspirational content from master darshanim for parsha and chagim helps rabbis creatively develop sermons and shiurim.
5. The Yarchei Kallah is a rabbinic development fellowship for select rabbis guided by Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter. The programing addresses content and skills development and an alumni program that convenes around major contemporary issues.
6. The Rabbinic Loan Fund is available to all rabbinic alumni who suffered devastating emergencies, such as environmental or medical emergencies. The majority of loans are $5K but may be larger.
7. Rebbetzins’ Yarchei Kallah and Rebbetzin Support gathers together more than 100 rebbetzins—in person and virtually—throughout the year to engage in collaborative work, skills development, learning and reflection on contemporary issues.
8. YUTorah Online offers more than 185,000 shiurim by our roshei yeshiva and other YU luminaries via webcast in audio, video and text formats and we can host your shiurim there too, making them available to the broader community. With approval, these can also be embedded within your institution’s website.
9. Chavrusa magazine is the official magazine of RIETS alumni.  
10. Lifecycle announcements and email updates are regularly communicated to our alumni.
11. All alumni have access to the campus and library, as well as access to the Bar Ilan Responsa Project and Otzar Hachochma by applying for library database access here (https://library.yu.edu/alumni#s-lg-box-20960349).

Alumni Highlights 

Rabbi Mark Wildes

"As a student 25 years ago, RIETS gave me the tools and the inspiration to pursue a life of Jewish outreach. Now as a teacher at RIETS these last 12 years, the experience has not only allowed me to meet tomorrow’s leaders but sharpened my own teaching abilities.  Some things may change at YU, but the high-quality guys it attracts remain a constant." 

Rabbi Mark Wildes was ordained from Yeshiva University, but before becoming a rabbi, he received a JD from the Cardozo School of Law and a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University. Since founding MJE 20 years ago, Rabbi Wildes has become one of America’s most inspirational and dynamic Jewish educators. He lives with his wife Jill and their children Yosef, Ezra, Judah, and Avigayil on the Upper West Side where they maintain a warm and welcoming home for all. He is a hard-core Beatles and John Lennon fan and enjoys rocking out on the drums whenever possible. 

Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Zuckier

From my first years in MTA through Semicha and Kollel Elyon and since, so much of my training in learning has been with RIETS Roshei Yeshiva. I am so grateful to have studied Gemara BeIyyun under Rav Lichtenstein ztz”l and Rav Rosensweig and Halacha under Rabbi Bleich and Rav Willig.  

Over this difficult past year, I have spent a lot of time thinking and writing about the values-driven, life-affirming, practical yet sensitive guidance of the RIETS’s Roshei Yeshiva during the pandemic, and my Hakkaras HaTov has taken on an added dimension.  

Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Zuckier is a lecturer at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies and a postdoctoral fellow in Jewish Studies at McGill University. He recently received his PhD in Ancient Judaism at Yale University and was a member of Yeshiva University’s Kollel Elyon. As an external member of the RIETS’s Yadin Yadin Kollel, he is also a recipient of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture’s Advanced Torah Fellowship. Previously, Shlomo served as Director of OU-JLIC at Yale University. Shlomo is an alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion and RIETS, as well as of the Wexner and Tikvah

Rabbi Adam Starr 

"I have such fond memories from those precious days immersed in Torah learning in the old Beis Medrash at RIETS. I often think about how so many of those with whom I shared that makom Torah are now  the leading rabbonim, mechanchim and Jewish leaders across the U.S and Israel. Although it's been many years since I last sat in the Beis Midrash at RIETS,  the Torah I learned, the rebbeim I had, and the chaverim I made are very much a part of who I am today. I am especially grateful that  RIETS sees its mission to not only train rabbis but to continue to support our growth in Torah and as Jewish leaders for the benefit of Klal Yisrael."

Rabbi Adam Starr is the rabbi and spiritual leader of Congregation Ohr HaTorah (formerly Young Israel of Toco Hills).  Since his arrival in 2008, the shul has emerged as one of the fastest growing synagogues in the country. In 2014 a  brand new state of the art synagogue building was built as the the first Orthodox synagogue in the world built from ground up according to environmentally sustainable standards. Rabbi Starr grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and studied at Yeshivat Shalavim in Israel for two years prior to University. He received his BA from Yeshiva College and has rabbinical ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Rabbinical Seminary at Yeshiva University. Before coming to Atlanta, Rabbi Starr served as the Associate Rabbi at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale for 8 years. Rabbi Starr  serves on the Atlanta Regional Beth Din for Conversion of the RCA. He is a faculty member  at Atlanta Jewish Academy teaching the Honors Gemara class for girls. Rabbi Starr is a past President of the Atlanta Rabbinical Association and  served two terms as a member of the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America.

Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner 

“Everything about my rabbinic career, from my 12 shul years to the 12 years of the Beit Midrash in Toronto, bears the mark of my rebbeim in MTA, YU and RIETS. From Rav Yitzchak Cohen when I was a freshman in MTA (Yeshiva University High School for Boys), to Rav Mayer Twersky, Rav Hershel Schachter and Rav Yosef Weiss z”l in YU and RIETS, my rebbeim exemplified a derech in which rigorous Torah, unstinting avodah and all-embracing gemilut chasadim are both lived and loved. I could not have asked for greater role models.” 

Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner was ordained by Yeshiva University in 1997, and served as a synagogue rabbi for twelve years, at the Young Israel of Pawtucket (RI) and Congregation Sons of Israel (PA). He then came to Canada as the founding Rosh Beit Midrash of Beit Midrash Zichron Dov of Toronto, an affiliate of Yeshiva University and Torah MiTzion, and is still there today. Rabbi Torczyner enjoys blending different areas of knowledge to develop creative curricula in Ethics, Tanach, Zionism, Halachah and Jewish History, and crafting accredited Continuing Education classes for medical professionals, lawyers and paralegals, and financial services professionals. A habitual publisher, Rabbi Torczyner has made more than 2700 classes and articles available on YUTorah.org, and hosts his own websites Webshas and HaMakor, and a blog, The Rebbetzin’s Husband. Rabbi Torczyner is happy to have learned to teach via Zoom, but he is quite ready for COVID to end.