Jacob J. Schacter is an American Orthodox

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

 rabbi.

Schacter is University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future

Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future

The Center for the Jewish Future is a center at Yeshiva University. Their mission is to shape, enrich, and inspire the contemporary Jewish community by convening the resources of Yeshiva University and:...

 at Yeshiva University

Yeshiva University

Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...

.

Schacter holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and received rabbinic ordination

Semicha

, also , or is derived from a Hebrew word which means to "rely on" or "to be authorized". It generally refers to the ordination of a rabbi within Judaism. In this sense it is the "transmission" of rabbinic authority to give advice or judgment in Jewish law...

 from Yeshiva Torah Vodaas

Yeshiva Torah Vodaas

Yeshiva Torah Vodaas is a yeshiva located in the Kensington neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.- History :...

. He graduated from Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...

 in 1973. He lives in Teaneck, New Jersey

Teaneck, New Jersey

Teaneck is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, and a suburb in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 39,776, making it the second-most populous among the 70 municipalities in Bergen County....

.

Career

While still a graduate student, Schacter was Rabbi of Young Israel of Sharon, in Sharon, Massachusetts

Sharon, Massachusetts

Sharon is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,612 at the 2010 census. Sharon is part of Greater Boston, about 17 miles southwest of downtown Boston....

. He then became Rabbi of the prestigious Jewish Center in Manhattan. He headed the Rabbi Soloveitchik Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts

Brookline, Massachusetts

Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...

.

Books

• "A Modern Heretic and a Traditional Community: Mordecai M. Kaplan, Orthodoxy, and American Judaism." Columbia University Press (1996)

Edited books

• "Reverence, Righteousness and Rahamanut: Essays in Memory of Rabbi Dr. Leo Jung" (1992)
• "Jewish Tradition and The Nontraditional Jew" (1992)
• "Judaism's Encounter with other Cultures: Rejection or Integration?" (1997)
• "The Complete Service for the Period of Bereavement" (1995)