Rav Ariel Burger

Rav Ariel Burger received his ordination from Yeshivat Bat Ayin in 2003. He is currently completing his doctoral work in Theology, Jewish Thought and Social Ethics at Boston University. He serves as Teaching Fellow for Professor Elie Wiesel. He received semichah at the Bat Ayin Yeshiva in Israel and teaches Bible, Rabbinic Literature and Hasidic Thought at Harvard Hillel and at the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, where he integrates traditional learning and creative expression into his curricula. He is also a visual artist and a songwriter.

Ariel writes: My whole life is about integrating deep rootedness in Torah with creativity. I searched for a yeshiva that would allow me to bring those elements together, and I found it in Bat Ayin, along with a unique, dynamic, diverse hevre. Working on the levels of personal avodat Hashem, intellectual inquiry, emotional authenticity and creativity in learning and other media is a prerequisite for my own wholeness, and I believe strongly that this type of "parallel processing" will provide a great healing for a fractured Am Yisrael. Rav Kook bemoaned the separation of Halacha and Aggada, and Bat Ayin is one of the rare yeshivot that is truly connected to both, so that it is a powerful resource for the Orthodox community, the larger Jewish community, and even beyond. My experience there has given me the breadth and depth of learning to be a resource for others; a framework for radical openness in dealing with very different people; and a set of personal practices to keep it real b'ezrat Hashem.