Rabbi Wein was born March 25, 1934[1] in Chicago to a family descended from Lithuanian rabbis. His father, Rabbi Zev Wein (1906-2004), was a disciple of Rabbi Shimon Shkop, and later of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook at the latter's Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva in Jerusalem.[2] Rabbi Zev Wein later emigrated to the United States and served as a Rabbi in Chicago until the 1970s. In 1955[3] he married Yocheved (Jackie) Levin, who had been born in Lithuania, in 1934 and had emigrated to Detroit with her parents at the age of 4. The couple settled in Chicago and had four children, had 29 grandchildren and 70 great-grandchildren. Wein's wife died in 2006 and he remarried; his second wife Mira Cohen Wein died in 2018.[4] Wein lives in Rehavia.
In America
Wein received semicha (rabbinic ordination) from Hebrew Theological College, which was founded by his maternal grandfather,[5] Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Rubinstein. His main teacher was Rabbi Chaim Kreiswirth and his personal mentors there included Rabbis Mordechai Rogow and Yisrael Mendel Kaplan.[6] He was a student of the late Rabbi Oscar Z. Fasman in Chicago, and spoke at the latter's funeral.[7] He received a Bachelor's degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago and earned a law degree from DePaul University. After passing the Illinois Bar he practiced as an attorney in Chicago for a number of years. In 1964, Wein accepted the pulpit of Beth Israel Congregation in Miami Beach, Florida,[8] where he remained until 1972. He moved to New York City when he was appointed as executive vice-president of the Union of Orthodox Organizations of America (known as the Orthodox Union). Within that organization, he served as rabbinic administrator of the kashrut (kosher foods) supervision division until 1977. At the same time, he founded Congregation Bais Torah[9] in Suffern, New York, and served as its rabbi for the next 24 years. Wein also founded Yeshiva Shaarei Torah of Rockland with a large high school and a smaller post-high school division in 1977. The yeshiva subsequently moved onto the grounds of his synagogue and he served as Rosh Yeshiva (dean) until his move to Israel in 1997. His son, Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Wein, succeeded him as Rosh Yeshiva (along with Rabbi Mordechai Wolmark, author of Mishnas Mordechai). In Israel Rabbi Wein and his wife moved to Israel in 1997. They settled in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem, where they became Rav and Rebbetzin at Bet Knesset Hanasi (at 24 Usshishkin). In Israel, Wein also established The Destiny Foundation, a marketing forum for his CDs, audio tapes and books as well as drama and documentary film projects. He is presently a senior faculty member of Ohr Somayach Yeshiva in Jerusalem, where he lectures to the mostly English-speaking student body. He also lectures extensively in Israel and abroad, and writes a regular weekly column for The Jerusalem Post since 1999. |