Who they are
Yitzchok Adlerstein is a rabbi and writer who spent decades at the Simon Wiesenthal Center and co-founded the journal Cross-Currents. He was born in New York in 1950, received rabbinic ordination at Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim and graduated summa cum laude from Queens College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
He moved to California in 1978 to teach, and held the Sydney M. Irmas adjunct chair in Jewish law and ethics at Loyola Law School. He taught honours halacha at YULA, sat on the board of AJOP, the association of Jewish outreach professionals, and was a regular judge on the conversion court of the Rabbinical Council of California. At the Wiesenthal Center he worked on advocacy for Jews and for Israel.
He has written two books on the Nesivos Shalom of the Slonimer Rebbe and one on the Maharal’s Be’er Hagolah, and his essays have run in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. He sits on the editorial board of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Action and co-hosts the podcast Two Rabbis, Three Opinions. He moved to Jerusalem in 2017 and heads global faith engagement at Israel365.
Positions and record
Haredi service: Supports deferment for genuine full-time Torah learners, with others serving in the IDF or another national-service route compatible with Haredi religious practice.
Education: Supports serious English and maths instruction for Haredi children alongside their religious education.
Employment: Rejects treating earning a living as incompatible with Haredi religious life and supports greater participation in work and national life.
Where they stand
Holds the party line on every issue.